In most industries a good percentage of business comes from referrals. And it doesn’t cost you much to get it.
However, apart from the occasional testimonial in a brochure or advert, most companies don’t know how to get more mileage from these often glowing and extremely valuable personal endorsements.
Here’s a modern video approach to your biggest sales asset: what your customers say about you.
Why use customer endorsements?
Have you ever bought anything on Amazon? And did you read a few customers comments and how many stars they awarded? And was this because you trust the user more than the sales person or the manufacturer’s press release?
Customers are believable. They use the product, perhaps every day. They know what’s good about it and they know what’s not so good. By using it, they are close to it. They are unbiased experts. In their hands the product comes alive.
They can talk about how well it worked, how long it lasted, what your installation and customer support services were like, how you helped them to upgrade, how you made it affordable with a handy payment plan, how nice your team was to work with.
It’s an all-round view that your prospective customer will appreciate. In short, it only takes a handful of knowledgeable customers to tell people everything about your company and your products, on video. This isn’t just handy information for prospective customers, it’s also invaluable for your marketing department.
And when customers endorse you on video, the effect is magnified. Your prospect sees real people on camera, catches their enthusiasm, appreciates their no-nonsense comments, and identifies with them by what they look like, what they wear and how they speak.
Delivering Video Testimonials
Every exposure, every customer touch point is an opportunity to play a
video endorsement.
Your exhibition stand is a favourite. So is the PowerPoint you use during major account presentations. If your website is a busy site then your customers’ endorsements (notice the plural - lots of customer endorsements) will gain loads of exposure as video streams. And what about tenders that you have to submit digitally on CD? Or consumers shopping in-store?
Any self-respecting marketer could think of at least six different touch point areas where a ringing video testimonial could be worth mega-bucks.
Getting Your Customers On Camera
t’s not difficult to get customers to agree to give a video endorsement. The trick is nailing down a time and a place when and where they’re available. For example, three endorsements might well mean sending your video crew out on three separate days, to anywhere in the UK.
You can make the most of this by getting a few of the customers’ managers to talk about your products and services too. Often a technical endorser will add a nice counterpoint to the director, who tends to sound off on broader issues.
Or if you shoot a family for a B2C (business to consumer) product, then get Gran in on the act too if she’s game for it. Your customers will trust you so long as you assure them that they’ll see the final edit prior to any public release. They need to feel comfortable by having the last word.
Summing up
Next time you’re in front of a prospect and are about to tell them how your last customer, XYZ Ltd, loved the product, pause for breath and hit the play button.
Then let XYZs Chief Exec, or Engineering Manager, tell the story for you. Whether it’s a 500 product, a 50,000 system or a 500,000 major purchase, they much prefer hearing the business reasons from someone who has already spent the money. Your customer once had to make a case for their purchase, either to themselves, to a Director, or to the whole Board.
The video testimonial gives your prospect the confidence and the rationale to do the same.
You can read more real life questions and answers about how to use video, multimedia and web to grow your business at
www.rossiterandco.com. Kevin Rossiter is an multi-award-winning UK producer with many multi-national customers and 20 years experience helping companies to win high value contracts.
Rossiter & Co produce client testimonial videos, with prices starting from around £6,000.
Video Testimonials Ltd offers you a specialised service, bringing you all the benefits of increased customer confidence, without the huge expense or hassle.
Internet Research