Keeping up With Client References

There’s nothing quite like client references for selling your services. Think about the last time you went to a new restaurant, brought your car to a mechanic, or hired a cleaning service. Did you pick where you went or whoever you worked with based solely on their website, brochure, or advertisement? Probably not. Most people use reviews to inform purchasing decisions, trusting word of mouth more than actual advertising. In fact:

72% of customers don’t take action until they have read reviews (Testimonial Engine)
92% of B2B buyers are more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review (G2 Crowd and Heinz Marketing)
Given two products with similar ratings, consumers are more likely to buy the product with more reviews (Psychological Science)
Only 33% of businesses are actively seeking out and collecting reviews (Impact)

33%. That’s a staggeringly low number considering how much evidence there is supporting the idea that reviews and client testimonials are critical to marketing your services.

Client References Are Critical For Winning Proposals

Do you include client references in your proposals? This could take a few different forms – you could simply enclose full letters of recommendation, or “sprinkle” key quotes throughout the body of your proposal, or you could even make a “collage” of client letter thumbnails to show just how much your clients appreciate your work.

If you aren’t including client references in your proposals, then you’re working that much harder to sell your services.

Client references provide evidence that you are doing (or have done) what you said you’ve done. Take your standard project sheet, for instance. You probably have a good narrative talking about a design solution (if you’ve got a great narrative, it talks about how that solution overcame a specific client challenge), along with project details and a few images. Adding in a quote from a client supporting your narrative makes it more real to a proposal reviewer, and helps build your reputation. Let’s look at an example. Which one of these firms would you be more likely to hire based on their response to the following question?

Explain your firm’s professional competence as it relates to schedule and budget control.

Firm A

Our firm has an exceptional track record of delivering projects on time and within our clients’ budgets. As our portfolio demonstrates, we have a reputation for zero design professional initiated change orders on our most recent projects.

Firm B

We are committed to delivering projects on time and in budget. Our portfolio includes several examples of projects completed within extremely tight budgets or with fast-tracked schedules. One example is the New City Hospital Addition, which was fast-tracked to be completed before grant funding expired.

“Firm B was a pleasure to work with. They were responsive to the complexities of the New City Hospital Addition and ensured this critical project was completed within our budget and before our grant expired.” – J. Smith, New City Hospital Owner’s Rep

Who do you trust more, Firm A or Firm B? They both had similar marketing responses to the question, so differentiating between the two based solely on that is almost impossible. But Firm B supplied actual evidence of their claim with a quote from their client.

Soliciting Client References

Asking for client references can feel awkward at times, or even daunting. If you’ve built a good relationship with your client asking shouldn’t be a problem at all though. Here are a few ways to request client testimonials:

Ask in person

Asking for a reference in person might be the most nerve-wracking, but it’s also one of the best ways to secure a testimonial. Look for opportunities to casually lead into the request. For instance, you might hear your client praise your work at a grand opening ceremony or during a meeting. Take that opportunity to say “Thank you! We’re so glad to hear you’re satisfied with our work. Would you mind if I quote you in future proposals? Comments like this really help future clients to understand how hard we work to deliver a quality project.” You might even ask for a full letter of recommendation if the situation seems appropriate.

Ask via email

Email is the easiest way to ask for a reference. You can create a template to make it super efficient to ask for testimonials, customizing the email as-needed for a particular client or project. (Make sure that if you use a template, the email still sounds personal before you fire it off.) Your email should detail exactly what you’re hoping to receive (quotes, letter of recommendation, a completed questionnaire). If possible, remind your client about the positives of the project, so that they can easily incorporate that into their feedback. You can also give them a few starter questions to help them generate a more specific response, too. For example:

Good afternoon [client name],

It has been a pleasure working with you on [project name]. We are particularly satisfied with [positive aspects of the project]. Now that the project is complete, would you be willing to provide a reference for our firm? We would appreciate [expectation, i.e.: letter, quote, survey]; these testimonials really help us show future clients how hard we work to deliver a quality project.

Your feedback also helps us to improve our services. Could you [complete the attached survey, answer the following questions, etc.].

Thank you!

Ask via survey

Surveys are a great way to solicit feedback on your firm’s performance while also mining a few good quotes for your marketing efforts. You can build a quick survey using a number of free resources like Survey Monkey or Zoho Survey and distribute it to multiple clients at once. To get the most out of your survey, be sure to:

Personalize the email you use to send the survey link.
Include comment options and short-answer questions in addition to rating and multiple-choice options.
Keep your survey short, and let your client know that it will only take a few minutes.

If your firm does a lot of government business, you’re probably familiar with the Past Performance Questionnaire and have probably sent this to your clients multiple times. To take some of the burden off of them (and make them more willing to complete a PPQ and give you high marks) request a copy of the PPQ after they complete it the first time, and attach this copy to your email for future requests so that they can quickly reference (or reuse) their original answers.

Do you collect client references? If so, what has been the most effective method for doing so?