Every time I speak somewhere I ask business leaders in the audience if they think testimonials and reviews from customers will help them sell more.

Every single one always answers that they’ll make more sales with good testimonials.

Then I ask for a show of hands of those whose companies do a great job getting customers testimonials. I rarely see any hands raised.

Imagine for a minute if your prospective customers could see one minute video testimonials from hundreds of your current and past customers. What would that do to your sales?

Since I am bothered by the number of companies that don’t have a sufficient number of testimonials, I decided to write this blog post. I don’t care if you are a manufacturer, a service company or a retailer, here are some easy to implement tips to get video testimonials from customers:

Use smartphones.

Think about this for a minute…all of your employees have smartphones…salespeople, technicians, probably even your janitor. Have them use their smartphones to record video testimonials from customers. Every technician doing service calls has experiences where customers rave about the service. Train them to get it on video. And how about salespeople at the time they turn the product or service over to the customer for the first time? That’s a great opportunity to use the smartphone to record the customer’s answers as to why they bought from you, what problems or situations you helped them solve, and what their results/experiences have been.

Don’t worry about the video quality. Smartphone video has been used on network news broadcasts. Your goal is not to record a commercial; rather, it’s to capture an authentic review of your service from current and past customers.

Use web cams.

Nearly every desktop, laptop and tablet has a built in camera. Ask your customers to record their comments. When they are finished, they can simply email you the video file for use in your marketing. It’s fast, easy and your customer doesn’t need to be a tech genius to make it happen.

Use Skype.

Conduct a quick video interview with your customer using Skype. Record the video, upload it to YouTube and your testimonial marketing collateral and you’re good to go.

Here is what you want recorded on video in the customer’s testimonial:

• Their full name.
• Their location.
• Their job title, if relevant.
• Their answer as to why they bought from you compared to other options.
• Their answer about what problems/situations you helped them with.
• Their answer about their results or experiences to date.
• Have them state that they were not paid for their testimonial and that they provided it to you of their own free will.

Keep these videos to about one minute in length. Avoid the trap of slicing and editing…they need to be real and authentic for maximum impact. Your customers are not actors…let their true selves shine.

Once you have the videos, post them on YouTube, your website and on your custom Facebook page. Make sure prospective customers are directed to these video testimonials and watch your sales go through the roof!

What are your favorite tips for obtaining video testimonials from customers?