So why are testimonials so useful? And how can they be used to their absolute advantage? … To YOUR absolute advantage?…

They should be used in ALL of your marketing materials. So your website (if you have one, if not you should have one), your leaflets, pamphlets and brochures…. and even in your newspaper, magazine or Yellow Pages adverts.

And if you have an office – use them there too. Have them on your wall, in a folder or book so that prospects can read them.

Why this Works so Well

Testimonials help you in 3 main ways:

1) They set you apart from your competition, who may not use testimonials at all, or if they do they use them the wrong way. By using them effectively you will LOOK different, meaning you must BE different, right?

2) If your business offers slightly different services that your competitors do not, your customers can highlight this in their testimonials. THEY will appreciate why you’re different to everyone else. And spelling this out in a testimonial will be hugely powerful for you.

3) This is THE most important aspect. Testimonials will allow you to use your marketing to your advantage. They will allow you to be able to eliminate the argument of price, because prospects will see YOU as a clear EXPERT in your field.

Why believe YOU?

Testimonials use something called ’social proof’ (something I write about in my book, which you can see here) and this is extremely powerful. But why?

Well, the main reason is that its all well and good YOU telling people that you are good at what you do. But when a third party (someone else) says it for you, it has a lot more influence.

Imagine a friend or someone you know recommending a restaurant to you. You may have passed this restaurant a few times before and thought to yourself that it looks like a nice place to go and have a meal.

But when someone else says it too, it carries so much more weight. So much so that you’d probably give it a try based upon their recommendation.

So this is why they work, and why using them EFFECTIVELY is another key to the success of your business. And also do not be afraid of asking for them either, as people are often more than happy to oblige.

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The report as a whole identifies some Huge Myths that you probably believe about your business.

The report comes in 2 parts – Part One is 36 pages long – and whilst that might seem a bit of a Mammoth , it goes in to a lot of detail about areas such as:

• Why working HARDER does not mean you’ll be Successful
• Why reducing Your fees is a HUGE mistake – even in this economy
• How Perception is Everything
• Why copying other businesses is often the WRONG thing to do
• Why too many Referrals is a BAD thing
• What Dating and running Your Business have in common
• The 5 reasons to have High Prices

Part Two, called The Missing Myth, looks at an area that you may not have considered. Its an area that has helped a lot of businesses in the past (including mine), and I know that it will help yours too.

If you’d like a copy of the report, you can send an email to Report @ SimonPaulThurston.com – and please indicate the type business that you have.

I suggest that you first review all products that are on offer in network marketing, and to ask yourself if they are easy to be sold on the market on its own, and not with the network marketing opportunity. If you don’t spend time doing this research and study, there is no point in your thinking of being a part of MLM network marketing.

I suggest that you get involved in a program that has been in existence for a few years. In fact, it is better if you can consult a friend who is working in the company you consider joining. Remember that it is not actually useful to promote a company from a point that attracts more of builders, while leaving customers out of its circle.

Companies usually resort to multi level marketing as it is an easy, economic and user friendly method of introducing new products to the marketplace. So if you are quite comfortable with the working of the internet, and are well versed with marketing, you may as well start building your business immediately.

Today, network marketing is a worldwide trend, where there are over 30,000 people joining it per week. When you join network marketing, though you meet lots of people in the first month of your joining, in the next month, you talk to less people and by the third or fourth month, you don’t even realize you have a business.

What more do you want to achieve through network marketing? So just think about network marketing for a minute, do your maths and attack it with persistence and commitment that will help your network marketing commission cheque to keep growing.

Till we meet again……

When customers make a purchase, they expect at least two of three things – quality, value, and service.

If you happen to provide excellent customer service and offer a high quality product at an excellent value – you’ve got all bases covered.   But if you’re ever having a difficult time of producting a quality product, or you happen to overprice your product so that the value is no longer there, you could end up with an unhappy customer.  And this is precisely when stellar customer service well save the day.

 Postive Customer Service

The moment you receive a complain from a customer – the key is to acknowledge the compain and agree that the customer is correct (even if they aren’t).  It doesn’t matter what the complaint is, simply acknowledge it in a positive way and agree that the issue is a very serious concern.

Now agreeing that the concern is serious is one thing – what you are going to do about it is quite another.

Who made the mistake?

If you’ve completely messed up your product or service, and the customer complaint is, without a doubt, completely legitimate – then by all means offer a full refund, and do it quickly.  The last thing you need is an irate customer telling friends and family what a terrible service or product you sell.  However, if you quickly make up for an error with a full refund and an apology – you may end up with a happy customer anyone, who will spread the word that you provide some of the best customer service he has ever seen.  It is always possible, in fact, to turn lemons into lemonade.

Not your fault?

We’ve all had to deal with them – customers who complain about every little detail in order to get a discount or a partial refund.  There are times when you must stand your ground and refuse – but you can do so using reverse psychology.

For example – let’s say you are selling on ebay and you’ve sold expensive silver flatware.  The customer purchases a full set at an amazing deal, and then writes to complain to you that one of the utencils is slightly tarnished.  You know that it wasn’t, or the tarnish is insignificant – but the customer is fishing for a partial refund, but wants to be able to keep the set.

The way out of a situation like this is simple – offer a full refund upon return of the entire set.  Since the customer realizes the value that they’ve already achieved in buying the item from you at such a great price, they aren’t going to want to give up the product.  You will likely never hear another word from them again.

 Whatever your tactic – just keep in mind that the ultimate success through customer service comes from a positive demeaner regardless of the situation, rapid response and communication, and a very quick resolution to any problems that arise.

 Maintaining such a positive customer service record will help you to achieve rewards in terms of additional customers who will hear about your fantastic customer service through the grapevine.