Most new writers are stuck when it comes to testimonials. They know testimonials sell books and products, and when you’re a ‘nobody’, it’s almost impossible to get testimonials. Well, for starters you’re not a ‘nobody’. And impossible is an opinion, not reality.
So let’s go about getting testimonials, shall we?
First let’s see what kind of testimonials you can get, and then let’s look at how to make these testimonials as effective as possible.
And while we’re at it, let’s also solve the problem of how to speed up the business of getting those testimonials —and actually enable readers to give you far more impactful testimonials.
Heck that’s a lot of stuff to cover. So let’s start with understanding the core of testimonials and destroy some crazy myths in the process. In fact here are the two main areas where you can get testimonials.
1) You can get testimonials about you as a person.
2) You can get testimonials from “test readers”.
All testimonials don’t need to be about the product itself. Amazing but true. So when I launch a new product, I can’t always get testimonials—especially if I’m pre-launching a product.
But it’s not just you or I that has a problem. A rock star like John Mayer, or a rapper like Eminem can’t get testimonials either. How do you get testimonials for something that doesn’t exist—or at least won’t exist for a while?
The way around is to get testimonials based on you as a person.
No matter who you are, you have some history. People know you in your school, university, hometown or work. So let’s say you’re a consultant or have some sort of service and want to get testimonials for a book you’re about to write.
What you do is seek out a friend. You seek out your high school teacher. You seek out someone in the neighbourhood. You seek out someone in an online forum. And you ask them to comment on issues where they’ve dealt with you.
The way that you can insert testimonials is about other aspects. e.g. Let’s say you’ve done some consulting before. Let’s say you’ve had a course before. Let’s say you’ve written a poem in third grade and your teacher wrote a note about the beauty of your poem. Heck those are all testimonials.
They could be testimonials about your personality. They could be testimonials about your sense of humour. They could be testimonials about your neat structure. They could be testimonials that describe you and the things you do. And that would be fine.
You see the testimonials don’t have to have any bearing on the product.
Read these testimonials for instance:
“Running into Sean is like running into abrasive sandpaper. He really scrapes away at your business soul. He gives your business the angles not yet explored and wipes away traditional thinking. And that’s just for starters.”
“I can only say this. If you aren’t using Sean currently, you should be, because next year he’s going to be TWICE as expensive!”
Do you know where those testimonials came from?
Which product is being sold? No idea, right? That’s because they don’t have to sell the product. People aren’t always buying into the product. They buy into the product, but they’re keener to buy into the person as well. Or the personality.
Of course it’s not fair comparing John Mayer or Eminem with us folk. They’re brands. But so can you be a brand in your own way. A brand is just a group of “images”. They’re just a group of “stories”. They’re just a group of “angles” put together to give the potential buyer a reason to buy. And if you eventually do put the note that your teacher in the third grade gave you, it reveals some of that story. It shows that you have a sense of humour 🙂
2) You can get testimonials from “test readers”.
Test readers can be anyone. They could be friends. They could be clients. They simply need to comment on what they read. And for starters, you can get these test readers to just read a single chapter. e.g. you could read the chapter on “Target Profile” in “The Brain Audit” and comment on just that single chapter.
The person is strictly speaking about that chapter and how it makes a difference.
They don’t have to comment on the entire book. In fact, it may well be a superb strategy to send the entire book, or parts of the book to these “test readers” and ask them to focus on just a chapter or two.
If you’ve waited and waited for testimonials before, this is a good strategy
Reading one chapter will get your test-readers to write a testimonial quickly as they don’t have to read a whole book. And if you have six-seven readers reading six-seven chapters, now their comments are focused and diverse at the same time.
They’re focused because they’re talking about a specific chapter. They’re diverse because they’re now giving a potential reader the ability to “see inside” the book. So for example, let’s say that I sent out a product to a bunch of “test readers” with instructions on which chapter to read.
One person comes back after reading: The Problem.
One person comes back after reading: The Solution
One person comes back after reading: The Uniqueness
Now we have three separate testimonials all drooling about different sections of the book. If you have a dozen test readers reading specific sections, then you get specifics about the book in your testimonials. And it sure beats the boring testimonial that goes like this: “You should read this book. It will change your life”. Instead you get a testimonial like this: “When I got to Page 83 and read the chapter on testimonials, I was stunned. So I took your advice and called the client and instantly got an amazing page-long testimonial.”
But is it ethical to put in a testimonial of just part of a book?
It’s a tricky question, that one. It’s a bit like a reviewer doing a restaurant critique. There’s no way they can (or would want to eat) all the dishes on the menu. So they order a few dishes and the review is based on the meals ordered, the service, décor and price. And we consider that to be perfectly acceptable as a review. The same concept does indeed apply to a book, because truly speaking it may take a long time to read and review a book, so a review of a chapter is perfectly acceptable.
And frankly it’s way more ethical than all those books out there that get endorsed by other best-selling authors. You see some authors giving so many testimonials to fellow-authors that you have to wonder how ethical that practice is anyway. In fact if you scan those testimonials, you’ll find they’re vague and flippant because there’s a good likelihood that the reviewing author has been ‘coerced’ into giving a testimonial, so that when the reviewing author writes his/her own book, they too will get a testimonial in turn.
So yeah, we did take a bit of a detour there, but you needed to know how things work in any industry, so you don’t feel so bad. Not only not feel bad, but also realise that your methods as a newbie are going to be far more ethical.
So yeah there’s a strategy—even if you’re a first time product creator.
All you have to do is:
1) Get testimonials about you as a person.
2) Get testimonials from “test readers”.
And you’ve got a page full of testimonials and you’re well on your way.