The Spark: Stop overcomplicating employee engagement
At Solid Form, the spark started as a question around employee engagement, kindling a flame under a team that craved more robust and creative projects.
Recently, I asked a client, “Tell me about your system for gathering testimonials?” He replied that he didn't have one. “What are your recommendations?” he asked.
And here is what I told him…
Testimonials are one of the most powerful and cost effective selling tools you can implement in your marketing arsenal. They prove that you are the real deal. Your prospects will be much more inclined to make a purchase from you if you can show examples of their peers achieving positive results because of your help. These third-party endorsements do the work of selling for you – in a much more effective way than you could on your own.
This is because testimonials are a form of social proof.
So, what is social proof?
Social proof is a term coined by Dr. Robert Cialdini in his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. The premise is simple: we look to others to guide our decisions. Here are a few examples of social proof in action:
Social proof is an important and ongoing part of our decision-making process. People typically rely on the opinions of others to make a decision, and social proof becomes more powerful when we are uncertain or making a large and important decision.
Social proof in action – the dancing guy
If you haven’t seen it yet, watch this 3-minute video of a man dancing at the 2009 Sasquatch Music Festival 2009:
As you watch it, you’ll see that it starts with one innovator who is willing to take a risk. And if you are a company that is offering a new service, you definitely want to find a guy like this to evangelize your offering. The innovator in the video is quickly joined by a couple of early adopters. At about 1:15 in the video, you’ll see the power of social proof.
To leverage the power of social proof, you must ask for testimonials on an ongoing basis. It's got to be an ongoing system.
Unfortunately, most companies do not routinely ask for testimonials. If they do, it’s a one-time effort, typically implemented the last time they had their website redesigned.
Sound familiar?
When I work with our clients, I help them to systematize their marketing efforts. Gathering testimonials can also be made into a system. By doing this, you can keep your testimonials up to date and current. You can also replace mediocre praise with fantastic recommendations for your services.
Use them in your marketing materials, on your Facebook page, on your website - you can even film your customers giving a testimonial and use these in multiple marketing media.
Here are a few examples of testimonials in action online:
Here are just some of the ways you can use your testimonials in your marketing materials:
Next up: The testimonial machine
Ok, so hopefully I've convinced you by now that your company must gather testimonials on a regular basis, as well as given you ideas for how to leverage them.
In part 2, I’ll give you the formula for gathering testimonials on a regular basis and the secret sauce for getting a GREAT testimonial from your customer instead of a mediocre one.
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