What Prospects Want

What do you provide when a prospect requests information about your company? The corporate brochure is the standard response, and it does play an important role in helping you build a case for your products and services.

However, research shows that clients and prospects want quick information on how you might be able to help them in their situation. They also want to know if you are trustworthy, experienced, professional and results-oriented.

Client success stories address those needs, and more, for a very simple and compelling reason: people like to read about others in similar situations. Think about what gets your attention. What are you working on that would cause you to stop and read a real story? Expanding your service area? Developing out-of-the-box solutions to your customers’ problems? Launching a new product? We all try to gain perspective by reading magazine articles, books, and watching do-it-yourself TV programs. Inc. magazine has become a national must-read for small business owners because it is full of stories about other small business owners.

Real People Sharing Real Solutions

Your client success stories also provide evidence that you know how to build and preserve good client relationships. Your clients are willing to tell their story and testify on your behalf, so you must be treating them right and doing good work.

Because client stories are about real people, seeking real solutions, they are much more likely to be read and trusted as an information source. Thoughtful quotes, pictures and ROI discussions provide the whole picture. Rather than simply humanize a situation, a client profile personalizes a situation because your prospects start to imagine themselves enjoying the benefits you bring to the table.

Why Success Stories Work

Will client success stories work for any company? They can do wonders in advancing your sales and marketing efforts and their utility goes way beyond the initial sales appointment. The journalistic style and credibility of the format lends itself to a variety of applications — proposals, presentations, websites, tradeshows, direct mail and trade journals.

Success stories work for a very simple and compelling reason — people like to read about others in similar situations. There are four key factors in building a successful client profile series:

1. Invite and feature the right clients - your selection criteria should factor in market segments, geography, vertical industries, and company size.

2. Ensure your client profiles are well-written and well designed - and have the same look and feel of your existing marketing materials.

3. Keep your client profiles current and compelling - add new business relationships and projects to your collection.

4. Use photos, quotes, and strong benefit reporting to contribute to an attention-grabbing journalistic style.

Where to start? Survey your clients at the end of each project and determine if their experience with you was merely satisfactory, or something to really shout about. Tell them you are interested in the success of their business as well as your own, and that you want to promote the story of your mutual success. 

To see what success stories can do for your organization, contact John Stevenson.