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Winning Sales Through Customer Testimonials | |
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Comment The Post Below...
Greetings,
Have you ever attended a meeting that just dragged on with
no point and no clear agenda? I hate meetings like those!
What do you consider the worst kind of meeting? Is it the
kind where one person does all the talking? Or when it loses
focus? Or maybe you just hate all meetings! Whatever your
opinion, check out our poll on http://www.SoHoTIPS.com and
cast your vote!
Best,
Mandi
Be sure to visit the SoHo News and Tips blog!
SoHo News & Tips Blog
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NEWS & TIDBITS
- Enron Corp's former chief contact for investors
testified that the company fudged its earnings
figures with the knowledge of executives Jeffrey
Skilling and Kenneth Lay...
- Standard & Poor's on Wednesday raised the credit
ratings of UAL Corp. and its subsidiary, United
Air Lines Inc...
- Burger King Holdings "plans to file with the
Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial
public offering in late February or early March"...
- General Motors Corp. announced a $115 million
investment in a Baltimore-area plant...
- Hospira Inc. to close plants, cut 1,100 jobs...
- Nortel and Huawei Technologies announced they
are creating an Ottawa-based joint venture that
plans to develop broadband access products...
- German publisher Axel Springer AG abandoned its
3.5 billion euros ($4.2 billion) takeover of
broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG following
regulators' rejection of the deal...
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Winning Sales Through Customer Testimonials
By SARAH E. NEEDLEMAN
On his way to work two years ago, Mike Welsh tuned
into a radio talk-show and heard a caller rave
about a pain-relief product. A second caller
responded soon after, saying the testimonial
persuaded him to buy, too.
That's when inspiration struck, says Mr. Welsh, an
executive vice president of strategic marketing at
Expensewatch.com LLC. The four-year-old company had
been looking for ways to find buyers for its soft-
ware that helps businesses automate travel expenses,
purchasing and accounts payable, sold by subscript-
ion.
"It made me realize that the most compelling way
for people to learn about a product is to hear
about it straight from the horse's mouth," says Mr.
Welsh. The company had been using direct-mail and
other marketing strategies, but finance executives
tend to put more weight on the views of their
peers, he says.
Mr. Welsh recruited one of Expensewatch's first
customers, a director of finance at a Texas
manufacturer, who had sent a complimentary email
about its products. The executive presented a 20-
minute speech, accompanied by an online demo
Expensewatch created. About 75 participants called
in.
The conference calls are now done monthly. Mr.
Welsh says Expensewatch didn't track the number of
participants who became customers, but the number
of clients has increased to 76 from about 30 since
the calls began two years ago. First-time customers
often mention them, he adds.
Continued below....
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Expensewatch has hosted nine conference-call
testimonials, which have been recorded and posted
on its Web site, together with their online demos.
Each testimonial covers a different program or
tool and describes how it's used. Listeners can
also get answers to their questions, on the spot
over the phone.
To recruit speakers, the Plymouth Meeting, Pa.,
company offers to donate $250 to a charity of
their choice. Participants are solicited through
email invitations, search-engine keyword advert-
ising and notices on the company Web site.
John Schmid says the testimonial and demos helped
persuade him to become a customer. In 2004, a
colleague had recommended the software, so he
played several archived online. "Testimony from a
person of appropriate stature and in a relevant
industry carries a lot of clout," says Mr. Schmid,
chief financial officer at Rx3 Pharmaceuticals Inc.
in San Diego. "It's nice to hear from the company,
but what really helps get my attention is hearing
from other buyers of a product."
Not all the company's marketing initiatives have
been successful. In 2004, it launched "Expense-
watch University," a free online one-credit course
toward public-accounting certification. Four
executives spent a week writing it, says Mr. Welsh,
and the company paid $4,300 to have a certified
course provider publish the material and oversee
its usage.
Intended to generate directs leads and word-of-
mouth marketing, the course has attracted about a
dozen takers, far fewer than anticipated, says Mr.
Welsh. "We bit off more than we could chew," he
says.
DID YOU KNOW?
Present an effective sales presentation in this
way: First, tell them what you are going to tell
them (Executive Summary), tell them what you want
to tell them (the details sections), then tell
them what you told them (Summary and Conclusions).
A business plan is ultimately a sales document that
explains your business idea in a similar way.
So what did you think about this issue? Drop me a
line and let me know at mandi@gophercentral.com
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