Sean D'Souza: Getting other people to sing your praises

Most new writers are stuck when it comes to testimonials. They know testimonials sell books and products, and when you're a "nobody" it's almost impossible to get testimonials. Well, for starters, you're not a "nobody". And impossible is an opinion, not reality.

So, let's go about getting testimonials.

Let's start with understanding the core of testimonials and destroy some crazy myths in the process. In fact, here are the two main areas where you can get testimonials:

* You can get testimonials about you as a person.

* You can get testimonials from "test readers".

Testimonials don't all need to be about the product itself. Amazing, but true. So when I launch a new product, I can't always get testimonials - especially if I'm pre-launching a product.

How do you get testimonials for something that doesn't exist - or at least won't exist for a while?

The way around it is to get testimonials based on you as a person.

No matter who you are, you have some history. People know you in your school, university, hometown or work.

Let's say you're a consultant or have some sort of service and want to get testimonials for a book you're about to write. What you do is seek out a friend, your high school teacher, someone in the neighbourhood or someone in an online forum. Ask them to comment on issues where they've dealt with you.

Let's say you've done some consulting before. Let's say you've had a course before or written a poem in year 3 and your teacher wrote a note about the beauty of your poem. Heck, those are all testimonials.

They could be testimonials about your personality or about your sense of humour. They could be testimonials that describe you and the things you do. And that would be fine.

You see, the testimonials don't have to have any bearing on the product.

Read this testimonial for instance: "Running into Sean is like running into abrasive sandpaper. He really scrapes away at your business soul. He gives your business the angles not yet explored and wipes away traditional thinking. And that's just for starters."

Do you know where this testimonial came from? Which product is being sold? No idea, right?

That's because they don't have to sell the product. People aren't always buying into the product. They buy into the product, but they're keener to buy into the person as well. Or the personality.

In a way, you can be a brand. Brands are just a group of "images" or a group of "stories". They're just a group of "angles" put together to give the potential buyer a reason to buy. And if you eventually do use the note your teacher in year 3 gave you, it reveals some of that story. It shows you have a sense of humour.

Testimonials from "test readers"

Test readers can be anyone. They could be friends or clients. They simply need to comment on what they read. And for starters, you can get these test readers to just read a single chapter.

The person is speaking strictly about that chapter and how it makes a difference. They don't have to comment on the entire book. In fact, it may well be a superb strategy to send the entire book, or parts of the book to these readers and ask them to focus on just a chapter or two.

If you've waited for testimonials before, this is a good strategy. Reading one chapter will get your test readers to write a testimonial quickly. And if you have six or seven readers reading six or seven chapters, their comments are focused and diverse at the same time.

But is it ethical to put in a testimonial of just part of a book?

It's a tricky question. It's a bit like a reviewer doing a restaurant critique. There's no way they can (or would want to) eat all the dishes on the menu. So they order a few dishes and the review is based on the meals ordered and the service, décor and price.

We consider that to be perfectly acceptable. The same concept applies to a book, because it may take a long time to read and review a book, so a review of a chapter is perfectly acceptable.

So yeah, there's a strategy - even if you're a first time product creator.

All you have to do is:

* Get testimonials about you as a person.

* Get testimonials from "test readers".

And you've got a page full of testimonials and you're well on your way.

Sean D'Souza is chief executive of Psychotactics and an international author and trainer. He is the author of The Brain Audit - Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don't).

www.psychotactics.com