Most of us wait until a job is completed to ask for testimonials. Admittedly that's a good time, but it's also much harder to get a testimonial from a client at that stage. Then we have to get all needy when asking for the testimonial. There are three points when you can get testimonials, and get them long before the client has finished with your product or service? Where are these points located? And can all of us get testimonials at these points? Find out in this episode?and get to the points sooner than later. What I'm listening to on audio books Anti-Fragile by Nassim Taleb The Brain's Way of Healing by Norman Doidge Useful Resources Email me at: sean@psychotactics.com Twitter: seandsouza / Facebook: seandsouza Magic? Yes, magic: http://www.psychotactics.com/magic / Time Stamps 00:00:20 Start / 00:02:41 Table of Contents / 00:03:18 Bear Point No.1: Getting Agreement In Advance / 00:05:45 Bear Point No.2: In Progress Testimonial / 00:09:58 Bear Point No.3: Tail End of Project / 00:12:09 Summary / 00:15:36 Links, Resources and Goodies   Sean D'Souza:            This is the Three Month Vacation and I'm Sean D'Souza. As spring arrives in British Columbia and Alaska, something amazing happens. The grizzly bear comes out of its hibernation. All through the winter it has been high up in the mountains where there's lots of snow, and it's relatively easy to hibernate in the snow. Now it's time to feed, but there's no food up here so it has to make its way down to the coast. It's all about timing. It's all about planning. It has to get there just in time for the salmon run.                                     It might seem to us that the bear just shows up, but usually a mother bear will have some cubs with her as she makes her way down the mountain, so it's not just a matter of showing up but also making sure that the cubs make it, because the cub mortality rate is very high. Over half of the cubs die every year. The bear has to wake up from its hibernation, makes its way down the mountain, make sure the cubs are all fine, or at least as fine as they could be, and then get in position for the salmon run which will happen at a speak time, provided the rains come.                                     All of this requires an enormous amount of time and anticipation, and we have to do exactly the same thing. We have to act like bears when we want to get our testimonials, because if we don't anticipate and we don't plan, then nothing happens. It's all about timing. It's all about being there at the right time, at the right moment. Or is it?                                     Most of us think that testimonials are only available for us once the project is complete. It doesn't have to be like that. The project can be very incomplete before you starting to get testimonials. Let's just explore these elements of where you can get testimonials. The first point of getting a testimonials, or getting an agreement for a testimonial, is before the project even begins. The second point is the in-progress testimonial. Finally, you can get a testimonial right on the tail end of the project. In all three instances, the project hasn't been completed and you're getting a testimonial, or at least an agreement to a testimonial. Let's explore all three of them one by one.                                     In one of my first jobs as a consultant I didn't have any testimonials, so I had to get the testimonial in advance, or at least get the agreement for the testimonial. Here's what I did. When we sat down to work out the project, we worked out the scope of the project, and then at the tail end of the discussion I turned to the person and said, "If this project works out exactly as you planned, as we planned, can I get a really good testimonial?" Of course the client is anticipating the fact that the job will be done really well, and so they will give you a really good testimonial.                                     Just by asking this little quest