We all know the POWER of testimonials. But, frankly, they can be a hassle to get.

So...

When you're trying to get testimonials from clients, what types of questions are you asking them?

In other words, how do you ask THE RIGHT QUESTIONS so that you get the BEST testimonial possible?

(I know of people writing the testimonial "for" the client to sign off on... but I'm not sure that's the best approach.)

Thoughts anyone?

Shameless plug alert:
I'll be releasing a product in a few months called The Proof Package, covering the nuts and bolts of getting and using great testimonials. In that package, I'll reveal the client interview questions and process that yield great testimonials. Stay tuned ...

You're right, that's not the best approach. One of the most powerful aspects of testimonials is that they are genuine ... so they need to sound genuine. It can be very hard for a biz owner to get the voice of his customer right.

David Garfinkel wrote a 2 page summary on this.

It was by far the best thing I have ever read by anyone on getting killer testimonials.

Not 'good' ones.

KILLER ones.

Ones that give you the proof you need to backup all your claims.

You ask 6 very specific questions that allow you to piece together those testimonials you see amazing copywriters use.

Try and email David to see if he still has this summary somewhere.

I think the report was called Copwriting Magnets. (something similar to this.)

I Googled this with the search terms "David Garfinkel Copywriting Magnets", but don't know if this is what you are looking for...

http://www.articlesofinterest.com/Co...ing/56043.html

-- still a great article along with others at this site:

http://www.articlesofinterest.com/Copywriting/

Asking customers for a testimonial can deter them from giving one because they fear that their contact details may be published.

Ask them for their comments instead. If you recieve a positive comment then contact them and ask if you can use it in your sales message explaining that you won't publish their full contact details, but ask them for their occupation. This way you can sign the testimonial as, P Jones, Security Officer; Ted Holroyd, Sales Assistant. etc.

The best testimonials are those of everyday people, this shows that your product is suitable for everyday people. When I say everyday people, I mean just ordinary folk; ideally you should have a photo of that person in casual clothes, not a suit as this may look like it has been staged.

Wow -- yet another tentacle of the Google octopus. Great site, thanks for alerting us to it, Stephen!

I notice that Ray L. Edwards (Raydal) has several articles in the copywriting section there.

Ken

Here is Garfinkle interviewing Edwards on the topic.....

http://www.teachingcommunity.org/eph...stimonials.pdf

Hey sky. . .here's a tip for long urls:

www.tinyurl.com

Your post stretched my browser from its normal size.

Note how nice and tiny tinyurl.com makes looooooooong urls:

http://tinyurl.com/mng2d

Your 96 character url was shrunk down to just 24 characters.

Sorry. I hope that didn't hurt too much J.K.

Oh, and I remember a D.Kennady interview with a yellow pages expert. He said to figure out when the "juices were flowing the best" and hit them with the testimonial request right then. For mens suits it was after the checkout with the suit in hand. But with carpet cleaning the testimonial forms (With a free deal attached) where handed out stamped and ready to mail. The "juices flowed" after they get a look around the place.

The important thing is to make it part of your SYSTEM. If its automatic then you get plenty to work with.