When marketing your services, credibility is critical to success. However, believability is even more important. Facts about your business are good to know, but not nearly as persuasive as what clients have to say about their real-life experiences with you.

Testimonials are one of the greatest (and least expensive) ways to establish yourself as THE expert in your field. Testimonials build trust and establish believability, which is essential to attracting and closing new clients. Shawn Achor, a Harvard trained researcher and author of “Before Happiness,” states that an emotional testimonial from someone else can be more than twice as effective as you trying to inspire people by yourself.

One of the first things prospective clients see and read within our office is our testimonial books. Testimonials create desire and motivation, foster an emotional connection, and remove skepticism, doubts, concerns, and objections. They are powerful proof that we’re making a real difference in our clients’ lives! I’ve been thinking about testimonials a lot lately, and I have a few tips I’d like to share:

1. Know when to ask for testimonials. The end of a client’s case is NOT the only time to ask for a testimonial. You should ask for one at different benchmarks throughout. For example; ask for a testimonial after you were successful in lifting that wage garnishment or bank levy. Your clients are the most grateful then! You should also ask at the completion of the tax preparation phase of the engagement—especially if you are preparing multiple years of unfiled returns that resulted in decreasing their original tax liability.
2. What are the right questions to ask? You should frame your questions in such a way to elicit answers to use in your marketing and advertising. For example:

• What is your overall feeling about our firm?
• Describe a particular experience with us that made you happy.
• Describe one or more benefits you received from us that you value the most.
• How else did you benefit from our working together?
• What results have you achieved since we started working together?
• Would you recommend our services to family or friends?

3. When following up with a client, you should have a system in place to make sure you get back the completed testimonial forms. I suggest delegating this to someone in your office who gives you a daily written update on all clients that haven’t sent back their testimonial. This should include name, phone number and email address, date of contact, what was discussed, and the date they promised to return the testimonial. Then keep following up!
4. Pick the correct format. Depending on where you want to showcase your testimonials, you will want your testimonials to be in written form, videotaped, audiotaped, placed on social media, or done as a “case study.”
5. Putting the finishing touches on the testimonial. Give it a headline that sums it up in 3-4 words. This headline should speak to your ideal prospective client and stand out. Make sure you send the final version to the client to approve in writing and maintain these in a permanent file. Let your client know that you’ll be using these on your website and ask if you can include his/her name, city and/or state, and job title. If appropriate, ask for a headshot as well.
6. Ready for prime time! Now it’s time to share those testimonials. Create a dedicated testimonial page on your website. Use them on landing pages, in your firm brochures and business cards, in all your marketing and advertising, and in your consultations/evaluations as a sales tool. When speaking with a prospect, relate a testimonial story from someone you have already achieved great results for. You want to show your prospect that you “get” their struggles and have helped others overcome these same problems.

Bottom Line: One of the most powerful ways to sell yourself–whether to your team or to your clients – is to let others sell you, with their own stories, in their own words.