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Connect with your clients and collect testimonials

You want to understand what your customers want/need/expect but what is the best way to do that? Nelly Berova presents seven ways to collect testimonials from happy clients.

Nelly Berova

Client feedback is one of the most accurate barometers of your team’s job performance – and one of the best ways to bolster your web presence and generate leads. By asking the right questions, you can generate testimonial stories that inspire prospective clients (be that vendors or landlords) to instruct your agency instead of that of your competitors.

Here are seven simple steps to help you gather valuable testimonials and attract more instructions:

1 Schedule your request

Deliver as much value as possible before asking for feedback, but don’t leave an extended amount of time between the sale completion and the request for the testimonial. If you offer ongoing property maintenance to landlords, you can ask for a testimonial once the tenants have settled in and the rent is paid on time.

2 Create a timed outreach plan

And automate your email account to send timed requests that follow the customer’s journey. Survey clients after 30 days, 60 days, and 90 days.

3 Brainstorm incentives
Nelly Berova image

Nelly Berova

Providing feedback or a testimonial is more beneficial to you as the agent than the client. So, consider offering something of value in exchange for the client’s time. For example:

  • 1. Can you enter clients into a raffle?
  • 2. Can you offer them free vouchers?
  • 3. Can you negotiate a discount scheme with few local businesses – for example a local café or restaurant, which you can give as incentive?
4 Outline your questions

Ask questions specific to the client’s experience with your agency and prompt them to share a personal story, rather than a one-word response.

  • 1. What did you like the most about the experience?
  • 2. Would you recommend it to your friends? Why?
5 Create the survey

Simplify the testimonial process as much as possible and don’t overwhelm the clients with too many questions… no matter how great your incentive is, too many questions can squelch any desire to give feedback. Frame the request as a friendly follow-up sent out after a sales completion or let agreed.

6 Send the request

Make it sound personal, no one likes to waste their time on giving feedback that they don’t believe will make a difference. Mention something specific to their experience to assure them that you care and are honestly open to their feedback.

Simplify your process for testimonials and don’t overwhelm your clients with too many questions…

If they are not happy with your service, ask them to explain why in an email or book a call to avoid them sharing negative reviews online.

The survey can be sent via email or wherever you communicated most.

Don’t spam clients with emails if you don’t receive a response. Search for enthusiastic customers that want to share a testimonial, rather than pestering clients with minimal interest.

If they are happy, ask them to submit their review directly on a site where prospects can see it as a genuine review.

Here are few suggestions:

Facebook reviews

If you have a Facebook page for your agency, you can direct clients to it and ask them to leave the review there.

Facebook works really well for attracting landlord and vendor leads via planned campaigns, so it’s a great place to build a long list of positive reviews, to help with new instructions.

Local search directories

As a local business, you probably already understand the importance of local search directories. Sites like Google Business Profiles, Yahoo Local Business, Yelp, and Yell.com allow members of their networks to write reviews about local businesses.

Today people rely more and more on Google’s ratings to decide which agent to instruct. By getting as many reviews as possible, you can keep your business high in the search results.

Niche review sites

You may also want to focus on getting reviews on niche review sites.

While sites like Google, Yahoo, and Yelp apply to all kinds of local businesses, there are property specific review sites such as All Agents and Get Agent.

Review platforms

There are also review platforms like Trustpilot and Feefo who help you obtain the reviews and provide the technology to manage the process.

Your website’s testimonial page

If you want to add a layer of credibility to your site, you need to build out a solid testimonial page. The quickest and easiest way to do this is by finding existing reviews from around the web and compiling them onto one page of your site.

Any questions, book your agency consultation with me personally, and we can identify at least 3 things you can do right now to improve your marketing and conversions.

June 17, 2019

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