How to Get Testimonials If No One Has Paid You Yet

When you’re in a service business, potential customers who are checking you out always want to see if others have had the results you promise from your product or service. The more expensive and the more intangible the service (i.e. you can’t see, touch, smell or taste it), the more examples they want to see that show you can deliver on your promises.

This is often a stumbling block if your business is new and you haven’t had a real, paying, customer yet. Relatives, spouses and your closest friends don’t count! Fortunately there are legitimate ways to get that all-important social proof without waiting until you’ve worked with several customers.

One of the best is to gather potential customers who you think would be an ideal fit for your new service and ask them to participate in a trial or pilot project. Charge them a nominal fee in exchange for their participation. Be clear at the outset that the reason they’re getting your services at a reduced rate is so that you can test it and gain their suggestions for improvement. State that in exchange for this lower fee they will be asked to supply their input, and if they are happy with the service, you’ll invite them to provide a client testimonial. It’s really important to be transparent about this so that each side is crystal clear on the expectations. It’s also important that your test run participants understand the price they are paying is NOT your normal rate and they will not continue to get service from you at this preferred price if they want to continue with you later.

I’m not a proponent of giving your value away for free, but there are some cases where it is helpful to do so. In these circumstances, even though you may be giving something away for free, you’re not giving it away for nothing. Let me show you some examples where it can be beneficial.

• A free consultation that provides the potential client with the chance to get a sense of your value.
• A trial, no obligation offer.
• A donation of service or product. This can be a product, or even a free event ticket or spot in a program.

When you are giving away services in these cases, you’re getting value from the connection with a potential client. If you’ve done a good job of identifying who your ideal clients are, and have created a solution to a problem they have, your prospects will go from lukewarm to hot and ready to buy from you very quickly.

The double-duty strategy is that in all of these examples, you have a very natural and comfortable reason to go back to the individual to ask for feedback. You’re establishing further rapport and if they’re happy, you can then ask if they’re willing to supply you with a testimonial. Most often they say yes, especially because it means added exposure for them (tip: be sure to ask for a photo, link to their website, a written testimonial, and even video and audio formats; you never know where you might end up using them).

One point you should know about is that recently, the FTC has cracked down on the use of online testimonials. This is a good thing, because it means that the playing field will be leveled between the honest and the, shall we say, contortionists who excel at stretching the facts.  Make sure that you familiarize yourself and know your obligations. Here’s one resource. In a nutshell, don’t promise what you can’t guarantee you can deliver, and use testimonials as they are intended – to provide your customers with real-life and realistic examples of what they can expect from using your services.

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.

How to Get Credibility Before Getting Customers

If you’re in a brand new business, or entering a new market, you may feel that your biggest business hurdle is getting your first paying customer. Like the catch-22 of finding your first job without experience, it can be discouraging. While desperately wishing someone would give you a chance, you may also be hesitant to put yourself out there because technically, you haven’t “done the work” with clients yet.

If you find yourself in this position, don’t despair. There are lots of ways to build a base that can gain you confidence as well as clients.

1. Remember that you know more than you think you do. What comes easy to you is probably the thing that your client market, if well chosen, struggles with. “Expert” status is relative.
2. Create your platform. Before you protest that you don’t have one, keep it simple. Brainstorm the topics you want to become known for – your own tips you want to share, helpful resources you want your target clients to know about, and so on. You don’t have to be 100% original, but you do need to be 100% authentic. Having something new to say is not always possible, but a fresh take, or translating concepts in a meaningful and helpful way is the basis for a platform and connection with your market. If you take the time to develop this up front, you’ll have plenty of “street cred” in a short time.
3. Create something of value you can offer potential clients that you meet in person and online. Think of this as your “free taste”. It could be a consultation, a brochure or white paper, video or audio, or take another form as long as it shares useful information with potential clients. But remember, this is not a sales piece; your goal is to give value and by association, a hint at the great work you can do.
4. Get a simple website up along with a way to collect potential clients’ emails and start communicating with them. Don’t wait months to get your website perfect before you go live with it. Your website is not the end, it is the means to the end and only one way to capture leads and get visibility. What’s more important is following up. Consistency is key here! Publish a newsletter, or send informational articles out at least 2-3 times per month to people in your new database.
5. Write articles and publish them on your website and send to your contacts.
6. Leverage everything you do by also publishing it in article directories, and breaking the content into small tips to share on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
7. Gather testimonials and publish them on your site and in your newsletter (don’t forget your LinkedIn recommendations too). If you don’t have any paying clients yet, it is legitimate to start with references you have from past employers and contacts as long as the work is related. However, there are ways you can get current testimonials without having paying clients yet – watch for an article on this subject next week.
8. Publicize yourself. Rather than wait for someone to declare you the expert, do it yourself! Write articles, publish video, hold free teleseminars or speak to groups. Whether your strength is writing or speaking, there are many ways to self-promote which will quickly lead to others inviting you as long as you have something valuable to say.
9. Get out there! Become active in the networks and market you aspire to serve. Pick up the phone or send emails to people who you feel are good matches to work with in future joint ventures, as well as people knowledgeable about the market you are seeking. Most people are quite willing to share, provided you have done your homework and are respectful of their time.
10. Have faith!

It often takes a few months to see the results of your efforts. However, by promoting your business in these strategic ways, before you even have a paying client, you will gain momentum (and confidence) faster than you think possible. Many clients tell me it begins to feel “real” as soon as they take the first steps. Taking action also signals to the world that you’re serious about this, so the sooner you begin, the faster you will see the results.

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.

Keep Left on the Service Spectrum

There’s an elusive line that many business owners never cross, and as a result, never get the see the rewards that are waiting on the other side. I think of it as the Service Spectrum.

It’s the line between being  a service provider, and an expert. Imagine a horizontal line, and at the far left is the pure Subject Expert, sought out for knowledge and unique expertise or message. This person probably spends a lot of time speaking, often doing short term consulting, perhaps is also an author or a popular media source.

At the far right is the Supreme Doer. She is the go-to person to get “it” done; the worker bee who excels at a particular skill, and works with one client at a time. This person spends most of her time on project work for clients, and often approaches her work with clients the same way she did as an employee in her career days.

There is nothing wrong with being a Supreme Doer, but here’s the rub: most Doers make less money, feel more overworked and discouraged, and enjoy less flexibility in their business, because they’re so busing doing the work, they don’t spend time on growing themselves or their businesses. These are the business owners who most often under-earn, and become disillusioned.

The biggest mistake (and recipe for heartache) is to be a Supreme Doer, and offer the complete, done-for-you service as your base, most common, and lowest priced service .  Or  worst of all, to have it be your ONLY service and have it be underpriced, to boot.

My goal for you is that you take the time to consider what you want, and how you want to work. You will know in your heart if you are a happy Doer or a dissatisfied Doer. If you are a business owner who feels stuck, take a look at where you are in the service spectrum and migrate left!

If you are like most Doers, you hesitate, even feel adamantly opposed, to seeing yourself as a Subject Expert. You don’t know enough, you haven’t been around long enough, and besides, there are already lots of them, so who do you think you are?

If you feel that way, go for the middle. There are lots of ways to add services to your business that move away from one-to-one, doing it all for each client. You will also make more money, feel more in control, and have the time to enjoy the work and your clients more.

Here’s one example of a favorite approach I like to recommend to clients.

• Create a choice of three levels of service for your clients.
• Charge the most for the complete, done-for-you solution, and have this be the most hands-on service you provide. Charging more for this allows you to take on less clients and have time to work on other areas of your business. At this end of the spectrum, you may choose to offer more than one package, and that’s ok, as long as the choices you offer have enough of a margin between them that it makes good sense from your perspective as well as your clients (tip: a great way to do this is to offer a-la-carte choices as add-ons, and let your clients custom design what they want, of course, based on the choices you give them).
• Have a mid-level solution in which clients receive a done-with-you level of service. Get creative with this. This could mean training or coaching them through while they “do” the work themselves, or it could mean you project manage them after you complete the project to a certain point. Depending on the kind of business you have, it may also mean working with clients as a group.
• Have an offering that is purely content and subject driven. For example, you could offer training classes, workshops, or do-it-yourself resources on the topics that you get the most questions about when working with your clients. Or, you could provide short term consulting like providing an audit or expert opinion (tip: this is a great follow-up to clients for which you have provided “done-for-you” services).

This is just one approach to look at ways you can offer your services, there are many others. The point is, think beyond the traditional, single transaction, single client approach we have grown up conditioned to associate with providing a service or product. Think about what your clients most value, and other ways you can share your knowledge and expertise with them. Get creative, and remember to keep left!

Want to use this article? You can as long as you include this footer: Sherri Garrity is the Chief Corporate Fugitive and creator of the Five Keys Success SystemTM for ex-corporate employees and aspiring entrepreneurs who want to break free from the confines of their corporate experience and live outside of the ordinary. The Corporate Fugitive system demystifies the business of setting up, managing, marketing and growing a successful and extraordinary business. Visit www.corporatefugitive.com for information and step-by-step resources to take you from overwhelmed employee to extraordinary entrepreneur.