Testimonials are a powerful selling tool for all businesses especially in pet stores. If the pet store has services such as dog training, testimonials are even more powerful. New shoppers to your store are more likely to make a purchase after reading testimonials about your business. Testimonials build trust and credibility to your business.
After obtaining testimonials, they should be placed in prominent areas of the store including the entrance, checkout, and areas which have high traffic flow. Having several short testimonials is better than one long one. Keep the original testimonial by the customer and put the information on bright color paper. This will draw more attention. Laminating them or putting them in a protective folder will make it more professional and last longer. You must either add new testimonials and or move them around the store. Many customers are creatures of habits and followed the same path each time in the store.
How do you obtain the testimonials to post? There are many ways, but here is a couple to get you started. Anytime, you hear a customer make a positive statement about your pet store, ask them if they could make a short testimonial. Since, it is short they will be more likely to do so. Also, you may offer a free inexpensive gift or a discount on their next purchase to strongly encourage customers to give you a testimonial.
Another way to get a testimonial is to ask for it in a direct mail letter to your regular customers. You could offer the same incentives to increase the response from the direct mail letter.
Getting testimonials and displaying them around your store is just another way to show how your pet store is better than the competition. Every advantage that can be shown to visitors to your pet store will lead to more money into your pocket.
By: Jerry Robertson