When it comes down to it, your customers are just like everybody else you know. They love making remarkable things, and they enjoy success. They also enjoy talking about their success and about the great results that come about as a result of their decisions. And those likes apply to them just as much when they are an employee, owner or entrepreneur in the world of B2B technology, as they do during their personal life.
Having a signature on the things that helped their business achieve significant results such as reductions in cost, improved productivity or increased sales makes people happy. It’s like the joy of Christmas morning all over again. If you’re a B2B technology solution provider, you can take some of the credit too. You helped them along the way. Your products and your solutions empowered your customer to get there.
The question is, do you keep this success to yourselves or do you share it with the world?
Put Your Customer Under the Spotlight
Relationships make the world of business turn. And good relationships help you succeed – there’s no doubt about that.
Once you build a rapport with a customer, that relationship elevates your connection with them.
- It’s no longer just about products
- It’s about people you know and trust
- It’s about furthering those relationships
- It’s about strengthening those relationships
If you have a client who is happy working with you, congratulations! You’re doing something right. You’ve qualified for the Champions League! You might be the coach, trainer or key player. Regardless of your role, what matters is you are an important part of the team and the success it has achieved.
So celebrate! It’s time to toast your success. It’s time to celebrate with you. It’s time for your client to tell the world about your role in their achievement.
Have you ever thought of asking a satisfied client to talk about how your product or service helped them? Often, they’re only too pleased to be placed under the spotlight – after all, it’s more good exposure for them.
When a client is satisfied with the outcome of what you provided them with, you can be sure they will talk about it. They’ll talk about it with their bosses, their friends, and their family. People congratulate them and tell them what a great job they did. So, why not put your customer under the spotlight and let them talk to other prospective clients? Make them a hero. A hero who bought your product, implemented your solution, used your service and achieved great results.
Satisfied clients are the best people to talk about your business. They have no vested interest in talking up your product or service, so when they speak, others sit up and take notice. But how do you get them to talk to people about the great product or service you provide and the results it delivered for them?
Simple. You interview them. There are many other ways to get this story out there but they can involve third parties and are often time-consuming. For an interview, all you need is an agreed time for you and one other to meet up.
Customer testimonials deserve your time
A customer testimonial says a lot. Let your client talk about your product about their challenges, the issues they face, and how you came into the picture and changed everything.
Let them draw the big picture for your audience:
- Your prospects
- Your customers
- Your competitors
- Your audience
Let them describe what you brought to their business:
- The added value
- The improved results
- The increased ROI
- The new ways of working
And any other amazing things that have happened as a result of what you did or you provided.
Ask the right questions. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about your customer
Before the interview make sure you are fully prepared. Spend time with your interviewee. Take a look at their LinkedIn profile, see the posts they like, check out their background, their previous positions and other notable achievements. Understand all there is to know about their role and responsibilities. Make sure your questions are about them and their success not directly about your products. Remember, this is their time to shine; their moment in the spotlight.
Let them tell their story from their perspective. All you need to do is ask the right questions, probe for additional information when required and show genuine interest in their story. You can steer the conversation towards the pain points you know that your product or service addressed, but don’t explicitly ask them to say how amazing it is.
Ask questions such as:
- “What was the biggest challenge you faced?”
- “What made you choose to work with us?”
- “What was the outcome of working with us?”
- “What made you most proud of the project?”
After all, it’s their story – but you play a huge part in it.
Go with the flow of the answers. Let your customer tell their story from their perspective and try to make it more of an informal chat. Encourage them to relax and let them open up. That’s when you’ll get the real insight into how you helped them achieve success – and you might get a couple of interesting quotes to boot.
Your customer is your key to word-of-mouth marketing
When your audience read the article, you want them to say. “OK, great. So, X company did this, achieved that, got these results. This person or company has worked with them and is happy with the results. So, why don’t we give it a shot?”
You won’t get business from everybody who reads the article, but some will get in touch. Others will share the story on LinkedIn or bookmark your website for the future.
Your audience will understand what you do and how you do it. And they’ll have independent verification that you do out well. Your customer will do the talking for you which will result in:
- More engagement on social media
- More visits to your website
- Greater exposure for your company
- Word-of-mouth marketing
- Increased brand awareness
- Better quality leads and more conversions
At Fascinatid, we help B2B SaaS and IT companies discover the power of their customer’s voices. We support them to find the right questions to ask to ensure strong, positive replies. And we help to create an engaging, shareable article following customer interviews. We know the power of making your customer the superstar, and with our content marketing team specialized in creating B2B tech-specific interviews, we empower you to get qualified leads and turn them into paying customer. Get in touch with our team of experts today to find out how we can help you create new business opportunities.