Keep From Crippling Your Business With These Marketing Mistakes Day 4 Dave Negri 246

Day four of our series on 20 marketing mistakes: "Keep from crippling your business with these marketing mistakes". today we are on mistake number eight: The failing to use testimonials. "How do you get testimonials?" Okay, so testimonials. And so many people say: "How do you get testimonials?", "How do I get testimonials", "Why do I get testimonials?" but more so-- "How do I get testimonials?" Well, I'm going to tell you the importance of them and we're going to show you how to get them in this series- In this episode today. And of course, remember that on week 5, which is next week, I'll have the whole report ready and upload it onto the show notes page so that you can get your copy of everything we talked about. And there's a ton of worksheets in there. Like here's a testimonial letter that we put together. So, testimonials is one of the most powerful tools that any business owner can use. But it's also one of the most underutilized. They're not limited to any one type of advertising or any promotional media. So, you can put them in your ads or in radio announcements, if you get newspaper layouts. Especially, if you're doing stuff on a large scale but you can put them in your postcards, on your Web site, in your-- in all of your marketing because they are your silent sales people and actually they're not really so silent because they're there. People really take notice that you have someone that gave you a, you know, a testimonial but it's an endorsement. Rather than a testimonial. But the principle is pretty much the same. It happens when another person makes a positive statement or recommendation about a certain product or service you did in marketing. Sometimes known as creating herd mentality. Robert Cialdini talks it about in principle of consciousness that is if other people who are like me say this product or service is good it improves the probability that it'll be good for me too. See, the psychology behind it. Celebrity endorsements are simply another form of testimonial and are very, very effective for certain well-known actors celebrities say something is good, then it must be good. Therefore, I should give it a try. So, most people know that in like commercials or endorsements of the actors reading prepared script. Written by, you know, professional cop writers saying you pay to do that but still in a certain amount of credibility when the actor says you know in sufficient numbers that you know this product is good. Well, your own clients become the best sources of your endorsements that you could possibly watch. Especially, if they're known to those you're marketing to or if something else is in common with them. People that live in the same town have similar businesses, belong to the same organization or association, same neighborhoods like in your postcard or your mailing say "hey we just did Bob Jones". I was very happy and he said to reach out to all of the people in this neighborhood to let them know that. So, you have to get his OK to do that. But you see where I'm going with that. And even in community, now in so many communities, they have Facebook groups and what you want to do is you want to get that customer to not only give you a review maybe, you know, google reviews page or local listings but it's more powerful if they can write you a testimonial and put it in your local you know Facebook community page because everyone in the community knows that you've been working there. That is an awesome. If you haven't thought about that, do it because that's where you're going to get a ton of work. Especially if you want to own a community. So, there's only three reasons people don't buy from you. They have no use for your product or service, they can't afford your product or service or you haven't developed a level of trust and believability with them in you to do business with you. So, there's so much you can do if a prospect can't use or pay for your service. There's nothing you can do about that. But there is a lot you can do to wipe away the underlying layers of skepticism and that's through personal testimonials. Because really, no one likes to be the first person to do something, no one likes to be the first person to try something, you know, because we feel like we're the guinea pig. So, you know and really testimonies are not hard to get. One of the most effective ways it is to send users of your products or service a questionnaire. And I've got an example in here in this in this workbook for you. And that's what I've always done as I've always sent you know a question here. You know, "Did we do the job that you thought we what you expected us to do?", "Did you. What were some of the things that you were afraid of beef when signing up?" Because that's really a big thing. "Did we do things to your satisfaction or beyond" And so, basically when you send them a customer survey --and I always do it by mail because it's more personal. And I know that they get it. So, what I would do is I would create the form I would send it to them in a self-stamped envelope that's going to increase your rate. And then a lot of times too is if you do an e-mail you want to e-mail them also it's up to you. Some people are lazy I would rather get the personal touch. But for some people, um, and I've done it this way too is I will write the review, based on what they said to me about how they liked their service, something special we did for them that they liked. And I will put it in an e-mail with a link to my google reviews page and say you know, "Thanks so much for doing business with us.", "We really appreciate you." And "Would you be so kind as to click this link and give us a Google Review?". And this is below being what I heard you say. Feel free to change it any way you want and makes it easy for them the easier that you can make it for them: by putting together the testimonial, by putting a self-addressed stamped envelope are going to increase your odds so much for getting that review. And so, the cool thing is, now when you get to testimony's back, and when you get to google reviews, you can just cut it and paste it onto a piece of paper and bring it with you when you're doing proposals. Say, "Here's what some people said about us"., "Here's some of what some other people said about us" and a lot of times now I'll take those and I'll stick three or four of them together in a section like if I'm doing painting I'll do, you know, like painting surveys that I've had, and we do some pressure cleaning --it will be some pressure clean surveys and how we did, and you know and so on. So, you see where I'm going with this, so and then I'll put three or four of them when I give them the proposal it's in there so that they know, "hey how are other people like me?" and they may know them specially if they're in that area. OK another cool way to get testimonials is you can call your customer and record it. Just let them know you're recording it and ask them, you know, about how you did, and stuff like that and then put that on your Web site or have a transcribed even. Which is kind of easy. And then you can put them wherever you want you put it in your your proposal package, you can put it on your Web site you, can do whatever you want with it. These are just different things that really you can do to exponentially grow your testimony base. OK,one more thing on testimonies. If you're in an interaction with them, don't, you know, you don't want a-- They did a great job. They were very good. Better than they expected. You want to play a little bit of detail in there like they saved me five 500 dollars. Not necessarily. But you see where I'm going with that. They did the extra things above and beyond whatever we expected them to do. Now that's an awesome testimony. You know I just had one. We just had this lady's house and I asked her for testimony because you just raped and not because you know we did a great job. Yes, but she was excited that it was her mom's house and her mom who had always throw people off the property because she thought they were there too long. She didn't realize that she thought they were being paid by the hour. We weren't getting paid by the hour. She totally gave her a contract price and we were going to stay there until we got it done and the lady was excited. And one day the daughter who is take care of the project said to me she's my mom really loves you She says you really love your job. And I go "Why did she say that?". "Because you're just taking so much time to be meticulous". And I said Isn't that kind of funny because she was throwing everybody else off the property because they were taking too long and we just loved that for some reason which I'll take it and she wrote an awesome review. Google reviews page. So, use testimonials. Get them and make them and make them part of your standard operating procedure. Because those reviews, those testimonials are like cash in the bank. Those are your sales people who are going out for you and bring giving you credibility to whatever you're doing whatever business you're in. OK, we're marking steak number nine: failing to establish and obtain referrals. Man, this is such a big one that most people just miss it. You know getting referrals from users of our services and our products is one of the quickest and most painless ways to get business. Now granted that it's not consistent but it's like I always call it gravy money. You know if you can get a bunch of them to come in on a regular basis you don't depend on it. But it is added growth to your revenue. So, but if you don't have a system and that's how everything grows and your business is through systems then you're just going to suck behind one. So, you know referrals are simply happy and satisfied customers telling others about that are a positive experience with you or giving permission to contact other people in their name which is kind of cool in a lot of times if I would have someone call and introduce me and then I'll contact them. So, it doesn't have to be hard. It's just a system. And if you don't have a system in place like I said before then you're really stuck in a Heinl. Because this is a revenue builder for your business and so many people are really missing it. So, there's a forceps system and it could be more --but we're going to cut down the forces-- earn, earn the right to referrals by providing exceptional service, not great service, not good service but exceptional service. You know, you, in order to have a raving fan you have to do things differently than everyone else. You have to go the extra mile and give the extra whatever it may be an extra tweak to what you're doing. I know one guy has a crew that does remodeling and handyman stuff. And what he does is he devotes the last half hour that day to doing things for the customer that just wasn't on the list. Man, we got an extra half hour again paid. Bob says that you know what is there that we can help you with to just get some a couple of little things out of the way. Now that is exceptional service and even. Here's another an exceptional thing that you can do is send him a gift thanking them for doing business with you. No one does that. Almost no one does that. Matter of fact the the percentages are so low we can basically say that no one does that. But I know your competition doesn't do that. So the next one is ask for the referral from your satisfied customer. Hey, let me just simply ask. You know, who might be candidates for your service. Now, I know that you might feel a little awkward about asking for a referral but you know what, you've done a great job. You should be happy with what you've done and you should be looking at it this way. I do a great job and anyone who use my service will be greatly benefited by what I do. So, why wouldn't I want others to lead me in the direction that they could help their friends? Also by the use of my service it's that simple. It's just really looking at it from a different point of view. You could send a campaign and a postcard campaign every couple of months of asking say hey do you know anybody that's looking for our you know for our services or type service whatever you're doing. So, reward is another one. Man, I'm telling you this is really, a kicker that no one had let me go. No one but the percentages are so small. That most people don't even think about this. Someone gives you a referral, you need say thank you it could be a real estate agent, could be a past customer or a client. It could be a friend. You just need to either call them and say thank you so much for for referring us to your friend because, listen, they're giving they're giving--they're telling their customer when they refer you that hey I trust Dave and he's going to do the best job he can for me. So that's a big step for them to even refer you but send them a gift too. Send them a thank you card. I know that one of the things that I do for fun when I get a referral from a non-customer, I'll just send them I thank you card. A handwritten thank you. "Thanks so much for trusting us with your client's best interest. I want you to thank you with this Starbucks card you get a cup of coffee on us and I'll even give them a lottery ticket and say: "Hey! We haven't got the job yet but hopefully you'll win some money out of this and maybe you can take us both out to dinner. Just have some fun with it. " Really. So there has to be rewards, can be discounts, or free merchandise. One of the things about your customers is, you know, for referrals sake you could give a discount to any new customers that they refer you. However, they will also get the same discount. See, I'm always thinking about the person who's referring me to. However, you want to do it. But just think about ways that you can be different than everyone else. That simple extra steps that makes you outstanding service that gives you outstanding service. So, really with everything reward is, it doesn't have to be grand or costly, it just needs to be sincere and timely. You know and show that you really do appreciate the confidence that they put in you to refer you and show to gift and name the person that you can contact. So, I always say "Thank you Bob for referring Joe. I really appreciate you trusting us with your friend and we promise to treat him as well as we did you." Something to that effect. So, number four part of this is next. You know, you've earned the right to ask for the referrals from your customers or clients then have asked them and follow up with a reward for their help. You're in the perfect position to ask them for more help. Ask them is help. But you know what, something we probably didn't even touch on and as far as the mindset goes it's that you've earned the right to do it ask them for a referral because you did give them, and they let you know how well she did. Remember you have to be X potentially great. You have to go above and beyond what everyone else is doing. And you know in this marketplace that's really not a whole lot. So, after all if you are in your client's shoes and you've gotten great service from someone you've done business with you'd like people to know and receive the same service once you of course you would especially if you've been thanked in some way and shown that you were helpful and appreciated. Listen competition is fierce in the marketplace today. You know that. And you have to get past the price. So, there's often a little difference between competing products services and prices but getting referrals from your clients can no longer be considered a luxury. A nice thing to do. It is a must to help you build your business. So, listen we did. I did get some more stuff on referrals go to episode 177. Stacy Brown Randol. She was awesome. First year business did a hundred and twelve referrals without even asking for them. And I actually just had a weapon or not too long with her and for another business I used. And so, she said we can put it up on the website so after the first of the year we'll get that up and ready. Okay now our marketing mistake number 10 not cross-selling or up swelling or having a back-end. So, this is so important. You know sometimes we get stuck and then we give them the proposal and we don't try to sell anything else or we don't notice anything else that needs to be done around the house and or we cross-sell or have other products or services that we can sell in conjunction with Tolar offering says. So, you know when we're marketing or doing promotion for our business it can be costly. For some businesses, the money it takes to get a prospect in the door to get you in the prospects door. and get them to respond to our ads sometimes is more than the total profit for the sale. Now, by design, lots of companies do that. I'm not going to recommend that. But you know if you have too much to think about the long-term benefit of them doing business with you which would cover lifetime value. And we're going to talk about that next. I think so. So, a lot of businesses look at spending money on marketing as a negative or a wash so they don't end Gresley engaging in marketing doesn't have to be a business costs blurrily an investment and anything that costs you for your business is really a bad way to look at it in a negative way to look at it as most other things that we do for our business. And I'm not going to say all but most are investments into the future of growth of our business. So, we have to look at what kind of return, are we really going to get on it. . So, there's four primary ways to build the business. One is to get more customers to get customers to buy more  to get customers to buy more often. 4 your customers buying lifetime. Their life time vsalaue So, for now let's limit our discussion to item number two. How do you get customers to buy more? Well we've already established that the most cost-effective way to do business. And so, if you want your business to grow-- really grow -- and do and least painful way then with maximum results and minimum costs you need to establish a systematic way to get people to upgrade their purchase or to buy additional products. So, it's going in with one thing and upgrading to another not to switch bait and switch. But just progressive increase. So, people go through the variety of emotions prior to, during and after a purchase especially a large purchase. So, in a time leading up to the purchase they go through a phase of excitement. You've been through there the anticipation. What the service is going to are prof's going to do for them. And then sometimes they even go through periods of skepticism or doubt but that's if the person really wants are offering those feelings are pushed aside and excitement anticipation will take over. So, the only time most of time you're going --to get one were kind of a buyer's remorse here-- because when you force them into the sale but if you've done such a great job that they've sold them self then there's never going to be buyer's remorse. So, in feeling you know a lot of times that can be overcome when you talk about the benefits of using your products as a service. So, buy at the end of that sale, your customer is probably the happiest and the most pleased with you and your relationship than at any other time. See that's kind of weird because you would have thought it would have been after you did the services but they're excited. Now they've got you've. You're solving the problem and you're the man or the woman that's going to take care of that. So, they're so happy that they've said yes to their offer and they've even reached into the pockets of the person to open up their wallets check and give you some of their hard-earned money as a deposit. Or so depending on the size of the purchase. It could be a lot of their money. So, you've just south of a problem for him like I said. So, this is the ideal time when they are most pleased with you. And when you've come to the rescue for you to recommend other options or additional purchases. OK, so here's what it isn't and that's show someone to just purchase from you or they they made an agreement to pay for you buy your services or pay for your services order it however you want to say it. This is really the best time because to upgrade the service to sell them something else because they have already mentally in the buying mode. So, you can opt sell. So, if you're just painting walls you might suggest painting trim if you're doing pressure cleaning the driveway you might do pressure cleaning the house or the pool cage. You know simple add ons that because they've called you for one thing doesn't mean that they're not willing to do something else because they're in a buying mood. That's the cool thing. So, any upgrades or additional sales that you make now are just pure profit since there's no advertising costs there's no overhead expenses that were create use create sell. You're already there. There's no going back. You see where we're going with that. So, if it's really in their best interest to purchase from you then you have a moral obligation to see that they get the very best use of that product or service and that means you may have to make other products available for them to purchase. How cool is that? So next one is market number 11 and that is tomorrow too. Yes, tomorrow we're going to talk about mistake number 11 and a couple others but not calculating the lifetime profit value of your customer. Man, this is so, so missed by so many people because most people are transactional and which want to get you past that we want to get you into making a profit today tomorrow or the next day and forever with the same customers. So, come back tomorrow and will-- the next episode and we will start the day five of the  series. There are so many ways to do almost free marketing you just have to think about it or you could just go to the web site and pick up the free download. 4 Hot Marketing Strategies That Can Flood Your Business with Customers  If you have a story to tell and would like to be a guest on this podcast email my assistant Shell at [email protected]   and she will send you our guest sheet.     Our sponsors  Would you like your phone to ring more with qualified buyers people looking to buy now? Then let’s make that happen. Best Home Services Leads is dedicated to making your phone ring with qualified buyers wanting to buy now. Go to and fill out the form to get more information.       http://contractorssecretweapon.com/money  How about 100 free postcards sent out to your best prospective customers. 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