A third-party endorsement is alchemy of sorts, taking hours of conversation and interaction and condensing it into a couple of sentences. You cannot and must not lie when sharing third-party endorsement client stories, but you can condense a conversation. You can even dramatize an endorsement story as long as it is authentic and emotionally true.
So, think of one of your good clients. They are listed on your website, and you already use them as a reference. Now, take the next step – call them and ask this question, “Do you remember when we first did business; can you remember what your major challenge was or why you chose us out of the three competitors?”
Listen carefully, because your clients will always give you the most compelling language. Get their exact words about their situation and the solution. When it comes time to incorporate a third-party story into your sales presentation or conversation, you will say: “Based on my X years experience with clients of your size and complexity, this reminds me of what we did for Client Y. When we first talked to them they said they were having a problem with X. What we did, as we will do for you, was to offer eight options, six of which were just what they were looking for. As a result, they were successful in accomplishing [major goal].”
Again, the situation and the success always need to be in your happy client’s actual words. Rather than saying, “We exceeded their expectations with our creativity and speed,” it is much more effective to say, “If you were to call Client Y, she would tell you, ‘We didn’t believe it was possible for a company to come in this fast, have this impact, and not inconvenience our place of business. They exceeded our expectations across the board.'” It’s a small tweak to the language, but presenting the third-party perspective is dramatically far more powerful and persuasive.
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Executive Speech Coach and Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp is hired by individuals and companies who realize that powerful, persuasive presentation skills give them a competitive edge.
This article was based on sales presentation strategies I shared with Plantscape. A video clip is available here:
