Testimonials: The untapped source of your Web business

Guest contributor Delta Media Group says:

The way of doing business has changed.

Consumers want to be educated without being sold to. They want to find the best deal, even if that means waiting for it to be delivered. They are influenced by their friends and family's positive experiences, and aren't just asking for referrals.

Borders offered great products in a warm atmosphere that allowed consumers to touch and feel their purchase, and maybe even sample it before buying. They could take it home with them right away.

And yet, Borders went bankrupt.

Best Buy offers the same, and allows consumers to sample products side by side. To compare and contrast the picture difference between LED and LCD TVs, and listen to the quality of a surround sound system before making a purchase. If you have questions, you can ask an educated employee.

And yet, Best Buy has begun closing stores and is in financial trouble.

The two businesses have something in common—they are/were both really good at the old way of doing business. But new methods of doing business have allowed companies like Amazon to take market share from Borders, Best Buy, and a laundry list of other retail stores.

The new consumer wants to research the product and find out the details of what it offers them. They want to read about the size and weight of a flat screen television, the screen resolution, and what that even means. They want to study the differences between LCD, LED and Plasma, and collect a multitude of opinions about which is best, for now and a few years down the road.

They also want to do something no retail store can offer—read the opinions and experiences of others who have bought the same product. They want to see how those consumers would rate that product. They want to know if other consumers are happy with their purchase. They want to read if others have had issues with the product, what they are, and judge if they're significant enough to stay away from the product altogether.

Consumers caught on to selling. They began recognizing when a sales person was pitching a product, rather than educating them on a pricy investment. They noticed that sales people rarely talked about the negative possibilities of a product, and that they could learn more about that product's performance by reading reviews of people who have had it for a few years.

New consumers want to read testimonials from other consumers. They want to crowdsource whether their investment is a good one, or something to stay away from. They want to know if they should do business with a person or company, or whether they might be happier going elsewhere. And they want to learn all these things from other consumers that they can relate to, rather than from marketing and advertising exclusively.

Testimonials and reviews are a new and necessary part of business, and an increasingly important component of a real estate agent's business.

As a real estate agent, you've built your business on helping others find homes. You've worked hard to be honest and ethical, and to do what's best for your consumers.

But telling that to your next client might no longer be enough. You want your former clients to tell your future clients for you. You want testimonials from happy consumers, and you want those browsing the Web for a real estate agent to find them.

You want written testimonials, which your consumers can search for and read, and video testimonials, which they can watch. You want consumers surrounding by real-life experiences doing business with you, because you want to show your next clients that you'll serve them just as well as you've served your past clients.

Testimonials are a necessary part of your business with the new consumer, and you have the ability to leverage it to grow your business.

To view the original article, visit the Delta Media Group blog.