Miss Business Manners: How To Get An Endorsement From An Academic
June 23, 2015 2:25 PM Subscribe
An academic has endorsed my business verbally. How can I go about getting a written endorsement to be used on my website, similar to what you see here?
(asking for a friend)
Short backstory: I have a business centered around senior care. A local university professor got interested in my business after one of her study participants was referred to me by a social worker. The professor was impressed by the services we provided which were far above and beyond what she typically sees in the course of her research, and we have been in touch for several months, with me providing extensive feedback and answers to questions re. the senior care industry. In our personal email correspondence, the professor repeatedly and enthusiastically stated that she admires how we help the elderly, our unique approach, etc.
I now have an in-person meeting with the professor. I don't know if there is a particular agenda, or if she just has more questions or simply wants to meet after all the correspondence we've done via email. What I would love on my end is an endorsement from her that I could use on my website, something very similar to the screenshot I linked above. This professor has very impressive credentials and works for the department of the UoM that is very relevant for my business so an endorsement from her would be a major trust sign to my clients.
How can I approach this without offending the professor? So many questions!
1. Are personal academic endorsements a thing?
2. Is she within her rights to endorse my business, or would she need the university's permission?
3. Is it offensive to offer money? Is it offensive NOT to?
4. If money is not offensive, how would you put a value on something like this? On one hand my website does not get a lot of traffic so it wouldn't be a huge eyeball count or anything but on the other hand this is a highly be-titled university professor we are talking about.
5. Any general advice on how to broach the subject?
Short backstory: I have a business centered around senior care. A local university professor got interested in my business after one of her study participants was referred to me by a social worker. The professor was impressed by the services we provided which were far above and beyond what she typically sees in the course of her research, and we have been in touch for several months, with me providing extensive feedback and answers to questions re. the senior care industry. In our personal email correspondence, the professor repeatedly and enthusiastically stated that she admires how we help the elderly, our unique approach, etc.
I now have an in-person meeting with the professor. I don't know if there is a particular agenda, or if she just has more questions or simply wants to meet after all the correspondence we've done via email. What I would love on my end is an endorsement from her that I could use on my website, something very similar to the screenshot I linked above. This professor has very impressive credentials and works for the department of the UoM that is very relevant for my business so an endorsement from her would be a major trust sign to my clients.
How can I approach this without offending the professor? So many questions!
1. Are personal academic endorsements a thing?
2. Is she within her rights to endorse my business, or would she need the university's permission?
3. Is it offensive to offer money? Is it offensive NOT to?
4. If money is not offensive, how would you put a value on something like this? On one hand my website does not get a lot of traffic so it wouldn't be a huge eyeball count or anything but on the other hand this is a highly be-titled university professor we are talking about.
5. Any general advice on how to broach the subject?
Best answer: I use endorsements on my sites, though they're not from academicians. They're from customers or authors in my field.
First, don't offer payment or favors or anything like that. People seem happy to show their support for something they like, and offering anything in exchange would make it weird. It's flattering to be asked for a testimonial.
Instead, make it really easy for the person to endorse you by writing the blurb for her. Since she's been saying nice things about you in emails, you could just grab the most effective thing she said and tell her, "Thank you so much for your kind words about X. Would it be possible for me to quote you on my site? I could use this comment that you wrote on DATE:" and so forth. Show her the example screenshot so she can picture it (and to subtly point out that other academicians do it).
If she already has a photo available online, such as part of her professional profile, ask if you can use that, so she doesn't have to provide one. Finally, suggest the attribution that would be most impressive, such as "Molly Malone, professor at Impressive University." If she says that she isn't allowed to use her university affiliation for some reason, has she written a book? If so, then you can suggest the attribution "Molly Malone, author of Amazing Book About a Related Issue."
posted by ceiba at 5:14 PM on June 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
First, don't offer payment or favors or anything like that. People seem happy to show their support for something they like, and offering anything in exchange would make it weird. It's flattering to be asked for a testimonial.
Instead, make it really easy for the person to endorse you by writing the blurb for her. Since she's been saying nice things about you in emails, you could just grab the most effective thing she said and tell her, "Thank you so much for your kind words about X. Would it be possible for me to quote you on my site? I could use this comment that you wrote on DATE:" and so forth. Show her the example screenshot so she can picture it (and to subtly point out that other academicians do it).
If she already has a photo available online, such as part of her professional profile, ask if you can use that, so she doesn't have to provide one. Finally, suggest the attribution that would be most impressive, such as "Molly Malone, professor at Impressive University." If she says that she isn't allowed to use her university affiliation for some reason, has she written a book? If so, then you can suggest the attribution "Molly Malone, author of Amazing Book About a Related Issue."
posted by ceiba at 5:14 PM on June 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Oh, and as for how to broach the subject, I think it would be fine to use a script like this,
"I've really appreciated your feedback on this service, and I'm glad you think it's valuable. It would be really helpful to us if we can use that sort of statement as an endorsement on our website. I don't know if you would be willing to let us do this, or whether the university regulations would allow that sort of thing, but what do you think?"
You might even prepare an excerpt or two from emails they have sent that could be repurposed as an endorsement. I think they are more likely to agree if they don't have to spend time writing something extra.
posted by lollusc at 5:15 PM on June 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
"I've really appreciated your feedback on this service, and I'm glad you think it's valuable. It would be really helpful to us if we can use that sort of statement as an endorsement on our website. I don't know if you would be willing to let us do this, or whether the university regulations would allow that sort of thing, but what do you think?"
You might even prepare an excerpt or two from emails they have sent that could be repurposed as an endorsement. I think they are more likely to agree if they don't have to spend time writing something extra.
posted by lollusc at 5:15 PM on June 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
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Every university has its own rules about this sort of thing, but your professor should know or be able to find out. It may indeed not be possible, at least not without running it past the university lawyers. Our university allows this sort of thing if we don't use the university's name, but you might want the university name listed in this case, so it might be trickier.
If what you want is the academic to say something like, "My academic research shows that this service is worthwhile", then the university should find it perfectly okay, as they are simply publicising an outcome of their research. But the professor may not be willing to go this far without having carried out an actual study of effectiveness.
posted by lollusc at 5:12 PM on June 23, 2015 [1 favorite]