Most every service profession has a set of tools they use to do their job. Building contractors have hammers, saws and other power tools. Mechanics have their wrenches and diagnostic devices. Painters have their brushes, rollers and sprayers. You get the picture. We all have a set of tools we use to do our job or to do our job better. This is especially true for people in sales.

Sales people have a different kind of tool set they use. Some of these tools include marketing materials like brochures and samples, a Blackberry and their Customer Relationship Management software. However, perhaps the most powerful tool a salesperson can use is a testimonial. And not just one testimonial, but several.

If you are not using testimonials, you are probably walking away from sales that may otherwise have been in your pocket! If you do not have any written testimonials, go get them. Identify ten of your best customers and maybe a couple others that you had a unique sale or situation with that would provide a great testimonial. Call them or stop by and ask them for a written testimonial. Your customers know the value in having testimonials themselves, so they should be more than happy to help you out with one from them.

Now there may be as many reasons to use testimonials as you have testimonials to use, but let’s take a look at five of the more powerful reasons to use them: Believability, Credibility, Examples, Outcomes and Reduced Anxiety.

Believability - Pictures may be worth 1000 words, but a testimonial is 1000% more believable than your word. This isn’t a personal knock on you, your character or integrity. But let’s face it, when dealing with a new prospect, it seems salespeople already have two strikes against them when they walk in the door. This is probably due to many prospects having been burned at one time or another by someone in sales.

However, if your prospect hears what you have to say, and then you back it up with a stack of testimonials from several other customers that are saying the same thing, your prospect will be much more apt to believe what you are saying. With testimonials, you aren’t “selling,” you are providing.

Credibility - Many people see their experience with a salesperson as a “me-vs.-them” relationship where they are on one side of a line and you are on the other. When you provide your prospect with a stack of testimonials, they can then see themselves standing with your other customers over on your side of the line and will feel comfortable crossing over to work with you, rather than against you.

An even more powerful way to add credibility is by providing testimonials to your prospect from customers you have in the same or a similar industry. If your prospect is a contractor and you provide a few testimonials from other contractors, he will feel even more confidence in you since you’ve already worked with one of his peers.

Examples - A powerful aspect of using testimonials is they typically provide examples of not only your product or service, but also of your previous customer’s experience in working with you. This factor alone can be huge! Many new prospects may have the same questions about the details involved regarding everything from the product/service itself to the ordering and delivery process. Having a picture painted through testimonials can provide just the type details they may be looking for.

Outcomes - This is similar to “examples” in its benefit through testimonials. Where examples will set them up, outcomes will knock ‘em down! Providing your prospect with a handful of testimonials that illustrate how your product or service benefited your other customers allows your prospect to visualize that same outcome helping their company.

This benefit of using testimonials may just be the most powerful of them all. A fundamental practice of sales is to not focus on the features of your product/service, but to show your prospect what the outcome will be because of the features of the product/service that you provide. In this light, not only will you now have believability and credibility, but you will also have a heightened level of trust from your prospect.

Reduced Anxiety - The final powerful benefit of using testimonials we will look at is a little more personal. Many times a big reason why some people do not buy is anxiety that they are not making a good decision. You may have done an excellent job of explaining your product/service and painted a vibrant picture of how it will benefit your prospect (outcome). However, since all they have to go on is your word - which may be no different than the word of one or many salespeople that they may have been burned by in the past - a stack of testimonials is just what they may need to eliminate their anxiety and sign on the line that is dotted.

Want to blow your prospect away with your testimonials? Rather than give them a stack of written testimonials, give them a CD with half a dozen video testimonials! These don’t have to be anything that is commercially produced with fancy graphics. Just grab your cam-corder, maybe a tri-pod to keep it steady, and get some 30- to 60-second testimonials. Burn each file to disc and voila! Better yet, find any 13-year old and have them put those files together like a pro!