How and Why Contractors Need To Create Powerful Testimonials

Testimonials can be the most effective marketing tool a remodeler has and they are free! They provide credible confirmation of your marketing message because they come from people who have actually experienced working with your company. Fortunately, with some planning and the use of simple strategies, powerful testimonials can also be very easy to get.

Selling and working on fun projects makes sense. But working for the wrong clients can kill the fun in a project for its entire duration. In this article I want to share how you can get and use testimonials as a powerful and effective way of demonstrating your company’s differences so you can attract both the right clients as well as the right projects for your business.

Think about what you are or should be selling

In his book “Selling the Invisible” Harry Beckwith talks about outside perception and inside reality.

The outside perception is what prospects come to think about your business by what they observe, much like looking at a picture.
The inside reality is what they come to know about you and your company by actually experiencing working with you and your team.

I can personally share with you that understanding this difference and putting it to work within our marketing strategy caused a significant improvement in lead quality and lead quantity at my remodeling company. By sharing testimonials that revealed how we did business we attracted customers who wanted us for our way of doing business, not just for the quality of our work.

A picture may be worth a thousand words but a well written testimonial can paint a specific picture that has the value of gold.

Four important considerations for creating powerful testimonials

I found that the best testimonials are short and concise, getting right to a main point. Most importantly, they include the true emotions experienced by the customer as they worked with you and your team, and or as a result of how your company’s processes helped them achieve their true remodeling goals.

They are told like stories and include concrete examples from the customer’s experience that back up the main point and make the testimonial memorable.

I found that it is best to get testimonials in writing from customers sooner than later, while the thoughts are fresh in their minds and they are enthusiastic about what they are sharing with you.

Always be sure to get written permission to use their testimonials. If possible, get permission to use their name or initials with the testimonial, as well as the town they live in. Including the source makes the message all that more credible.

Summary

In a lot of ways testimonials are like referrals. If contractors wait for them to happen they will get some referrals and some business. On the other hand, if contractors are proactive in causing them to happen and are strategic about causing the inside reality they include, contractors can get great customers and a lot more business.