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For most of the near-decade I’ve been filming video testimonials, I’ve suggested that my clients choose testimonial participants by looking first to their warmest, happiest, easiest clients. It makes sense, doesn’t it? If you’re using social-proof marketing, of course you want to feature those you can be completely confident will say wonderful things about your practice.
Last year, I filmed a testimonial with Dean, who was a wealth management client working with an advisor named Alex. But Dean had only agreed to an initial discovery meeting with Alex after his wife Betsy’s repeated appeals. Dean hesitated to hand his personal wealth over to an advisor because he had experience managing a trust for a third party. He was skeptical of paying for expertise he believed he already had. He simply couldn’t see how Alex, or any other advisor, could be trusted to make investment decisions for him, let alone justify the cost.
What made this testimonial particularly compelling wasn’t anything Dean said about Alex’s experience or expertise as a financial advisor, but the tremendous change in his attitude once he began working with Alex.
Betsy told me on camera that it took several years to convince Dean to sit down with an advisor at all, let alone hire one. But once Betsy finally succeeded at coaxing her reluctant husband into the discovery meeting, Alex's impressive knowledge and gently authoritative demeanor melted away Dean’s trepidation.
The man I saw on the screen in front of me was not the proud, stubborn skeptic you might imagine walking into Alex’s office for the first time, grimacing with folded arms, defenses on high alert. Instead, I was looking at a completely transformed, dyed-in-the-wool, wholesale champion for Alex (a man at least 25 years his junior, I might add), taking time to enthusiastically record an uncompensated video testimonial.
Moving Beyond the “Easy Yes”
Most of the testimonials I’ve filmed for advisors have been with easy yeses. Easy yeses feel great. They offer us intoxicating validation and ask for no suffering in return. They’re obvious choices for testimonials, in no small part because we expect them to be easy yeses again when we ask them to record or write one.
Until recently, I haven’t urged advisors to think beyond the basic dimensions of closings, financial milestones, and long-term satisfaction when choosing testimonial participants. But my experience with Dean taught me that while an easy-yes client says, “this advisor is good,” and still stands as excellent social proof, an initially hesitant client’s testimonial adds something even more compelling: a story of change.
A skeptical convert’s story transcends a snapshot and expands into a dynamic before-and-after. It speaks directly to the prospect who hasn’t been won over yet; the prospect searching your website or social channels for a good reason to stop their search. It meets them where they are today and shows them vividly what their journey could look like if they crack open their armor a little and give you a chance to connect.
Find Your Hidden Champions
You likely have several of these stories under your belt already. Perhaps you haven’t thought of them as good material because they didn’t feel like slam dunks at the time. Maybe part of you fears that these clients may still have lingering reluctance, and you don’t want to remind them why they didn’t initially buy in.
But clients who had more complex journeys in the earliest phase of the relationship could be the most durable and enthusiastic of all because they experienced a change of heart that dramatically altered the course of their financial life.
If you can identify any of these very special clients, ask them what almost stopped them and what changed their mind. These simple questions will surface precious details the usual “How would you describe your experience with us?” never would.
Ultimately, Dean was sold immediately when he first met with Alex, and he was more than happy to talk about it on camera years later, filling out the story with an admission of his initial reluctance and recounting how Alex had won him over. Now, my testimonial interviews aim to uncover these what-won-me-over stories.
A prospect who pushes back initially is likely pressure-testing you to determine whether you’re just running them through a sales process, or you actually see them. Like the genuine attention Alex gave Dean, the lucidity you offer prospects at this stage can be downright disarming and leave an impression that stays vivid for years.
That impression is marketing gold.
Jeff Feazell is Principal at Authentic Advisor Video, where he produces marketing videos for financial advisors and firms by drawing out the perspective and personality that already set them apart.
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Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.