An important part of marketing your business, is to seek commendations from clients. This is especially important when working via the internet (your website) as many viewers will not know you and will have to depend on your photo and testimonials to build their confidence in you and your business.
Positive feedback from satisfied clients (when in the form of written words) can be used as a commendation (if suitable). You certainly have an opportunity to ask for a testimonial. Even a spoken commendation is good if you write down what is said and ask permission to use it on your website. It would be the correct thing to do, in this circumstance, to email a copy of what you have written and ask the client if he/she agrees that your interpretation is correct.
Just keep in mind that because you have satisfactorily helped a client once, this does not automatically mean that you can request a commendation (which is a pretty personal statement). You are much more likely to get a testimonial once you have built a relationship with your client. Commendations from genuinely happy clients can eventually lead to referrals to you from the contacts of the happy clients. You can even ask if the satisfied client could refer you to their contacts – BUT do not ask for this favour until you have developed a strong bond in your relationship.
I have completed work for clients through the online company, UpWork and they encourage clients to leave feedback (testimonials). It is from some of these clients that I have had some great commendations.
Written by Ven Grollmus
