We are taught at a young age not to brag about ourselves. I often find myself giving my son this bit of advice. (I guess, like his Dad, he doesn’t have a confidence problem.) Any time we brag about ourselves and our companies, our prospects are unimpressed.
Then why do 80 percent of sales professionals start each proposal they give to a prospect with a canned cover letter bragging about their companies? Then, they blabber on and on about how they are the greatest, locally owned, the smallest, the largest, whatever. Guess what? As Tom Adams said in his 2008 National Association for Information Destruction (NAID) Annual Conference keynote presentation, prospects don’t care about our "IT!"
Bragging is not believable and turns the probable purchaser off.
Our clients care about the same things we care about: profitability, growth, fewer hassles, more free time, etc.
The best way to build "know, like and trust" feelings between you and your prospect and to show him that your company is the best company for the job is by using the most powerful tool in the sales toolbox: the testimonial.
When you say something about yourself, it is bragging; when others say something about you, it is proof.
Testimonials are more effective than your brochure, your shredder and your salesperson combined. They are also the single most wasted resource in creating a marketing message. Few companies in this industry use testimonials the way they should.
Testimonials can sell when salespeople cannot. For example, are you going to believe your neighbor, who just purchased the same model of automobile you would like, or the car salesperson?
Don’t just get testimonials; get the right ones. Testimonials should:
• Show action and have a call to action—"I used to use ABC Shredding. I switched to Total Product Destruction, and so should you."
• Overcome objections or remove the barriers to a potential sale—"I thought their price was too high initially; but, I bought anyway, and I am sure glad I did."
• Re-enforce a claim—"I earned more profits by using Total Product Destruction."
Testimonials remove the risk associated with saying "yes" to your service in the prospect’s mind. Asking customers to tell you their reasons for purchasing from your company can get you several more clients just like them.
Remember, why brag when you can provide proof? The company with the best testimonials wins. Period.
Ray Barry is the vice president of Total Product Destruction and president of Total Training Services, which operates The Shred School in Spartanburg, S.C. He has helped and trained more than 175 companies in the document destruction industry to grow their businesses. Ray can be contacted at raybarry@totaltrainingservices.com or at (864) 699-8417.