It might seem obvious but what do you do when you want to purchase something off Amazon or at the store? You read reviews! You look for feedback from other users to see if the product or brand you’re purchasing is good, or is it crap.
Why would your wedding floral design clients be any different? If they’re going to put down $1k or $3k or $5k, no matter the amount, they’d want to know if you and your business are reliable, if you can do what they want and your level of customer service.
You can say ALL you want about how amazing you are, how talented and skilled you are, the level of customer service you provide, but that is nothing compared to what OTHERS say about you. Think about it, how often do you buy something on Amazon, unfortunately, there are no reviews. So you read the product description that promises you the world. But when you receive the product, immediately you log in to print that return label. Boo! Not as advertised.
Testimonials describe what has been and are a promise of what is to come.
Ron Kaufman
Here are 3 tips to getting your client testimonials and social proofs.
1. Ask For the Client Testimonial
If you’re just starting out, I understand that you may not have many customer reviews. But you have to start somewhere. So even if you haven’t had wedding floral design clients yet, think of others who have benefited and enjoyed your floral designs in the past:
- You just sold a Christmas wreath to your neighbor
- You did the flowers for your company holiday party
- You made some flower arrangements for school prom
- You volunteered to make some arrangements for the hospital
- You designed your cousin’s baby shower centerpieces
Great! You ASK for a testimonial. You won’t get it if you don’t ask! In general, people love helping other people. You can let them know that you’re just starting your floral design business and would love if they can help you by writing you a short and quick (this is important, you’re telling them you value their time) review.
2. Guide The Testimonial
Now, yes you should be asking past clients for testimonials. But don’t just ask and give them the liberty to write anything they want. GUIDE them so that they would write a review that is beneficial for you.
Here’s what you DON’T want: “The flowers were absolutely beautiful. Loved them so much! Thank you again!”. I’m sure your potential clients who land on your Instagram or website can see if you do beautiful work or not. That review doesn’t help with anything whatsoever. Instead, what you want are reviews that talk about how amazing it was to work with you, your level of professionalism and customer service, the fact that you made the couple or clients feel less stressed and they knew that they were in good hands from the very start. Guide your clients to write about the transformation they had when working with you.
Give them a couple of questions to guide them in how you want them to toot your horn. Feel free to take 2 to 3 questions from below: “Here are a few questions if you need help thinking of what to say:
- How do you describe the process of working with me?
- What was your xperience workign with me?
- How did you feel about flowers for the wedding before workign with me?
- What was your favorite part about working with me?
- How did I help you bring your vision to life?
- What was the wedding day for the delivery and setup?
3. Make it Easy for Them
Provide links so that they can just click and write. Don’t tell them “Oh if you can go on Google or on The Knot and write that write for me, please.” Let them know, “Great! Thanks for agreeing to help me out, I really appreciate it. I’ll send you an email with the link(s) shortly.” Link directly to your Google, The Knot, Yelp, WeddingWire, wherever, just make it easy for them because they are doing you a favor.
If you don’t have a 3rd party website where you send your clients to write their testimonials, get that set up now! 3rd party website (instead of your own website) reviews are far more convincing than you just having those on your website. And PLUS! If you have reviews on your Google profile, Google loves you more.
If you want to take it a step further, I used to send the clients a Starbucks gift card. It doesn’t have to be much, $5 for a cup of coffee “Hey thanks so much for doing this for me, coffee on me!” This will motivate them to actually do it and not just an empty promise because they’d feel bad sipping that cup of coffee but didn’t do that review for ya.
Take Action
Alright SO! Let’s implement!
- Think of 3 to 5 people you’ve provided flowers for, paid or volunteered, who you can ask for a review. The more the merrier!
- Sign Up for 3rd party website accounts where you want your clients to review you. Choose at least 2 platforms, make sure Google is one of them.
- Guide your clients or friends on how you’d like them to write the review. Remember, it’s all about their transformation, and not about how beautiful the flowers were
- Make it easy for them. Send them right to the review page!
Do this now. Let’s take action to move our business forward. Baby steps.
Cheering you on!
