27 Ways to Boost Your Business Using Audio Testimonials
by Julian Franklin ©2004

    This technology was developed by Armand Morin, a guy who knows a lot more about computers and sound compression technology than I ever will.  All the sound recordings are stored on HIS computers systems, not yours.  That means that you don’t need any additional memory, no upgrade on your website to hold the files, no matter how large or numerous they are.  You also don’t need any computer or programming skills other than the ability to send an email, and cut and paste a short line of text.  If you want to post testimonials on your website you can do it as easily as posting any photo or text.
    Rather than having a tape recorder that you have to carry around, you simply provide your client with a toll-free number so they can call and leave a voice message at their convenience which is INSTANTLY available for your use (about 2-6 seconds after the client hangs up the phone the recording is on line for your use).  The next time someone tells you how great your show is, you simply have them call the phone number and leave a message with their thoughts.



1.    Instant testimonials for inquiring callers
    You get a caller who wants to know how much you charge.  How do you let them know that your show is more expensive, but worth every penny?  It’s difficult.  They won’t believe you because you are talking about yourself.  So you offer testimonials (which help, but they may wonder about the validity of the testimonials).  You offer to provide phone numbers of past clients, but many people feel awkward calling strangers about something like this, and so they may take the numbers and never call.  Worse still is if they do call and the excitement and enthusiasm that your client felt immediately after the show has waned (as excitement and enthusism will) and the testimony your client provides is not as convincing as it could have been.
    Instead, you ask for the caller’s e-mail address and immediately send an e-mail postcard or two with testimony about your ability to handle the type of event they are inquiring about.  These shows might have happened a year previous but the enthusiasm of the client was recorded immediately and convey an accurate insight into what you can provide for the caller.


2.    Have the customer forward the testimony
    When you first give someone the toll-free phone number to call and leave a testimonial, ask for their e-mail address.  Once you get their message, send them a postcard with their own voice on it.  Ask them to forward it to all their friends and collueges.  The impact of a voice testimonial is much more powerful than written testimony, but it is even more powerful when it comes from someone the listener knows.
    Most of your clients and customers are members of affinity groups of their peers who may all belong to a listserve (like most of you are members of Ring 2100).  This could get some very powerful testimony in front of hundreds or thousands of potential customers who have a REAL liklihood of buying your services.


3.    Send the testimony to current markets
    If you have an e-mail list (or can aquire one) of potential peers or those in similar industries as the person providing the testimony you could send an email to them with the subject line of “Hear what Bill Smith said”.  If they know who Bill Smith is (even if they’ve never met him in person) they will open the e-mail and many times they’ll open it even if they don’t know Bill.  In the post card you can begin with a short written message that says: This is what Bill Smith said after he hired [your name].  To hear what others in your position are saying, visit [link to your website where you have more audio testimonials posted].
    If a school principal hears positive testimony from another principal in her district, or a CEO hears how a competitor of hers increased trade show leads, or a librarian learns about how other librarians in her area increase attendance or circulation because of your show, you will be getting calls about how your performance can help them do the same.


4.    Send the testimony to new markets
    You may want to expand your market into an area where you have not worked before.  Maybe you’ve done a few summer library shows and would like to enter the school show market.  Maybe you’ve done birthday parties and want to do libraries.  Maybe you’ve done corporate banquets, but want to get into trade shows.  You can send testimony about one type of show to the new market, especially if the testimony is vague on the type of event you did, but provides raves about your professionalism, ability to entertain, etc.


5.    Impress Agents
    If you are intersted in getting booked through agencies (most of the BIG work comes through an agent) then you may find it valuable to send them periodic tesimonials on post cards.  It is a friendly way to stay in front of their face while letting them know about how much people enjoy your shows.  Don’t bombard them every week or they may get sick of it.  But it is generally acceptable to send something once every 4-6 weeks.


6.    Create an effortless audio newsletter
    Imagine a birthday party magician who, every time he saw a customer with a neat decorating idea, a clever cake design, or a particularly unique game for the kids, would have that person immediately call the number and very briefly describe the unique idea.  The magician might remind the customer to state their name and when he came to visit.  Once he got three good ideas (but not more than once every other month) he sends out an e-mail newsletter with 3 ideas.  Imagine all the levels on which this one idea would be working:
    1) It is complementary to the customer’s ego.  You validate their creativity.  You visit hundreds of parties (in their mind at least) and you thought highly enough of their idea that you wanted to record it and share it with others.  They are now semi-”famous” as a contributor to a newsletter and all it took for them was a simple phone call.
    2)    All your past clients continue to recieve brilliant ideas from you via this periodic newsletter which is valuable to them.  It endears you to them and creates a sense of obligation.  Obligation that they will hopefully relieve by hiring you again or referring you to someone in need of your services.
    3)    It gives you a non-pushy, self-less reason to contact them periodically.  Your e-mails are valuable for the ideas so they are read and your name is in front of their face every other month.  When they need a magician, or someone they know needs one, is there any chance of them hiring someone else?
    4)    It makes you look like a creative genius, and so altruistic to do all this work for them, but the truth is that it is SO easy to create an e-mail like this!  Of course, they don’t have to know that.


7.    Create an audio newsletter yourself
    This is a little more work, but easier for some than writing out the ideas.  If you do different events, you may still be able to provide useful information to your clients in an audio newsletter.  As you work for various clients, look for things they are doing that seem to be working and see if you can share some of those ideas with other clients of yours.
    Please be careful not to reveal proprietary secrets or particularly unique concepts that may create animosity among your original client, but generally speaking, banquet decorating ideas, interesting name badge designs, creative office layouts, or new uses for well known products or technology can usually be shared with no concern.
    If you do school shows or library shows, these clients LOVE to share ideas and will usually have no problem with you sharing their effective teaching strategies or creative ideas for motivating students.


 
8.    Have them forward the newsletter to gain new subscribers
    If, at the bottom of the audio newsletter described in #6 or #7, you include a request to forward the newsletter to other interested individuals and urge them to subscribe for free also, you can quickly amass a huge e-mailing list of potential new clients.  You can also urge them to submit their own ideas, so that you can learn new ideas from people you’ve never met that you can then use in your newsletter.


9.    Post your sales pitch on line
    The versitility of this technology in my mind comes to light when you realize that you don’t have to use only the voices of your satisfied customers.  You can also record your own voice to use in many different ways.  As an example, you could record the benefits of your services and post them on-line in such a way that visitors could access that information 24 hours a day.
    Rather than reading about it, they can actually make the human connection and hear your voice.  If you take the time to script and rehearse what you record and make changes if you are not satisifed, you can create a compelling offer, make a connection that others in your field are unable to do with just the printed word, and that human touch carries incredible impact.  You are also sure of not forgetting any points (since if you do you can re-record the message before posting) and you can be sure of a 100% perfect delivery every time!


10.    Create a unique website or page for your “co-workers”
    If you use a rabbit or other animals in your show this is a great idea.  If you use puppets of ANY kind, then this is MANDATORY.  You can create a website just for your “partner” or at least their own web page on your site.  This is where they get to humoursly talk about YOU.  You can create a lot of good jokes and have the puppet humorously promote you in ways that you could not really promote yourself (even though it is still YOU and everyone knows it).


11.    Post Audio of your show on-line
    Rather than using video, which is a real memory hog, you can post a simple photo of your show, with an audio recording of a short segment of that show.  This way people can get an idea of how entertaining the show can be when they hear the routines and the roar of the crowd laughing or clapping, without having to wait for a lengthy video download.
    I will admit that seeing video can be more compelling than a photo and audio.  I am not saying this competes on absolute effectiveness.  What I am saying is that this is MUCH easier to create, much easier to implement for you, and faster and easier for your customer.


12.    Creat TRULY personal e-mails
    Your thank you notes will take on a whole new dimension when you send a voice recording of yourself personally thanking the customer by name and mentioning how much fun you had.  It’s easier and faster than a hand-written note, but comes across almost as effectively.  I would still send a hand-written note, but once I see how effective this may be, I could change my mind.
    Another idea might be a confirmation call that was sent out via e-mail.  You could verbally leave the information for those customers where you couldn’t get in touch with them in person.  Now they have a voice mail message on their phone machine, but also a voice message in their e-mail.


13.    Send an amazing birthday card
    You could actually sing happy birthday to your client and e-mail it to them!  If you don’t have a funny way to sing happy birthday, and you think it would fit your character better, then create or borrow a funny birthday song and then record it and send it to your customers and clients on their birthday.


14.    Teach a magic trick
    You could have a hidden page on your website where you teach a magic trick.  To create a hidden page you just make a new page for your website, but don’t put a link to it from any other page.  For anyone to access it, they would have to enter the full domain name into their browser (ex: www.yoursitename.com/hiddenpage.html)
    We all know how difficult it can be to learn a trick from the printed word.  Videos are nice, but as we mentioned earlier, enough video to teach a magic trick might use up half your website memory or more.  Instead, post a few step by step photos and by each step post an audio clip explaining what to do.


15.    Send Jokes
    Almost everyone sends and recieves e-mail jokes.  I wouldn’t begin a campaign of them (many people block those who send too much un-invited e-mail) but if you have a particularly funny joke, it may be worth it to send it in audio format just to break out of the traditional mold.  Besides, many jokes work better with proper voice inflection and timing.
    By sending the joke in this way, you are guaranteed to get the credit for being funny, no matter how many times it is forwarded!  And you know how many times jokes can be forwarded.  What an amazing, nationwide campaign started for FREE!!
    Be sure to include, at the END of the joke, a very brief comment on who you are.  It should be VERY brief and NOT sound like an ad.  Something like, “This is Julian Franklin of Julian Franklin Dot Com and since my only job is to entertain audiences, I’m now going to take the rest of the day off!”  Funny, fast, and leaves them with your name, the fact that you are an entertainer and your contact info all in a funny way.


16.    Create an interactive component to your web site
    This can be particularly useful if you do educational shows.  You could have a section of your website where teachers can download lesson plans, promotional materials, and even a section where the students can get online and do a fun bit of multiple choice.  You could have a question written and they can click to hear the right answer.
    Ventriloquists and puppeteers could have two puppets telling jokes and riddles to each other.  Click on one link to hear the riddle, then click on the other to hear the answer.


17.    Create interactive games on your web site
    You could have a sound recorded and the children listen to it and try to figure out what the sound is.  You could use animal sounds (this could even go back to being an educational program like mentioned in #16), sound effects, etc.  You could even have a multiple choice answers but instead of just A,B,C,D, you could use other letters so that if they get all the right answers and put them in order it spells a word.  The word could even be the answer to another riddle.
    This can even work on sites for entertainers who work corporate work too if presented in a funny way.  For example, play the sound of glass crashing and then the question is something like:
    This is the sound of:  (A) Anna Nichole Smith looking in a mirror first thing in the morning (B) Brittany Spears’ seventh shot of tequila as it slips from her fingers just moments before her wedding in Las Vegas, etc.  Funnier people can clearly come up with funnier ideas, but you get the gist.


18.    Post samples of your work
    If you are funny, post a clip of some of your material.  If you are a motivational speaker, inlcude a particularly inspiring portion of your speech.  Since the length of the clip is not dictated by your own personal web site restrictions, you can make the clip as long as necessary to get the point across, but not so long that no one will listen to the whole thing.  Use good discretion.  If you are a musician, you can post your songs for people to listen to without as much fear of downloading since the files are not stored as MP3s or similar technology.


19.    Generate testimonials with your business card
    Have the toll free number and your extention printed on a second business card just for handing out to those customers who were particularly impressed or particularly well-spoken.  Ask them to call in their comments as soon as possible, and encourage them to do it immediately while the thoughts are fresh in their mind.  It only takes a second and you want that testimony when the customer in is a state of post-show euphoria.


20.    Increase the effectiveness of the testimony recieved
    On the back of your “Testimony” business card described in #19, print a few suggestions for the customer on how to record a great testimonial.  If the testimony rambles on with lots of repetition or lenghty pauses, then it becomes less usable.  You may want to use these suggestions:
    1.    State your name and the type of event I helped you with
    2.    Speak clearly
    3.    Don’t spare the superlatives!!
    4.    If you want to make several points you may want to create a set of notes to keep the testimony under a minute or two (but you may speak as long as you like)


21.    Generate potential clients with your bookings
    If you do trade show work, have as part of your contract, the right to use the e-mail addressed gathered at the trade show.  You can then e-mail a post card testimonial (preferably from THAT trade show) and use it to garner new trade show work.


22.    Expand the effectiveness of your client surveys
    If you send out client surveys to find out what you did right and what you did wrong (as well as being a great tool for collecting written testimonials as mentioned in my September 2003 Linking Ring column), you can now ad a line at the bottom of the page stating “If you had a particularly memorable experience due to my performance and would like to share it with others, please call and tell me about it on a voice mailbox I’ve established just for that purpose” and then provide the toll free number.


23.    Get this incredible service for $1!
    This service is a bargain at just $30 per month.  You can sign up for less than a dollar a day and cancel at any time for any reason.  No contracts, no obligations.  In fact, I've arranged for you to try out the program for 2 weeks for just $1.  If you use a few of the methods here as soon as possible, you should be able to easily make enough money in 2 weeks to pay for a few years worth of the program!  In particular, as soon as you sign up, you should IMMEDIATELY implement the following suggestions: #7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, and 15.
    None of these require that you actually have testimonials from customers.     You can record and create effective marketing ideas without a website, without shows being currently booked, and without having current testimony.  As you perform more shows you can add in the other strategies as soon as possible, but in two weeks, using the few suggestions listed above you should be able to really increase your business fast.
    Of course, if you already have a great number of shows booked and have a show that generates good testimony, then you can use even more of the suggestions and jump ahead even faster.

24.    Get PAID to use this service!!
    Once you begin using this service you will quickly see the value of it and begin to see the monthly fee as inconsequential.  Most people spend much more than $1 per day on advertising over which they have NO control and most of it is almost totally ineffective.  This is the ULTIMATE when it comes to word of mouth advertising because you can direct the testimony as often as you like to the audience of your choosing.
    But it gets better.  Once you start using this, your customers and prospects will begin asking you about it.  They may want to use it in THEIR business.  You can help them out by introduing them to the service and in return, you get $10 for each person you sign up.  You get that $10 each and every month, for as long as they are subscribers.
    That means, if you get 3 people signed up, you don’t pay anything for your monthly fee.  Everybody past that you get a check each month.  How many times do you think that funny e-mail joke you recorded will get forwarded?  Three times?  Five times?  If each person sends it to 30 people on their e-mail list each time it gets forwarded, that’s a HUGE number (try it on your calculator and see).  If even a fraction of the people sign up, you could generate a HUGE secondary stream of income.
    In fact, I’ll post a few suggestions below to demonstrate ways to increase interest in the service.  If you are interested in becoming an affiliate click here or visit http://members.audiogenerator.com/specialinfo.asp?x=132549


25.    Create a marketing signature    
    At the bottom of all your audio postcards, audio newsletters, audio e-mails, etc. you should add a small blurb that reads “If you are intersted in using this audio technology to better serve your customers and clients while creating explosive business growth even if you have NO computer skills click HERE” and create a link to your website (or just list the page on your site where the information is kept).  I can help you do this once you sign up with the program if this interests you.


26.    Reprint these suggestions for your clients
    When you sign up, I’ll give you the ability and rights to easily, quickly, and legally reprint this copyrighted document of ideas and provide it as a marketing tool for YOUR potential customers of this service.  You can then alter, add, or delete items as you wish.  For example, you may want to change some of the suggestions from a focus on magic, to a focus on a different field in which you also work.  You will also want to remove references to some of my sites and examples.


27.    Create messages from "Celebrities" and post them to your website or send them to your e-mail list
    If you can do a good celebrity impersonation great.  If not, find a local comedian who can, then hire him or her to record a brief bit.  The qualities of a good celebrity impersonation "testimonial" include:


If you are interested in using this unique technology on a trial basis for 2 weeks for only $1 all you have to do is click here or visit http://members.audiogenerator.com/specialinfo.asp?x=132549.   If you do this, please print out this report and re-read #23 so you can begin INSTANTLY making money from your investment.  You should be able to pay for the service 100 times over each month by consistantly applying even just a few of the ideas here.

Julian Franklin is a marketing consultant, behavior modification specialist, and author who develops creative ways to stimulate growth in your business. For more information, including the opportunity to subscribe to his free montly e-newsletter, you can visit www.JulianSpeaks.com