Chill Out

It’s a hot, steamy summer night. You’re heading to dinner wearing your favorite sleeveless silk top and carrying your cutest clutch purse. You make your chic entrance into the trendy bistro, only to discover the place is the exact same temperature as an igloo in the middle of January in Alaska. What’s a girl to do?

My sister recently discovered the Chilly Jilly – a stylish, wrinkle-free wrap that folds into a tiny drawstring bag and fits right inside your purse. She wrote the folks at Chilly Jilly a note explaining what a lifesaver this product is for her, and the owner, Jill Boehler, asked to use Melinda’s testimonial on their web site homepage.

Jill’s a smart lady. Not only did she create this product that saves us from the cold-movie-theater fate of jamming our arms into the too-short Abercrombie sweatshirt of our kids’ we found stuffed in our trunk (the sweatshirt, not the kid) – but she’s using also customer’s testimonials to bolster business.

Creating ongoing communication with your customers can do lots of great things: it allows you to continue sharpening your business plan to your customers’ needs, it lets you know when you’re on the right track, it gives you the best sort of marketing there is (straight from the happy customer’s mouth) and on a bleak day, it creates a little sunshine.

“There is nothing more satisfying to me as a business owner than when a customer takes their time to say good things about my product. It can really make my day! I try to share some of the comments with other customers, but sometimes it serves as the juice to get me through a rough day!” says Jill.

From this day forward, promise me one thing: when a customer, client or friend says “good job!” put the sentiment in a little file so you can use it as a testimonial on your web site, in a brochure, as a comment post on your blog … or just to put a smile on your face.