Episode 25: 8 Tips For How To Get Endorsements

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Whether you’re selling a product or a service, endorsements are an important tool for all entrepreneurs. Endorsements help you gain credibility and give potential customers proof that your product or service works. We both have endorsements for our books, online courses, and keynotes from CEOs and leaders at some of the top organizations around the world. And we have learned some things along the way. 

It can be awkward to ask for endorsements, but it gets easier the more you do it. Today we are sharing our tips and advice on how to ask for endorsements regardless of how long you have been in business. 

1. You need to have credibility and a presence--When you reach out for endorsements people are going to look you up and find out who you are. And most people are going to make decisions on whether or not to endorse you based on what they find online.  Before you reach out for endorsements make sure you have your best foot forward on all social media channels. Do an audit--Google yourself and look at your social media profiles to see if there is anything you need to update or fix. 
2. Identify who you want for endorsements--You should reach out to people that line up with your product or service. For example if you are selling computer software you might want to focus on CIOs or IT managers. You want people who have a good reputation. You also want diversity, don’t just get endorsements from all white male CIOs for example. Get a good variety of people and job titles. 
3. Get creative--Sometimes getting endorsements will take creativity. Think about some unique ways to reach out to people. Blake has a great example of how she met a Forbes family member at a conference and got a picture with her. Then she was able to send the picture along with a message to the family member’s assistant to ask for an endorsement. 
4. Leverage your network--Reach out to people you have worked with before, companies you have worked with before, reach out to people you have met at conferences, or people you know through a mutual acquaintance. And once you have a few well respected people be sure to use their names to get more people on board. 
5. Prepare your pitch--It is important to do your homework before reaching out. You want to show the person you are reaching out to that you took the time to see who they are and how they are relevant to your product or service. You will need to tell a bit of a story. Here’s why I chose you, here’s what this opportunity would include, here’s why it would be helpful for me. Think about it from the perspective of the person who is giving the endorsement. What would you need to read to be compelled to endorse something? Make it personalized to the person. And make sure you are diligent and follow up a few times if you don’t get a response. 
6. Make it as easy as possible for the person--People can get busy, sometimes people are more apt to say yes if you make it as easy as possible for them. What we typically do is we offer to send over 2-3 testimonials for them to either approve or edit. Or maybe one of your quotes will give them inspiration to create one of their own.  
7. Be okay with not getting an endorsement--It is important to be diligent, but you also have to be okay with getting a “no”. We have both had a lot of people decline to give endorsements for various reasons. You only need a few people to say yes.  
8. Offer value to people-- Don’t just assume endorsements are a one way thing. Think of how you can offer value to other people in exchange for the endorsement. You can offer a free product, an endorsement of their product or service in exchange, or give to their charity, find out what they care about and try to offer something of value to them. 

Hopefully you can take these tips and start building up your endorsements. Whether you are just starting out or you have been in business for 10+ years endorsements are crucial for entrepreneurs. You are missing out on business if you don’t have any yet!