Photo Credit: Marc Wathieu via Flickr cc
No one can do a better job of selling your video services than happy clients
You probably have testimonials on your website. But are you using them as sales tools that make you stand out from your competitors and land the clients you want?
Keep reading to find out where most video professionals go wrong and how to get the persuasive testimonials you need to grow your business.
Most Video Professionals Have Testimonials, but They Don’t Use Them Effectively
As a video professional, testimonials are right up there with your portfolio as some of your most valuable sales assets online. They can tip the scale between landing a client and losing them to your competitors.
Great testimonials provide social proof, an important component of influence that can carry you far in today’s crowded online space. The more ways you can distinguish yourself, whether it’s through specialization, a memorable USP, or your testimonials, the better your chances for success.
Most video professionals understand the importance of testimonials, but they could use them more effectively on their websites. Let’s take a look at where they go wrong. Then we’ll walk through how to use testimonials to land the video clients you want.
Generic, Unfocused Testimonials Don’t Help You Get Video Clients
Most video professionals understand clients expect to see testimonials on their websites. But they run into problems in the execution. The way they select, use, and display their testimonials costs them leads and clients.
Ineffective testimonials make your website blend in with all the other video professionals out there and strips away a potential competitive advantage. Potential clients will see your testimonials, but they won’t take the time to read them. They’ll evaluate your video business on factors like price or the look of your website instead of the incredible value you could offer.
How to Collect, Use, and Display Testimonials Effectively
If you collect and display testimonials on your website strategically, you can turn them into sales tools that overcome objections and help you land more video clients.
Doing this doesn’t take too much time and effort. It pays off for months and years to come in the form of more clients, referrals, and a higher profile online.
Let’s walk through how to do it:
1. Asking for Testimonials
A lot of people are uncomfortable with this, or they think their clients are busy and don’t want to bother them. But it’s rare for beautiful, unsolicited testimonials to appear in your email inbox.
It’s more common for a client to say a nice thing or two about you in the context of a broader conversation. You can jump on these opportunities and turn them into full-fledged testimonials. Depending on your relationship with the client, simply send a friendly email or give them a call. Tell them you appreciated the positive feedback, and you’d love to use that feedback as a testimonial on your website.
If they’re happy with the results you’ve created for them, most clients are more than willing to help you out. The worst thing can happen is they say no.
Frame your request to show clients they’ll get something out of it beyond your good will. You can tell your client you’d like to feature their company on your website and offer to include a link back to their homepage. Most clients will jump at the chance for free publicity.
2. What Makes a Testimonial Effective
A lot of testimonials are too generic to be useful. They say “John’s great” or “I really enjoyed working with John” or something similar. Those testimonials are better than having no testimonials, but you can do better.
Effective testimonials: 1) use specific language about the results you’ve created for clients; and 2) overcome common objections to doing business with you.
Which of the following sounds more convincing?
“The advertising video John produced raised my company’s profile”
or
“John’s advertising video resulted in $7,200 of new business this quarter.”
Specific language is more convincing and believable than general language. So whenever you can, drill down to the details. Ask clients what they specifically liked about the video services you provided. Ask them about the tangible results they created.
Take a look at how MWP Digital Media focuses on specific results in this testimonial:
Effective testimonials also overcome buyer objections. What are the most common stumbling blocks that keep video clients from hiring you? You probably address some of them in your services page and in phone calls with prospects. But they’d rather hear it from the mouths of happy clients than you. You can designate each of your testimonials to address a different objection, strategically removing the barriers that keep visitors from becoming new clients.
3. Displaying Your Testimonials Strategically
Effective testimonials can vary in length, but a few sentences is usually enough to accomplish your goals without boring readers. Publishers like to cherry-pick two or three words and put them on book jackets, but that approach probably isn’t the best for your testimonials. It makes it look like you’ve taken a quote out of context and have something to hide.
Asking clients for a picture to go along with their comments is a great way to add a human element to your testimonials and can even increase conversions. It shows visitors these aren’t just words on a computer screen; these are people whose lives you’ve improved in a measureable way.
Frozen Fire Films used this strategy with corporate logos next to each company’s respective testimonial. Take a look at how they did it:
If you supply different kinds of video services, you can direct different “types” of prospects to specific areas of your website and display related testimonials there. You don’t want to overwhelm your visitors with too many testimonials, especially if they aren’t relevant to their needs.
4. Putting it All Together
Let’s take a look at a sample email pitch to tie everything together and show you how to apply these principles in your business:
Hi [Client Name],
I really enjoyed working with you on your corporate training video project. Thanks for the kind words in your last email. I’d love to turn your feedback into a testimonial and showcase it on my website.
This would be huge in helping me get more clients, and I’m more than happy to include a link back to your company website to help increase your exposure online.
It wouldn’t need to be anything long. 2-3 sentences would be great. I’d love to emphasize:
- How the training video I produced has affected your company
- Why you decided to hire me, even though I wasn’t the lowest-priced option
- Anything else you’d like to talk about
Just let me know how this sounds to you. If you have any questions or would like me to work through this with you, I’m happy to help.
Thanks,
[Your Name]
Get the Powerful Testimonials You Need to Land More Video Clients
Strategic testimonials are one of the best ways to separate yourself from your competitors and land more video clients.
They don’t take a ton of time or effort, but they do take a little strategy. Apply the principles in this post to get the testimonials you need to stand out from your competitors, impress your website visitors, and turn them into new clients!
How do you collect testimonials from your video clients? Do you have any tips you’d like to share? Leave a comment below and let us know.
