Endorsements Build Profits »
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Endorsements are an immediate way to make your selling process as much as five times more effective than it would be if you didn't use them. By having a respected person--or organization--endorse your product or service, you can add tremendous force and credibility to your sales message.
Believe me, I am living, breathing proof of what I have just said. I have benefited enormously from endorsements, and many of my clients have enjoyed the same kinds of gains in sales revenue and profitability by using endorsements.
I have gotten celebrities, associations, heads of prominent corporations, and star athletes to endorse my clients. For example, a number of clients in the furniture business, and one in particular, with leather furniture showrooms in 50 different cities. Coincidentally--because they happen to have an absolutely great product line and some really inspired designs--they've sold 200,000 people leather sofas and chairs. Among those 200,000 people are approximately 300 prominent celebrities and athletes and public figures of high prominence and respect who, on their own, and without any inducement whatsoever, selected my client's furniture for their own.
I got my client to identify these people and approach them to appear sitting on their own furniture in their own homes and offices in a composite picture demonstrating that on their own they chose my client because it was the best design, the most comfortable, the highest quality and the best value. Only after they already owned it and been a customer were they asked to endorse my client, and they were only too happy to do so!
But let's see how we can make endorsements pay off for you, because my success (and even the success of my private consulting clients) is not what we're all about here. What we're all about is YOU--your business, your sales, your future growth and YOUR happiness.
This is what I want you to do just as soon as you finish reading this:
* Write down the names of individuals, or groups, that command respect and influence among people in your core market. The individuals don't have to be celebrities, but they must be immediately recognizable-- and they must be perceived as having integrity.
* Then, approach the individuals/groups directly, or through their intermediaries, and ask them to endorse your product or service. If they want to be paid, offer them a fee, a share of gross or net sales--or so much per order placed or lead generated. The fact that they accept compensation won't compromise the integrity or credibility of what they say. (They may even ask that their payment go directly to a charity.)
* Once agreement is reached, ask them to go on the line and make the most compelling, most powerful and the most specific and dimensional claim they can possibly make for you and your organization. You don't want a hollow, vacuous and pointless statement like "Jay is a Creative Guy." You want "Jay is Creative--In just 10 Minutes He Showed Me Three Ways to Boost My Sales by 50%. And I'm sure He Can Do the Same Thing For You."
It revives a point I've emphasized in my marketing seminars: Always highlight the benefits--the improved end result--that men and women and children will derive by buying from you, or by coming to you for advice or treatment. And tie the endorsement directly to the major desires/wants/needs/interests of your target audience. If you discover, for example, that 80% of your customers play golf, it might be worthwhile to find a respected golf pro--even a local golf pro--and have him or her appear on TV or sign letters or appear in advertisements for or with you.
You don't want one of those slice-of-life testimonials--like a satisfied car buyer who appears for just an instant on TV. An endorsement is much more than a testimonial; it's a loftier presence, a more powerful way of influencing people.
Another point: When approaching prospective endorsers, be ready to prove the good things you already know about your product or service. If they don't know you well now, and respect you, they will want some hard facts before agreeing to link their names and reputation to yours in an endorsement.
They may accept your proposal out of sheer altruism, but you might also have to apply a bit of gentle pressure by pointing out how by endorsing you they will also gain some valuable exposure and new business themselves. So, be ready to make that case as well. Be ready to point out the potential.
You might even have to suggest some of the positive things they could do with the money they'd make by endorsing you--like hiring new people in their own organizations and embarking on some business building of their own!
It means that once you sell them, you show them how they can try the relationship out almost risk-free. Say that you'll try one or two or three little applications first before you actually expand or "roll out." They can see the impact for themselves, firsthand. They can see how happy people will be. They can watch the way you perform. They can call everyone who bought from you and assure themselves of your performance.
Make Endorsers Comfortable
Prove through application that their personal creditability is not being compromised. Tell the endorser that only then, when they are comfortable, will you expand. By taking the risk away from the endorser, it's a powerful, powerful way to get endorsement candidates to say "yes, I'll give it a try."
Once you persuade one or more people to endorse you, how do you use that endorsement?
Many different ways.
Again, depending on the business you're in, you might have them sign a letter that comes on their letterhead, but one that you write. Let them have full editorial approval and control over it. You basically write it out, get them to sign it, then you fund it and send it out.
You could have them call people. You could run ads with their pictures in publications. You could get them to lend their names as author or co-author of reports that you also write with them. In other words, you get a great endorser, and they lend their name along with you to a special report you send out to the industry. Or do a cassette tape that you produced together in a room.
Because of the association with the endorser, you gain for yourself an elevated stature of credibility in your marketplace and the prospective marketplace of your existing customers.
You can have endorsers come to special events you hold at your offices, at hotels or at conventions around the country. You can have them available for conference calls. You can use them in televised teleconferences worldwide. And go on and on and on.
Endorsements give you great leverage. On your own, doing it all yourself, all you can possibly bring to bear is your own capital. Your own human capital. The sales efforts, the emotion, the passion.
But why limit yourself? If you can tap into one or 21 other people or organizations who've been around and in the industry or in the world or in the area of prominence for years or decades, and have spent millions or tens of millions or hundreds of millions and have had notoriety and distinction--and have become almost venerable fixtures of credibility in the industry--why would you not want to tap into that, too, when you can often do it for almost nothing?
You can push a lever that improves and increases the effectiveness and the impact of what you do by a multiple so dramatic it doesn't even calculate. That's why you want to use endorsements whenever and as frequently as possible.
______________
This resource is (c) Jay Abraham, a renowned marketing expert and is taken from the "Jay Abraham's Business Breakthroughs" newsletter.
by Jay Abraham
Endorsements are an immediate way to make your selling process as much as five times more effective than it would be if you didn't use them. By having a respected person--or organization--endorse your product or service, you can add tremendous force and credibility to your sales message.
Believe me, I am living, breathing proof of what I have just said. I have benefited enormously from endorsements, and many of my clients have enjoyed the same kinds of gains in sales revenue and profitability by using endorsements.
I have gotten celebrities, associations, heads of prominent corporations, and star athletes to endorse my clients. For example, a number of clients in the furniture business, and one in particular, with leather furniture showrooms in 50 different cities. Coincidentally--because they happen to have an absolutely great product line and some really inspired designs--they've sold 200,000 people leather sofas and chairs. Among those 200,000 people are approximately 300 prominent celebrities and athletes and public figures of high prominence and respect who, on their own, and without any inducement whatsoever, selected my client's furniture for their own.
I got my client to identify these people and approach them to appear sitting on their own furniture in their own homes and offices in a composite picture demonstrating that on their own they chose my client because it was the best design, the most comfortable, the highest quality and the best value. Only after they already owned it and been a customer were they asked to endorse my client, and they were only too happy to do so!
But let's see how we can make endorsements pay off for you, because my success (and even the success of my private consulting clients) is not what we're all about here. What we're all about is YOU--your business, your sales, your future growth and YOUR happiness.
This is what I want you to do just as soon as you finish reading this:
* Write down the names of individuals, or groups, that command respect and influence among people in your core market. The individuals don't have to be celebrities, but they must be immediately recognizable-- and they must be perceived as having integrity.
* Then, approach the individuals/groups directly, or through their intermediaries, and ask them to endorse your product or service. If they want to be paid, offer them a fee, a share of gross or net sales--or so much per order placed or lead generated. The fact that they accept compensation won't compromise the integrity or credibility of what they say. (They may even ask that their payment go directly to a charity.)
* Once agreement is reached, ask them to go on the line and make the most compelling, most powerful and the most specific and dimensional claim they can possibly make for you and your organization. You don't want a hollow, vacuous and pointless statement like "Jay is a Creative Guy." You want "Jay is Creative--In just 10 Minutes He Showed Me Three Ways to Boost My Sales by 50%. And I'm sure He Can Do the Same Thing For You."
It revives a point I've emphasized in my marketing seminars: Always highlight the benefits--the improved end result--that men and women and children will derive by buying from you, or by coming to you for advice or treatment. And tie the endorsement directly to the major desires/wants/needs/interests of your target audience. If you discover, for example, that 80% of your customers play golf, it might be worthwhile to find a respected golf pro--even a local golf pro--and have him or her appear on TV or sign letters or appear in advertisements for or with you.
You don't want one of those slice-of-life testimonials--like a satisfied car buyer who appears for just an instant on TV. An endorsement is much more than a testimonial; it's a loftier presence, a more powerful way of influencing people.
Another point: When approaching prospective endorsers, be ready to prove the good things you already know about your product or service. If they don't know you well now, and respect you, they will want some hard facts before agreeing to link their names and reputation to yours in an endorsement.
They may accept your proposal out of sheer altruism, but you might also have to apply a bit of gentle pressure by pointing out how by endorsing you they will also gain some valuable exposure and new business themselves. So, be ready to make that case as well. Be ready to point out the potential.
You might even have to suggest some of the positive things they could do with the money they'd make by endorsing you--like hiring new people in their own organizations and embarking on some business building of their own!
It means that once you sell them, you show them how they can try the relationship out almost risk-free. Say that you'll try one or two or three little applications first before you actually expand or "roll out." They can see the impact for themselves, firsthand. They can see how happy people will be. They can watch the way you perform. They can call everyone who bought from you and assure themselves of your performance.
Make Endorsers Comfortable
Prove through application that their personal creditability is not being compromised. Tell the endorser that only then, when they are comfortable, will you expand. By taking the risk away from the endorser, it's a powerful, powerful way to get endorsement candidates to say "yes, I'll give it a try."
Once you persuade one or more people to endorse you, how do you use that endorsement?
Many different ways.
Again, depending on the business you're in, you might have them sign a letter that comes on their letterhead, but one that you write. Let them have full editorial approval and control over it. You basically write it out, get them to sign it, then you fund it and send it out.
You could have them call people. You could run ads with their pictures in publications. You could get them to lend their names as author or co-author of reports that you also write with them. In other words, you get a great endorser, and they lend their name along with you to a special report you send out to the industry. Or do a cassette tape that you produced together in a room.
Because of the association with the endorser, you gain for yourself an elevated stature of credibility in your marketplace and the prospective marketplace of your existing customers.
You can have endorsers come to special events you hold at your offices, at hotels or at conventions around the country. You can have them available for conference calls. You can use them in televised teleconferences worldwide. And go on and on and on.
Endorsements give you great leverage. On your own, doing it all yourself, all you can possibly bring to bear is your own capital. Your own human capital. The sales efforts, the emotion, the passion.
But why limit yourself? If you can tap into one or 21 other people or organizations who've been around and in the industry or in the world or in the area of prominence for years or decades, and have spent millions or tens of millions or hundreds of millions and have had notoriety and distinction--and have become almost venerable fixtures of credibility in the industry--why would you not want to tap into that, too, when you can often do it for almost nothing?
You can push a lever that improves and increases the effectiveness and the impact of what you do by a multiple so dramatic it doesn't even calculate. That's why you want to use endorsements whenever and as frequently as possible.
______________
This resource is (c) Jay Abraham, a renowned marketing expert and is taken from the "Jay Abraham's Business Breakthroughs" newsletter.