How do you avoid common pitfalls and mistakes when using customer testimonials in your sales presentations?

To use customer testimonials effectively in sales presentations, choose relevant ones that are genuine and verify their authenticity. Provide context by explaining the customer's industry, challenges, and how your solution helped. Include testimonials from diverse customers and highlight measurable results. Use visuals like logos or photos with permission. This approach builds credibility and demonstrates the value of your solutions convincingly.

Avoid cherry-picking only the most positive testimonials; include a mix of feedback for credibility. Provide context to testimonials to explain the problem solved or benefit gained. Finally, regularly update testimonials to keep them current and reflective of your product or service's quality and relevance.

Beyond what's stated above, another important factor to consider is the size of the company. Small to medium companies don't want a testimonial from a Fortune 100 company. This gives them an impression of expensive, complicated, and the extra expense of services. On the other hand, larger companies want to hear from their large company peers to feel comfortable the solution can scale and provide enterprise strength.

One or two testimonials from businesses that are the same size and from the same industry are important. If you're pitching to a Bank, make sure assets are similar and the geography if possible. If the testimonial includes a story about them switching from the competitor you are selling against in the current account, that's powerful. Using summary information can be useful as well, presenting an aggregate of like companies can tell a simple story.

The best use of a testimonial is to help educate on the art of the possible. Too many times we focus on solving pains by responding to a known issue. What many companies are looking for is to teach them what others are doing, open new opportunities for their business with examples of innovation from their peers. "Teach me something I don't know" is what invites you back.

Providing testimonials is not an everyday task for our customers/users so it's important we guide them to create something useful to the audience especially if it is being used in a sales process. An easy framework anyone can use to help direct their feedback would be : Why did the product or service matter? (What was the situation/pain before) Why did they choose this product/service? (What differentiated it? What did it solve? ) Why did they need to take action then? or What's happened since the initial interest? Have they been able to use the product/service to address other areas that were not initially envisioned?

I would argue that verbal customer metrics are more impactful than a visual customer success slide. Why?... Dropping in a handful of success metrics as you are going through your demos shows you understand what is important to your customer and can be delivered immediately after you show the value. This will help you land your point very clearly. Pick your metrics well and you will have great success. On the other-hand, a customer success slide can round out your pitch very well, however, not being fully enabled on the story can leave you looking non-credible. Use success slides sparingly and ensure you understand the story thoroughly beforehand.

Sharing testimonials is a powerful strategy. When potential customers see Social proof (R. Cialdini – The 6 Principles of Influence) of a product or service’s benefits, they are more likely to trust and consider purchasing it. However, it's vital to obtain consent before using feedback. Unapproved usage could impact the reputation/credibility of the business. Not only does gathering feedback serve as a valuable asset in the sales process, but it also plays a significant role in improving the overall customer experience. By listening to what customers have to say, businesses can identify areas of improvement and tailor their products to better meet their needs. This shows that you are continually improving with the user/customer in mind.