Build Prospect Confidence with Testimonials

Testimonials can be very effective tools for promoting your products or opportunity.
Testimonials can be very effective tools for promoting your products or opportunity. Prospective customers or business builders will be more interested in learning about your products or opportunity if they know that other people like themselves are excited about it. They will have more confidence in you and your opportunity when they hear or read other people''s opinions. People really do care what others think and are influenced by their opinions, and if those other people are their peers, their testimonials will be even more credible.

If you are just getting started, you may not have testimonies of your own yet and will need to begin by using some from your company''s promotional material. However, shortly after you sell your first product and recruit your first distributor, ask them what they like about the product and the company, and do the same with each additional customer and business builder. As you are doing this, you will be teaching those who will become your downline to do the same thing. Send a card or letter to them, thanking them for their purchase or for joining your team, and request a testimonial from them. If you send a letter, you could enclose a self addressed stamped postcard to increase the likelihood of receiving a reply. If they do not reply, call them and chat for a while, and then ask what they like about your products or business. When they have positive comments, ask their permission to quote them in your materials. It is a good idea to get their signatures on a waiver, but it is not mandatory. Use their name, city, state and occupation if possible, because that gives their statements more credibility. Testimonials will be more effective when your prospects can identify with those who give them.

Make it a habit to do this, and keep a file of testimonials. It will be helpful to separate them into several categories, like product testimonials and business opportunity testimonials. Keep a separate file for types of people you are targeting for your opportunity, such as businessmen, housewives, blue-collar workers and retired people. If some of the statements could fit into several categories, make copies and put one copy in each relevant file. If you use a computer, enter these into a folder with appropriate headings so you can find them easily.

Quote comments exactly as they were spoken or written even if they have grammatical errors. Don''t add your own words or try to make them sound better, and never make them up ? that would be morally wrong. You may edit them if they are too long, but if you have a lengthy one that says a lot, go ahead and use the whole letter. Most of your testimonials should be just a few sentences, and if you have lots of them, it proves that many people are using your product or have joined your business. Use testimonials that are specific, describing benefits of your product or opportunity. When people are willing to give details about how their lives have improved because of your business, their testimonials will prove to be very valuable.

If you are mailing a packet of information, make a separate page for your testimonials. They will stand out and be more effective when they are grouped together instead of distributed through the rest of your material. When you use the Internet to build your business, create a link to the testimonials, and if you contact prospective business builders via email, do the same thing.

Testimonials are valuable, and you should do your best to develop a large file of them to prove your sincerity, integrity, reliability and trustworthiness.

Robert Butwin is a natural coach and author of the book Street Smart Networking, first published in 1994 to share his success secrets with others.