When I speak at direct selling company conventions, one of the things I often talk about is how LinkedIn Recommendations can be such a powerful recruiting tool.  If you’re someone who wants to recruit, you need to have people in your upline and downline talking about how good your are at business, and how invested you are in the success of the people in your downline.  Why?  Because when potential recruits Google you (and you know they will), one of the first things that will come up is your LinkedIn profile.  And if it’s full of these recommendations, people are more apt to work with you.  There’s a reason that Amazon.com has a place for customers to comment on books.  We’re more likely to believe what others say, than what people say about themselves.

Ashley Mahaffey

I want to tell you the story about how I met Ashley Mahaffey.  When I began doing my social media business, I began traveling a lot, and unfortunately putting on weight.  20 lbs to be exact!  And it was hard to take it off, because of how busy I was.  Well I’m one of those people that believes that if something is important, you should get the help you need to get it done.  So I began looking for help.  And I came across a tweet from Ashley on Twitter.  See, she’s a personal trainer that works with people at a distance, right through the internet, providing workout videos on YouTube, an online support group, online tracking tools, etc.

Well after seeing her tweet on Twitter, I checked out her website.  And there, I saw testimonials from people I respected.  People who were in similar circumstances to mine.  And I knew that if they could get results with her, I could too.  I wound up signing up, and losing 20 lbs in 3 months…during the holiday season.  It was fantastic!  (BTW, if you want to find out more about what Ashley is offering, check out the free “Skinny Jeans” telesummit she’s got coming up.  Pretty amazing! http://bit.ly/skinnysummit Disclosure: Affiliate Link)

So that brings me to you.  What does this all mean for your business?  Well, if I had just come across Ashley on Twitter, and there weren’t any testimonials, I probably would have moved right along.  But because I could see people just like me who had achieved the results I wanted, I was more willing to consider working with her.

So how can you put this to work for your own business?

• Set up a LinkedIn Profile, and get recommendations from happy customers, as well as your downline and upline.
• Encourage your customers to post their experiences (as long as they’re not product claims…no “this cured my cancer” type posts) as well as your amazing service in your customer group, or even on your Facebook Page.
• If you blog, have a special page on your blog for testimonials.
• If your company allows you to customize your “about me” page on your personal website, include a testimonial or two from customers and recruits there as well.

So what should be included in these testimonials?  Well it’s NOT just what your products do.  After all, that would just be generic to every single person in your company.  Instead, you want to include information about what makes it great to work with YOU, specifically.  So you want people talking about your great service, your understanding of their needs, your dedication to helping others succeed, etc.

So ask your happy customers if they’re willing to provide you with testimonials.  Some will be spontaneous, posted to your online profiles.  But you should also be asking for them, and posting them in places like your blog, personal website (if you can), and LinkedIn (you can request people to write recommendations on LinkedIn.)  Studies have shown that a much larger group of people trust peer reviews than advertising.  So put that to work for your business, and gather the testimonials that show how amazing it is to work with you.

What are your thoughts?  Do you use testimonials to market your business online?  What do you plan to do as a result of this article?  Can’t wait to read your thoughts in the comments!

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