Why Every Copywriter Needs Great Testimonials… And How To Get Them Quickly
Keywords: Copywriting, freelance, testimonials
A beginning copywriter recently asked the question, “How can my client quickly generate testimonials?”
The answer is the same for her client as it is for us: You must develop them!
I must confess that in my own copywriting business I was lazy in this department and had to scramble once I decided to correct my negligence. It’s a fact that every couple of months about 10 percent of your business contacts change jobs, get promoted, quit work, or otherwise leave their positions. When that happens, your chance for getting a glowing testimonial from a happy client is gone forever!
So listen up…here are the secrets to painlessly growing your testimonial list:
KEEP A TUNED EAR
Whenever a client compliments your work, ask immediately if you can use the statement as a testimonial. If it’s verbal, write it down and send it to the client right away for changes or approval.
Oftentimes a client will compliment you in an email. That’s even better. All you do is reply, and ask if you can use the written statement as a testimonial.
CULTIVATE TESTIMONIALS
If you did a great job for a client, they know it and you know it, ask for a testimonial. If you’re on the phone, listen for a slight hesitation. If you discern some reluctance, it’s probably not that your client doesn’t want to write you a testimonial, but that there’s something in the way.
I suspect the number one reason for reluctance is that you’ve just given your client a “job” to do. Now he has to think and spend time on your behalf, and it doesn’t benefit him in any way.
Another “objection” is that he may be intimidated. Many people are poor spellers or insecure about their writing ability in general. And now they’re being asked to write something for a professional writer!
You can blast past both barriers by offering to write the testimonial yourself.
My approach is always something like this: “If you’d rather I write it and you edit, I can do that. I’ll write it as close as possible to what you just said. All you have to do is approve it or make any changes.”
I’ve never had a client say no to this suggestion. And often I’ve been able to tell that they were relieved that I assumed the burden.
REACH INTO THE PAST
If you’re just starting out in your freelance life and you don’t have any testimonials, don’t despair. Unless you were born yesterday, you DO have testimonials… they just haven’t been written yet.
Clients value more than a successful job. They value
professionalism. They care very much about deadlines. They want to know they’re working with a human being who’s easy to work with, not some stuffed shirt with a big ego.
Undoubtedly you’ve found favor in the eyes of those you’ve worked with in the past. Ask these people for testimonials! They can be past employers, friends you’ve done work for, even relatives (although it doesn’t look so good if they have the same last name).
So think. Who have you helped in the past? Ask them for a testimonial…and if they hesitate, offer to write it for them.
THE LEGAL SIDE
Whenever you get a testimonial, you should also get a signed and dated Testimonial Release. You’ll easily find forms on the Internet.
What you want is permission to use the testimonial in any or all of your marketing, and protection against lawsuit for using the testimonial.
You might wonder if a client’s permission, recorded in an email thread, will suffice. My guess is that the law would be on your side, but why take the chance? Although I’ve never heard of a copywriter being sued for testimonial use, copywriters are at risk for lawsuits.
A FINAL NOTE:
Testimonials are worthless unless they carry a full name (no initials!), a company name, and a location. You also want to publish your client’s title as well. Testimonials are about credibility. If you don’t supply the details, what’s the point?
Award-winning copywriter Chris Marlow publishes a free newsletter for freelancers who want to build a successful business. Visit:
www.FreelancersBusinessBulletin.com
Previous Articles Highlighter:
How To Find Business Web Hosting That Is Inexpensive (1)
This refers to the amount of information between hosing services. Make sure that the web hosting service you are getting has a good support service. Make sure you know how long they have been in operation to make sure that you are getting the best possible service that you can.
Blog Design And The Origin (2)
Is this going to be helpful to your web site? No, not really. Here we will offer the skinny on the phrase blog, and you can decide for yourself if it may or may not be useful in your web pages.
Do You Know How To Read The Signs Of A Bad Web Hosting Company? (3)
Still another way to check out a web host is to look at their profit. If the web host you are looking at is traded publicly take a look at their profit reports, if they are then youre in good shape, if not you probably want to look elsewhere.
Internet Home Based Businesses For Women (4)
People go online looking for information, they're looking for solutions to their problems, pain or fears, if you can provide a viable solution to genuinely help them you'll have a recipe for making money online.
How To Build Your Website As A Content Rich Site (5)
Therefore if you want to truly feel the impact of what a good article to you, go for original ones. There are many article writers do part time and freelance article writing jobs that charges only minimal fees.
How To Figure Out How Much Disk Space You Need For Your Website (6)
For websites there is also plenty of room to buy enough space to keep your site fully functioning. If you are still confused about computer disk space and web site space continue reading for a basic introduction to the two and their functions.
How Blogging Can Help You Take Your Business To The Next Level (7)
Another great place for blogs is on an intranet. An intranet is the company's internal network. A blog can be a great place for people from different parts of the company to share ideas.
Making Money With MLM (8)
If you wish to make it big in the marketing world, you must learn to do a few things very well. One, you must learn how to sell the largest number of your products to the largest number of possible people.
What Does A Megapreneur Know That The Rest Don't Know? (9)
Don't hesitation, there is nothing to hold you back. Go for it! Soon you will be rocking the net with your own powerful leverage. Jaz Lai is an Internet Business Expert.
Get Off Your Duff And Start Building Your Hit Squad (10)
This will definitely boost your link popularity with the Google PageRank at the same time. But you must be careful because trading links can sometimes be risky. You should be careful in choosing the websites you trade links to.
Earn Easy Money Online With Niche Products (11)
I tend to aim for less than 100,000 results for each search engine. I usually check the top three sites for that phrase to see how many back-links they have and how much SEO they have done on their site.
Ways To Make Money Online By Taking The Time (12)
If you are looking for ways to make money online, you can now see that time is what brings you the best results. Taking the time to grow, develop, maintain, and sustain your online business is what will eventually get you to riches!
The Secret To Getting Indexed In Hours By All The Major Search Engines (13)
This is a mistake I see made daily. Either there is no relevant title at all or the title is stuffed with so many keywords that it is watered down and will never rank well.
5 Parts Of A Profit-Making Online Business (14)
You can't control how many customers you get or how much profit you make. But you can be absolutely laser-focussed on the 5 parts of your business that will give you consistent, predictable results.
You Don't Need A Reason To Give A Cool Gift (15)
You don't need to be an highly skilled airline pilot these days to experience these and similar things. As I said at the beginning, don't wait for special occasions to give gifts, surprise your partner and let them know how special they are to you by giving thoughtful gifts that reflect their interests.
Travel Sites Boost Bookings With Multi-Currency Display (16)
"forget it, it's all too hard, I'll go to that next travel site that's listed in Google instead" Oops, there goes another lost booking, all because of the pop-up! When travelers don't find the information they need quickly, in the way they want to see it; these time poor and travel weary warriors will simply pop-out to the next competitor's site that does meet their needs by speaking in the customer's currency language.
Don't Make These Common 4 Affiliate Mistakes! (17)
Stories concerning affiliates who earn tremendous amounts of money swim in their heads, and while these stories are as true as they can be, there are those who believe that they are going to have the same fortune once they indulge in this particular business.
Chat Rooms - The Reason They Are Not Safe Is You! (18)
Chat rooms are no more dangerous than walking down the street. Would you stop and talk to a complete stranger and give him/her your home address? I seriously doubt it.
A Clever Way Copy Writers Can Strengthen Their Marketing: See Yourself As The Product! (19)
In every case however, their offer supports their USP. By creating an offer that supports your USP, your marketing materials can do most of the selling, allowing you to close the sale with much more speed and confidence.
E-Greeting Cards-Use Them To Spread The Love (20)
If the card is appealing enough, this is just the card you ought to send. Advantages of sending an E-greeting Many people, who know the appealing nature of e-cards, send them almost every day.
Newer Articles Highlighter:
Why It's Dangerous To Offer Free Work To Entice A New Client (1)
So offering a money-savings (e.g., free analysis, price reduction, etc.), is not the best entry strategy. However, it CAN work under certain circumstances. Here's how to use this tactic, if you use it at all: If your potential client is willing to take you up on your offer, she MUST do some work too.
Be Correctly Equipped - The Tools For Videoconferencing (2)
Integrated systems can be used for businesses; schools, boardrooms and libraries and if an integrated system is what you need you will need the following: Codec: This is the computer used to code and compress the outgoing signal.
Ezine Articles Provides You With The Freshest Content On The Internet (3)
With a page rank of six and over 25,000 expert authors, you can either submit articles and gain exposure or sit back and read some of the freshest content on the internet at ezine articles.
Things You Need To Know Upfront When Looking For A Web Hosting Company (4)
Webhosting companies make it possible for people to get their information on the internet for other people to access. If you are looking for a webhosting company there are some things you will want to keep in mind.
The Top Internet Business (5)
Some complain that affiliate income is limited, while others argue that by being an affiliate of several businesses allows you to draw for commissions from more sales from more businesses.
How Do I Get Hold Of Stock? (6)
It's not unusual for the driver to leave a trolley of boxes on the pavement (sidewalk) for a while, if you can get close enough just glance over the label on the boxes as you walk by and look for the suppliers name or website address, anything you can use to look them up, maybe if the driver is friendly he may tell you the supplier as he may deliver exclusively for them.
Web Site Tracking Software (7)
A tracker will tell you who is visiting your site. You will learn which web browsers to optimize your pages for and which search engines are most useful. They can even tell when you get errors or have bad links on your page.
Using Public Domain Content For Your Online Business (8)
That's why it's called public domain. This is one of the reasons why you'll go into a book store and see a "collection" of works by some author from long ago.
Article Marketing Is All About Titles (9)
One of the most common misconceptions about articles online is that people will just read them at random just like they do with books or any printed materials they see offline.
How To Start Making Money By Taking And Selling Online Surveys (10)
This is a much easier and quicker way to start making money online than by taking the time to fill out the surveys themselves and wait for cash results, or other prizes - That is if you know how to promote your links!
How To Get 50% Of Your Freelance Fee Up Front -And A Whole Lot More! (11)
You're better off to say no, and spend your time marketing yourself to find a better client. A Quick List of What Should Be in Your Contract if You're a Copywriter or Other Business Freelancer: - A very detailed description of the job, listing virtually everything you will do - A deadline for the work to be completed - Revision terms - Payment terms - Late payment terms - A description of what will be included in your services - A description of what will not be included (interviewing and creating testimonials, for instance) - A policy on how change orders are handled (you charge more if they make a significant change after work has been done) - Ownership (you own the copyright until you've received full payment) - Indemnity (a legal disclaimer holding you harmless against any legal charges such as libel and copyright infringement; you don't need to add false advertising since you won't be doing that anyway) - An agreement for the client to share work samples and results (so you can use them in your promotions) Don't be so anxious to get the work that you fail to get a signed Fee Agreement and payment up front.
How An Affiliate Program Can Help Your Business (12)
It is a catch-22; you need to spend a lot of money on advertising to launch an internet business so that you can make some money, but you need to make some money so that you actually have some dollars to spend on advertising.
Make Huge Profits From Your Stay At Home Mom Business Ideas And Say Goodbye To Your Boss (13)
Here's a few things you may want to check before saying goodbye to your boss; - Go to Google and do a search for a particular keyword phrase (example:"buy scrapbooking supplies") and see how many competing sites in the results.
How To Use Adswaps To Build Your List (14)
This is certainly not something many website owners can say about their efforts. Gain access to our FREE newsletter where you can learn "Powerful List Building" tips, tricks and strategies.
Earn Free Money Online With SEO (15)
Andrew Jones has been a business owner for the past 10 years, and is now an internet marketer and a Plug-In Profit Site owner. To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit: www.EasyCash-At-Home.com
Why Should You Listen To Julia Roberts? (16)
In the end I had a very good time watching the film, it was thoroughly enjoyable and a good time was had by all the family. At the end of the film I got to thinking how really good marketers use the same phenomenon to make more sales.
3 Simple Tips To Help Explode Your Membership Site Results (17)
While an ebook can be edited, realistically this does not happen very frequently. On the other hand, membership sites are updated fairly often, even many times in a day.
Online Marketing: Show Customers Your Expertise (18)
Make it clear, brief, and friendly. Showing potential customers your superior expertise is the best way to earn new business. You don't even need to spend a lot of money on traditional advertising techniques.
Things You Need To Know In Order To Find The Best Web Hosting (19)
With research you can compare and feel good knowing you took extra care to educate yourself. Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as Web Hosting Services at www.smallbusinesshostingpackages.com
Discover Your Powerful Secret To Make Money From Your Blog (20)
If you can fill a unique need in a distinctive way that no other web site does, you'll be able to build a strong following among web surfers and make money from your blog.
Permalink to Why Every Copywriter Needs Great Testimonials… And How To Get Them Quickly