Referral Marketing: Leveraging Testimonials!

How often do you ask your clients for testimonials?

Is it a standard component to your sales process? If not, it should be.

I discuss the importance and creative uses of testimonials in my course, Certified Networker. It's always interesting to me to see how my graduates apply the information that they learn.

Today, while having breakfast, I browsed through the new gift catalog for Palate Partners & Dreadnought Wines. Deb Mortillaro & Mike Gonz (owners) are both graduates of Certified Networker. I was very impressed with their catalog ... and especially the use of testimonials throughout the catalog!

Here's what they did that'll increase the impact of this one marketing piece:

1. They included multiple testimonials throughout the booklet

2. The testimonials nicely reflected the multiple services that they provide (corporate gifts, personal gifts, delivery, specialty wines, wine of the month, etc.)

3. The testimonials represented clients from other cities (noting that they serve a much bigger audience than just Pittsburgh)

4. The testimonials even reflected large clients, such as "O" Magazine (Oprah's group)

The next time you get a testimonial from a client ... consider how you can leverage it in as many creative ways as possible!