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The Book Coach Says - April 2004
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
"Why Testimonials Are #1 in Selling Your Book or Service"
Judy Cullins c. 2004
Even if your book or service is excellent, they won't sell well unless you give your potential customers a reason to buy. Testimonials work harder than other promotional words, so be sure to start early collecting them.
Back Cover Testimonials
Here, you will need three testimonials-- one from a celebrity or leader in your field, and the others the man or woman on the street--thrilled readers. These testimonials are the most important thing to include on your back cover--better than benefits, better than your bio, because your prospective buyers trust your book more when others recommend it.
Collect many more testimonials each time you email or meet someone interested in your topic. Put these in your front pages of your book.
Web and email Sales Letters Testimonials
Once you collect 5- 10 testimonials loaded with specific benefits, keep them in your Word folder "Book Testimonials" and "Web Testimonials." Organizing your files and folders make it so much faster to retrieve these gems that help your sales grow.
Sprinkle your testimonials throughout your web site and email sales letter. If you don't have a Web site, check out with a good book and marketing coach how to sell via email. Ecommerce succeeds without investing a lot of money--a number one way to market Online.
Without a short or long sales letter for each product or service, you have little chance of consistent monthly sales.
You Don't Have to Finish your Book to Get Testimonials
Think about the people you ask. Are they busy with their business and personal life? Know that they probably won't want to read the whole book. You need to make it easy for them to "buy."
In your first email or letter, include your chapter titles, your "tell and sell," a page or two from your best chapter. Say you know how busy they are and include a list of benefit words and phrase they can choose from to make it easier. Dan Poynter, self publishing guru, gave this testimonial for "How to Write your Print and eBook at the Same Time."
"This is not a book on how to write. It is a book on how to get it written. It is full of the shortcuts, experiences and tips only an insider could know. Whether you are working on an eBook or a pBook, you will find Judy Cullins' wisdom invaluable."
Dan Poynter, author of The Self Publishing Manual and
Writing Non-Fiction
If you are writing fiction, include a few of your best scenes from a chapter or two when you ask for a testimonial. Or, if the person wants the whole book, offer to send it.
Write a List of 5-10 Benefits and 5-10 Features.
Know that benefits sell, features describe.
Boost your Book or Product Sales Beyond you Wildest Dreams With Simple Testimonial Steps in the eBook "How to Get Testimonials from the Rich and Famous."
This headline gives the benefit of boosting sales first, and then explains how to. Without letting your audience know the benefits, most will drop interest.
COACH'S CORNER:
Spring Cleaning - For New Opportunities
I just cleaned out many of my office files and my computer files. I transferred many useful articles into their proper folder heading. For instance, I do business with Sandra Shrift at www.speakeruniversity.com. All communications with her go into her folder. For articles I want to write and get ideas from various places, I ask my assistant, Erica, to put them in my "articles to submit" folder in a special folder called "category: articles to edit." This all saves me time later when I want to retrieve something fast. Check out your files and spring clean, so you don't miss great opportunities.
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