We know that the greatest power to build your business lies in the form of testimonials. Unfortunately for many of us those testimonials are in the form of thank you cards, letters and notes and we have secretly tucked them away in a desk drawer or a folder. There they occasionally make us feel better about ourselves when we take them out and read them, but we are not leveraging them to get more business in a real estate transaction. So here are the Course Creators’ tips for leveraging the power of testimonials:

1. Get the testimonials in writing. Their value increases 1000 fold if they are in a format that we can use in our marketing and solicitation of business.

2. Get written permission to use the testimonials. Create a simple form that clients and customers can sign to authorize you to use their name in your advertising and marketing.

3. Use the testimonials in your sales presentations. Get them all on a brochure or a piece that you can hand to potential future clients. The best answer when someone ask you why they should hire you should always be, “Why don’t I let my past clients tell you!”

4. Make the testimonials public. Most of the internet sites that are utilized today to create business require you to complete a personal profile. Find somewhere in that profile to post your testimonials. Even if there is not a specific category for testimonials on the profile, get creative. We often put ours under the “About Me” section or under the “Credentials” section. Due to the magic of “cut and paste” if you keep them in a centralized place in your computer then this becomes a much easier task when you create a profile and it is a step that you should keep on your profile checklist.

5. Use the Notes feature in facebook. You can use facebook’s notes feature to capture the good comments that get posted on your wall. Within facebook people often post comments and thank you notes on your facebook wall. Left unattended they pass down your wall as new comments are added and eventually fade into oblivion. We are of the opinion that the fact the testimonial was made in public on your wall mitigates the need for you to get signed permission to reuse the testimonial. Open the notes feature in facebook and cut and paste the testimonials that appear on your wall into a testimonial note for future reference. The note feature makes it easy for you to add additional testimonials. This is a technique that we teach in our FaceBiz courses and if you do not know how to do this we will teach you in the FaceBiz course. You can also learn more about using facebook for business from our FaceBiz training video which has over 3 hours of solid information about what facebook can do for your business.

6. Solicit recommendations on Linkedin. One of the greatest features of Linkedin is its ability to generate and help you collect recommendations. Those recommendations show directly on your linkedin profile. What’s the easiest way to get a Linkedin recommendation? Well of course you can ask for one, but we have found that the easiest way to get a recommendation is to give one. You can learn more about Linkedin in our Linkedin course or from our Linkedin training video.

7. Consider converting testimonials into references. You do this by having the person include their name, phone number or website at the bottom of the testimonial. It gives additional assurance to a potential reader that the testimonial is valid and in fact they could follow up and use that testimonial as a reference. We recommend that when you are writing testimonials and recommendations for other people that you include this information at the bottom of your testimonial.

Nothing you say can sell you or your services better than written verification from other people. Get IT! Use IT! Become More Successful Because of IT!