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Joeann Fossland, e-PRO, GRI, PMN, MCC

One of the best ways for you to communicate your value to your prospects is by using testimonials. A third party endorsement will carry more weight than anything you say about yourself. You should be alert to opportunities to capture testimonials. This isn’t a matter of waiting for a client to send you a letter with great comments about your service. That happens rarely. Rather you need to be aware of the testimonials “waiting to happen!”

Here are nine tips for collecting testimonials:

  • When someone says something in praise of your efforts, ask immediately if you can use their wording. Just say, "I’d love to be able to quote you. We like to let others know how committed we are to delivering superior service." When they say, “Sure,” just jot down what they said and ask them to sign it.
  • Set up a file on your computer for these comments.
  • Marilyn Urso, of Long Island Village Realty in Syosset, NY, uses the time at settlement when the copies are being made to ask for a testimonial. She builds her advertising campaign around these endorsements.
  • If the praise is in a phone conversation, send off an email confirming what they said, asking their permission for you to use it as a testimonial.
  • Create a book with all your testimonials in it. Take this on your listing appointments.
  • Always include some testimonials your pre-list package matched demographically or psychographically to the prospect you are pursuing.
  • Post testimonials all over your website. It would be fine to have one on every page relating to the topic of that page.
  • Use pictures. Gary Scott with John Hall and Associates in Phoenix calls them picturemonials! Put the client in the picture with their glowing phrases!
  • Even better, use audio! Record what their comments. With your laptop or tablet computer, you can take advantage of the built in microphone, letting them speak for themselves. Post it in a wav file to your website or send in an email!

According to the National Assn. of REALTORS Home Buyer and Seller Profile, relationships account for 71% of seller choice of an agent and 55% of buyer’s choice! You’ll build trust by using the experiences of real, live people and it will be easier to build relationship with the new prospect. Make it easy for people to know what you do well and why they should work with you! Plus, doesn’t it just feel good having people say nice things about you?

(Joeann Fossland, Certified e-PRO Trainer, GRI, PMN, is a Master Certified Coach.)

Comments (34)

  2. Thank you Joanne. I had not thought about using photos of the
    clients giving the testimonial! I will do so. I have consistently
    requested testimonials and permission from the client to use them
    while the client is feeling the great satisfaction of a sale or
    purchase. I use a sampling on my website so as not to overload the
    page (less is more!?).
    Thanks for your great suggestions!
    Don

  3. I have collected testimonials for 20 years. Most are in letter form. I pull quotes from the letters and use them in my advertising, 3 fold brochure, on my web site and in my relocation packages I include the entire letter. Most clients are happy to give me a testimonial. I always ask at the closing or shortly thereafter. I have even gotten testimonials/ congratulations from politicians after letting them know I have taken a course to improve my real estate skills. They understand people that are trying to improve themselves and of course they want your vote.
    I have just put togther an ad for a community publication and used quote from past clients as the main focus.

  4. First of all thanks a lot for the informative and useful information. I have to admit that it was quite interesting to read this your post about the testimonials. These your tips are really useful and I will definitely try to follow all of them in the future. I totally agree that one of the best ways for us to communicate our value to our prospects is by using testimonials. I have never collected the testimonials and I really regret of that. But from this day I will definitely do it. Thanks a lot one more time for the useful advices and keep up publishing those great and informative posts in the future. Regards, Peter Thompson from fetish clubs website

  5. Testimonials are endorsements for your products or services. For a web site, they can increase the trust that people will have about your company and possibly provide the confidence necessary to buy your products. Check out our Testimonials page for some real examples.

  6. Tips
    1. Testimonials from satisfied customers are always the best. You can also pay for celebrity endorsements, however, unless that celebrity is somehow an expert on your product – it is not recommended that you pay money for this.
    2. Always use real testimonials; fabricated endorsments do not have the same ring of truth that a genuine endorsement will.
     
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  7. Testimonials are fantastic but I think you have to be a bit more creative now, the best guys are the how to make money online guys as they hammer testimonials usind videos.  In my debt solutions business we are looking to add hundreds to our web page rather than the normal half a dozen, this way people will be over whelmed and know we are a little bit different from the competition.

  8. Since the basic purpose of the internet is to share the knowledge and to communciate with each other, I can say that blogs and forums are playing one of the vital role in sharing the knowledge and to communicate with each other.

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