Your Million-Dollar Testimonial Strategy: Using Testimonials to Counter Objections

Recently, we conducted an information call for our community on the impact of recent Federal Trade Commission Guides on Endorsements and Testimonials. The call was focused on the impact of newly refined restrictions on using Testimonials in advertising and marketing, specifically on new requirements for how results are communicated (you can still get the recording here).

Along the way of preparing, we came across a quick piece from Bill Glazer – head of the Glazer Kennedy Inner Circle. In the face of these restrictions, Bill suggested an alternative way to use testimonials. And it’s brilliant. In fact, we dubbed it a “Million-Dollar” strategy.

Most of us spend our time using Testimonials to provide the outcome of our product or service. If it’s supposed to help you make money, our testimonials show how much money customers made. If it’s supposed to help you lose weight, then the testimonials show how much weight customers have lost. In other words, it provides social proof for the benefit of using the product or service.

At the same time, we know very well that in any sales process, there are bound to be some hiccups along the way, even when the prospect believes the outcome that can be achieved. In other words, objections.

And skilled sales professionals know the prospects well enough to know what those objections are and how to counter them. But what few do is actually use testimonials for objection handling.

That is your Million-Dollar Strategy.

At the end of the day, your job in selling your product and service is to have the prospect trust what you tell them. Trust that they can obtain the results you indicate. And if they have an objection, trust your explanation on why it shouldn’t be a roadblock. We already know that testimonials are the single most trusted source of information for prospects so using them for objections is the most important thing you can do for effective objection handling.

So here is what you need to do:

1. Sit down and write down your top three sales objections.
2. For each objection, review your testimonial pool to find one that specifically addresses that objection. If you don’t have one – go get one by identifying the customers who best demonstrate overcoming that objection and asking them for a testimonial (help them by drafting it for them).
3. Use those testimonials alongside your web content and in your marketing materials.

Especially with the increasing restrictions on how results are portrayed in testimonials, this million-dollar strategy is a necessity so don’t delay…

Dedicated to increasing your sales,

Colleen