How To Get The Proof You Need To Sell More

We all want to sell more of our stuff.  The single best way to do that is to prove that what we sell does exactly what we say it does.

Your voice and the story you tell matters, but the voice of your customers matters far more.  It’s the difference between you whispering and your customer screaming into a megaphone.  What your customers have to say about you can be the difference between someone buying or leaving your website.

It doesn’t matter if you’re selling coffee mugs or a business opportunity.  The faster you can sell someone on how awesome your products are, the faster they’ll buy.

Considering how important proof is in any sales process, we figured it would be a good idea to share our tricks to get people to tell you how amazing your products are.

Ask For Testimonials

While you could simply say:  “How have our products helped you?”, there is a better way.

When it comes to something like this, the reason why you’re asking matters.

Instead of a generic question, try something like:  “After grabbing _______ (product), I’m hoping you had a chance to put it to use.  How well did it work for you?”

OR

“We saw that you had a recently ordered our training program ________ (name of program).  If you’ve had a chance to go through it, we’d love to hear your thoughts.  Your experience matters to us and we want to ensure you get everything we promised from the program.”

OR

“It’s been about a week (2 weeks, 10 days, etc…) since you ordered _________ (product) and we wanted to check in to make sure it arrived and met all of your expectations.”

Feel free to put any of the above into your own words, but it’s a far better way to ask.  Consider things like shipping time, their busy lives, and the products you sell into account here and make sure you ask after they should have had time to experience your product.

You May Already Have Some

Yes, you may already have a few reviews out there.  Between Facebook, Yelp, Linkedin, and dozens of other websites that allow people to review products, make sure you take a look around the web before you start reaching out to your customers.

You may have plenty of proof already.

Use A Referral Program

It is against the law to bribe customers for testimonials, so don’t do that.

Setup a referral program where you’ll give a special discount, product, or referral fee when someone sends you a new customer.

The part where you get the testimonial is when they sign up for the program.  As a “qualifier”, ask them to write down (or type) what they would tell people if you let them refer you new business.  

Make sure you include any legal disclaimers necessary (check with a lawyer to be safe).

Offer A Free Trial or Beta Program

If you are launching something new, the easiest way to get reviews and testimonials is to reduce the barrier to entry.

Between social media and an existing customer base (if you have one), you should be able to get people to play around with you product if you give it to them for free or let them try it out for a limited amount of time.

At the end of the trial time or beta program, ask members about their experience.

Here are few parting thoughts regarding testimonials and reviews:

1.  You will probably get negative ones along with positive ones.  If that happens, take it as an opportunity to fix a bad relationship with a customer and do your best to do right by them.  Negative reviews online are a potential nightmare, so try to solve the problem before it goes that far.
2. Always think about the best interest of your customer and be as nice as possible.  The better their interaction with you is, the more likely they are to buy more of your products.
3. If you put the customer first, you cannot lose.

If you want more proof, you need traffic.  We can help with that.
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