A library of customer testimonials is an important asset in building a company you can sell. Getting customers on-the-record using a Flip Video camera will help you demonstrate to an acquirer that you have a real, sustainable business with customers who like what you do. Take these 3 steps for great results.
1. Get Results-Based Testimonials
In the old days testimonials were what Joe Polish, the legendary marketer behind Nightingale-Conant’s' #1 bestselling tape series for 3 years “Piranha Marketing”, calls “That-A-Boy” testimonials. Polish say “That-A-Boy” testimonials are nice but what you want is “Results Based” testimonials.
Results Based testimonials are customers providing hard numbers of how you made (or saved) them money. Polish uses Results-Based testimonials captured on a Flip Video to flog his “25K Club” product which invites information marketers to plunk down $25,000 for the chance to meet with Joe and his peers four times a year.
Joe claims his $25K members will get at least $250,000 in valuable ideas and connections in their first meeting. Sounds like snake oil but when you see credible business owners like Dean Graziosi the real estate guy or Tim Ferriss the Four Hour Work Week Guy or Harv Eker the author of “Secrets of The Millionaire Mind” describe their results working with Joe, you start to think he just might be for real.
2. Capture Your “Social Proof”
Polish calls testimonials “social proof” and a Flip Video camera allows you to capture video and upload it quickly and easily to YouTube. Joe takes his Flip Video everywhere he goes and by chance, power networking and plain dumb luck he has captured video of himself with Richard Branson, Paula Abdul & Tim Ferriss.
3. Ugly Works
In a world of reality TV and grainy YouTube footage, Joe believes the more authentic your video, the better. So don’t worry about the pregnant pauses and dead air, Joe says leave it all in if you want a credible piece of social proof.'I took Joe’s advice and prepared an “ugly” video on why I wrote my new book "Built To Sell: Turn Your Business Into One You Can Sell."
Don't Miss:
John Warrillow is an entrepreneur, author, and speaker. Throughout his career, John has started and exited four companies. Most recently he transformed Warrillow & Co. from a boutique consultancy specializing in studying and reporting on the small business market into a recurring revenue model subscription business, which he sold in 2008 to Corporate Executive Board. Warrillow is the author of "Built To Sell: Turn Your Business Into One You Can Sell".
Follow InformationWeek SMB on Twitter @http://twitter.com/infoweeksmb
Get InformationWeek SMB on your mobile device @http://mobile.bmighty.com
