This week, as I was wrapping up some long term projects with a client, she asked me, “Would a testimonial from me be helpful?” My response: “Yes, please!”
It’s rarely this easy to get a testimonial. Usually you need to ask, but there are many ways you can do this without feeling like you’re begging for a compliment.
If you work with clients on a daily, long-term basis like I do, solicit feedback on a regular basis. I’ve made it part of my business plan to give clients an “are you still pleased with what I’m doing” feedback questionnaire every 6 months. (You can create free questionnaires at Survey Monkey.)
Some of the questions I ask are:
- Do you feel like working with me has helped your business grow and improved the quality of your life?
- Do I provide work of the highest quality on time?
- Do I communicate clearly and consistently?
- What skills can I learn that would benefit you?
Some clients will elaborate and create wonderful blurbs on their own. If they do, you can just take the quote you want to use and ask the client if you could use it as a testimonial.
For clients who don’t elaborate, but just answer the questions with “yeses” and “nos”, you just create a well-crafted testimonial using the info they’ve given you and then ask them for their approval.
For example, if they answered “yes” to the question “Do I provide work of the highest quality on time?” then they are essentially saying “Sharon provides top-quality work on time. She is reliable and professional.” If you write the testamonial yourself using their feedback, you're able to highlight the features about yourself or your business that are the most important to you and to say it in a way that appeals to you. Most customers will also appreciate that all they had to do was the final approval of the blurb. More on testimonials later...
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