18
How to Get Testimonials from Your Happy Customers
This chapter lays out the process of gathering powerful feedback, insights, and testimonials from your happy customers. The foundation for this approach is detailed in my previous book, The Revenue Growth Habit, but you will find the details that follow to be a streamlined, updated version of that process. I've personally conducted and overseen thousands of additional customer interviews since writing that book, and the approaches detailed in this chapter take into account the many lessons learned from those sessions.
The Purpose of These Conversations
Always remember the purpose of these conversations: we want testimonials that detail what your customers love about working with you. I know you will be uncomfortable asking for this because we are not used to asking for positive feedback. In fact, it is much more comfortable for us to ask, “What can we do better?” rather than “What do you like best about working with us?”
If it's feedback for improvement, we know what to do. We can jump into action. We go fix the problem.
If it's feedback about what you're doing well, we don't know what to do.
A few thoughts about this.
First, you don't have to necessarily do anything. You simply have to understand and believe the positive feedback they are communicating to you.
Second, if you must do something, here are a few actions that can help grow your sales:
- Double down on the things your customers say they love about you. For example, if the customer explains that they love it when you come and see them—see them some more.
- Next, put their testimonials on paper and keep them on the top of your desk. Read them. Regularly.
- Third, communicate these testimonials to other customers and prospects. This is your key sales growth strategy with this feedback, and I detail it in depth in Chapter 30.
But always remember the reason for these conversations—the why: we are trying to understand and amass details on what our customers enjoy, value, and appreciate about working with us. That's the work.
First, We Need the Happy Customers
Angry customers do not give good testimonials.
That's why we must set up these conversations with happy customers, the ones who have been with you a long time and keep coming back every year.
The unhappy customers call, right?
They make themselves known and do not require much proactive effort.
We don't need to be intentional about talking to customers with problems. That's a reactive occurrence; those phone calls come to us.
It's the happy customers we need to go get. So, let's go get them.
First, identify a handful you will target.
This Is a Telephone Activity
I cannot emphasize this strongly enough: the customer feedback we are talking about is not an Internet survey.
It is not a questionnaire to email.
Those have a place, as a low‐level, low‐response data‐gathering exercise.
But this is not one of those.
This is a high‐level human conversation focused on value, relationship, and emotion.
This is a telephone activity.
On the phone you can follow up and dig in.
On the phone you can hear your customer's tone of voice and react accordingly.
On the phone you can use silence to your advantage (more on this further on). With emails, the only silence you'll experience is from the customers who don't reply.
On the phone you can respond to what the customer is saying in real time.
On the phone you can listen interactively (“Yes, it's important” or “That's interesting”).
You can check for understanding: “Did I get that right?” You can confirm things.
You can even state the testimonial yourself and ask if it's true! Here is an example:
- You: “So am I hearing you say that working with us saves you time?”
- Customer: “Yes, it definitely does.”
- And here is your testimonial: “Working with T‐Co. saves us time.”
None of this happens by email.
In fact, little of any real value happens by email. Use the phone instead.
How to Ask for Participation
Here's something that has not changed from when I wrote about this in The Revenue Growth Habit three years ago: there are still only two ways to request this kind of customer feedback:
- The first option: schedule phone calls to interview your happy customers.
You may schedule the call by email, but it must be conducted by phone. Here is your language to set up the call:
What happy customer in their right mind would say no to this? No, I'm not going to help you serve me better!
You will find the vast majority of people agreeing.
- The second option: ask for feedback at the end of another conversation.
This is the second option, but in the years since writing this process up in The Revenue Growth Habit, I've found this approach to be less effective. Mostly because some salespeople I've worked with find the transition to the testimonial conversation difficult. My best advice here is to just read the conversation request that follows. Read it confidently, joyfully, conversationally, and the customer will be happy to oblige.
The approach here is to initiate the testimonial conversation at the end of another call, where you are discussing something else. Here's what you say:
Then transition into the setup that follows.
How to Conduct the Interviews
So, you've got the call on your calendar, the happy customer is expecting your call, and you are calling at the appointed time. Here is what you do.
Set Up the Call
Let's quickly analyze what's happening here.
I am asking for testimonials without using the word. “Will you give me a testimonial?” is stressful. That word causes people anxiety. Avoid it.
I am asking for testimonials by asking the customer for feedback. Feedback and reactions are easy. People love being asked what they're thinking. But ask somebody to give you a testimonial and they'll clam up and tell you they have to put their thoughts together and get back to you.
I am making a promise: this will be quick (10 minutes) and easy. I will keep this promise. And if the customer is giving good, long answers, I will make sure to tell the customer a few minutes before time runs out that we are approaching the limit, and that I want to be respectful of their time. The vast majority of responses will be, “That's okay. We can go over,” or “Let's take as long as you need.” Why do they do this? Because they're enjoying the conversation! It's fun, pleasant, and highly unusual. They don't do this every day! (Or even once a year, in most cases!)
I compliment them repeatedly. In the email and in the first 30 seconds I tell the customer that she is one of our best. People love that. They say, “Thank you.” Or, “Oh, wow!” Or, “Well, I hope I won't disappoint you!” Think about that: they are doing us a favor. They are giving us testimonials. And they are thanking us for it!
Now, Get Permission to Record the Call
The key here is that this is an easy yes.
You've set up what you're going to do. You've gained agreement for the structure of the call. You have what I call “yes momentum” at this point. And now you ask if you can record the call. Out of thousands of calls like this, I can think of only two or three people who said no.
If you'd prefer, you can expand the request slightly: “Is it okay with you if I record the call, so that I correctly get what you say?”
The Single Most Important Question
Now that the interview has officially started, and your 10‐minute timer has begun, here is the only question you really need.
This is a big wide‐open question, on purpose. Ask, and be quiet. Ask, and listen. The person will likely pause to consider your question, because they've probably never been asked this question before. Ever!
The customer will rattle off a few good areas for us to dig into. For example:
- You're great. You're always on time.
- I can always reach somebody.
- You do what you say you're going to do.
Consider these three different spools of thread.
Now, the Work is to Pull the Thread
Now we must pull the thread to unwind the spool. That is, we want details. One at a time, dig in with some of the following questions:
So, we're just having a conversation, right?
Ask a lot of these types of questions:
Then, practice some active listening:
Be present.
We're just having a conversation.
If you're talking to your old friend and they tell you their daughter has picked a college, you don't immediately change the topic to the weather. Or yesterday's baseball scores. No, you dig into the daughter's decision:
- Wow, that's great! How did she pick that school?
- How far is that from home?
- What other schools did she consider?
- How do you feel about this?
- Does she have any idea what she's going to study yet?
It's the same with the happy customer. Dig into the major topics they provide you.
Now, Pivot to the Value
Now that you have the specific areas the customer finds valuable, it's time to dig into what this does for them:
These questions can be used on their own, or in combination with one another.
You can ask them in succession. Ask one, let the customer answer, then ask the next.
These are really powerful questions.
Here you are leading the customer to the actual benefit of working with you.
The customer will tell you incredibly high‐impact statements like:
- Working with you helps me look good to my customers.
- You help me make my customers happy.
- You let me focus on other parts of my job.
- You save me time.
- You make me more productive.
- You keep me from being yelled at!
- You're reliable.
- You bring me peace of mind.
These are the things that come up again and again in the thousands of interviews I have done with my clients' customers. These are powerful statements of value and relationship. They are about what you do and how you do it, not what you sell. They are about your value, not your products and services. They are about why the customer buys from you. They are about your relationship, not your products. This is what you do. This is how you help people. Believe it.
Other Questions to Ask During the Interview
Here are some other questions to ask during your conversation:
The purpose of the questions just listed is to lead the customer toward the testimonials we would like to capture. It's okay to ask about specific areas of your value like this. When I interview my clients' customers, I want to know about the impact on the customers' lives and work. How, specifically, do my clients help in the areas of time, money, and elsewhere? If you feel you can use some testimonials in a specific area, say, for example, shipping times, you can ask about that: “How do you feel about our shipping times? And how does that help you when we deliver on time?”
Like that. Ask and they shall answer.
Your happy customers will not hesitate to tell you what's on their minds.
Quantify and Emotionalize
As you talk to your customers, aim to quantify and emotionalize the feedback they give you. Quantify it like this:
Let's say the customer says, “20.”
You say: “And if you stacked them up from best to worst, and ranked them on the kinds of things we're talking about here—saving you time, being reliable, and delivering on time—where would you rank us in the 20?” They will most likely say toward the very top.
Also work on getting to the emotion these numbers generate.
Customer: “You save me time.”
You: “How much time?”
Customer: “I'd guess 20 percent.”
You: “Wow! 20 percent in one day a week or 52 days a year?! Am I right on that?”
Customer: “At least that much.” (Common response: at least that much.)
You: “That's amazing! Thank you so much for this compliment. Have you ever thought about it this way before?”
Customer: “I guess not.”
Customer: “That's amazing. It's wonderful. I feel like I absolutely made the right choice, and I'd tell anyone they would, too.”
There it is.
The customer said that working with you is amazing and wonderful, and that he absolutely made the right choice. And they'd tell anybody who asks!
There's the power of having these kinds of conversations with your customers.
This kind of feedback does not walk in the door.
You have to go get it.
Obtain Permission to Use These Comments
Toward the end of your time for the interview, close with the following statement and request:
This is your request for permission to share their testimonials.
Nearly everybody will agree.
And why wouldn't they?
They've just been glowing about you for 10 minutes. They love you. Of course they don't mind if you use their comments.
Most people say, “Of course you can!” Or “Anything you need!” Because people appreciate the opportunity to help you!
You help them a great deal, every day, and now they're happy to help you.
The only people who won't grant permission are those who work at very large companies with legal and public relations departments. They will likely decline because they are not allowed to speak about the company in the public domain. If this happens to you, just take a step back and ask them if you can use their first name and company name with their comments. If they are still not comfortable, take another step back: “What if I use only your general job title and describe the company: ‘Purchasing Manager at a Fortune 500 technology manufacturer’—would that be okay with you?” At this point, nearly all of these folks will agree.
A Note on Language
We will dig into language in depth in the next part of the book, but I wanted to make an important point here about your language for getting these powerful testimonials.
Talk to the customer as though you're having a drink together.
If you don't drink, imagine you're two friends having a cup of coffee together.
Be conversational.
Be comfortable.
Ask questions in easy, breezy language. Make your requests easy to agree to.
Not “give me testimonials,” but “what are some of your favorite things about working with us?” People get stressed out with the word “testimonials.” They clam up. They don't know what to say. But ask them to talk about what they like best about working with you, and this answer they know. They can talk about it all day. They think about it every time the competition calls. They know what they like, and they're happy to tell us.
Not “May I put your testimonials on my website?” but “Is it okay with you if I use some of your comments in my materials?” The latter request is not scary. It's comfortable. Elegant, even.
Think about the impact of your language on the person you are talking to.
Have a lightness to your questions.
And be sure of yourself.
If you're anxious and uncomfortable, it will show in your demeanor and your language, your customer will be able to tell, and you will probably have a choppy, awkward conversation.
You've experienced this too: you can tell when the other person is nervous. It comes across in their conversation.
If you're comfortable, relaxed, and enjoying yourself, it will also show, and you'll have a pleasant, enjoyable exchange.
There's nothing to be nervous about here. Remember, your customers are happy, and they will be happy to tell you what they love about working with you. Many of them will feel as though you are doing them the favor!
Enjoy your conversation. This is fun!
Use Silence
There's an important component to doing these interviews that's not obvious from the coaching so far.
We need to use silence to our advantage, and the customer's advantage, to give them an opportunity to think about the answers to our questions.
Don't fill the silence with uncomfortable chatter.
Ask a question and wait for the customer to answer it.
You have been preparing to ask these questions for a while, but the customer has not been thinking about them.
You may have a script of questions in front of you, but the customer does not have her answers written out. Let her think!
Now, if she is obviously struggling, and doesn't know the answer, don't leave her hanging. Help her.
More on silence in Chapter 23.