The Benefits of Using Case Studies
The Benefits of Using Case Studies
What are the benefits of providing case studies and how can they help sales efforts?
A case study is an in-depth look at a “success story” you or your company has experienced with a specific product or service. A case study illustrates the details of your success with a particular client. It highlights how your product or service solved a specific client’s issues or helped them overcome specific obstacles in their business.
In essence, a case study is a large, very detailed, testimonial from a happy client. My trusty Webster’s dictionary defines a case study as “an intensive analysis of an individual unit (as a person or community) stressing developmental factors in relation to environment.
Although a case-study provides more depth and details than a testimonial, the source of information for both is the going to be the same – a happy client. I believe interviewing your client is the most important source of information for a case study. When you are in the business of selling, often the best case you can make to a potential new customer is a detailed testimony from a current, satisfied customer.
Case studies are important because they can play a strong role in convincing a prospect you have a solution for their problem. Many times, you may have already solved the prospect’s problem or issue, only for a different company. A case study serves as a solid example of your proven experience solving the same problem or filling the same need at hand.
Case studies can also take technical information about your company’s product or service, and convert it to interesting, readable information in the form of a “story” your prospect can easily relate to.
Once you have some case studies put together, use them to promote your business and your successes. Use case studies along with testimonials, or as stand-alone documents, on your company Web site, your newsletters, sales literature, press kits, at trade shows and via e-mail to further support your sales efforts.
