What better way to communicate to your audience that you do your job well than straight out of the mouths of the people who have already experienced it? Testimonials are advertising gold. Sometimes you can be surprised by the things your satisfied customers will say because you would never have thought they would notice such attention to detail or appreciate such small things. You have to keep in mind that your customers are probably not as experienced in the industry as you are, and their perspective is definitely very different than your perspective. Therefore, it stands to reason that their honest opinion of your work may resonate with other potential customers better than your polished and commercial take on the same situation.
Don’t be afraid to ask your clients for recommendations or testimonials. If you’ve done your job right, they will most likely be happy to help. If you have a mailing list of your customers and you provide a regular service, it wouldn’t hurt to send out an evaluation request on a yearly basis. Feedback is not going to collect itself. If you are lucky, you might get the occasional customer who is so pleased with you that they can’t help but send you a grateful email, elaborating on all the ways you’ve helped, but if you’re expecting those types of emails to start flooding your inbox, don’t hold your breath.
Collect these testimonials in an internal document, like an Excel spreadsheet. Keep the contact information for the people who sent them to you. They may be willing to let you send future prospects their way so that they can confirm the validity of their testimonial statement. You’ll be able to use these quotes in many different avenues of advertising. You can post them on your Facebook page as statuses or add them as the descriptions to photos of the project in your portfolio. Your website should have a testimonials section so that visitors can read a selection of approving quotes. You can include these quotes in email blasts, in blog articles, and even in print advertising. Don’t be afraid to use them. You’ve earned it!