Episode 271 — Inspire Your Coaching Clients to Give You Dynamic Testimonials
https://prosperouscoachblog.com/ep-271-inspire-your-coaching-clients-to-give-you-dynamic-testimonials/
I’m embarrassed to say that in my first five years coaching I didn’t receive many testimonials from clients.
I thought if a person loves the service, they will automatically rave about it. That’s what I do. So I wondered what was wrong that I wasn’t getting many written reviews.
A more experienced business owner told me that you must directly ask your clients for testimonials.
See, people have a lot on their plates. And writing a testimonial may feel a bit unnatural to some people.
There’s a simple way to continuously encourage authentic and useful testimonials from all of your clients.
I’ll share how to:
- Systematically gather takeaways from clients before and after your sessions.
- Make it easy for clients to write useful testimonials in a timely manner.
- And how to help clients celebrate their accomplishments with your prospective clients.
Find the full episode, transcript and other resources for coaches at prosperouscoach.com/271.
Hey Coaches!
4 Steps to Inspire Great Coaching Client Testimonials
These days all of my VIP clients supply wonderful testimonials whenever I ask. And, I ask throughout the time we work together.
They give these testimonials not only because they value me but because THEY value themselves!
Here’s what I do:
- In my Session Prep Template I give clients to fill out before each session, I ask them to share:
· what they’ve recently learned,
· how their mindset is shifting, and
· the tangible accomplishments they are celebrating
- I praise them for everything in the moment and in emails or Session Recaps. They deserve the accolades!
- Then, at the end of each session, I ask what they are taking away of value from the session.
- I keep a log of all these things. By the time a client is finished with my VIP program, I have captured in their words their conscious gratitude for all the phases of work we do together.
That uncovers REAL RESULTS — which create the best testimonials.
Make it Easy for Coaching Clients to Share Your Value
Towards the end of our program, I share with my clients that log of what they learned, how they shifted and what they’ve accomplished, as they expressed it throughout our time together.
I invite them to create a testimonial for me including whatever they want to ifrom that log or other things not yet mentioned.
EXTRA TIP: If my client has a LinkedIn account I ask for the recommendation through LinkedIn’s system. That way I get it on LinkedIn and can also cut and paste it onto my website or wherever I want to use the testimonial.
All of this makes it super easy and quick for my clients to write an authentic and highly useful testimonial.
Not All Testimonials from Coaching Clients Are Useful
Think about what you like to read when you’re considering hiring a professional. A testimonial that reads like this is sweet:
“Rhonda is such a great coach. She’s kind and gentle but also tells me the truth when I need to hear it. I always enjoy our sessions and feel energized afterwards. I’ve learned so many things from her.”
Do you ever get reviews like this? Feels nice but … it falls short of social proof. There’s not enough specifics in there.
I stopped posting these testimonials because they don’t help other clients decide if they want to hire me.
You want testimonials that have substance not just ooey gooey praise for you.
People read testimonials to hear specifics. So good testimonials reveal both the emotional and tangible outcomes your client experienced working with you.
Here’s a testimonial from a recent 5-month VIP program client of mine:
“Rhonda's encouragement increased my confidence so much that I even started my own podcast. There is no way I could have gotten this far without Rhonda. In a structured way, she helped me to move forward in my coaching business. I appreciate the support with deadlines, guides, assignments, copy-editing and valuable feedback throughout the process. Rhonda’s VIP program contains everything you need to successfully launch your coaching business.”
Thank you, Juanita!
Can you hear the difference between those two testimonials? It’s not just than one was longer. There are specific things this client valued.
A guideline for testimonial length is no more than 75 – 100 words. But, even a one sentence testimonial can have impact. You can pluck a sentence out of one of your testimonials to use somewhere. I have a carousel of these on my VIP Mentoring sales page like this:
“I’m convinced that Rhonda’s VIP program is the ONLY solution for coaches who want to launch a successful coaching business.”
Thank you, Sharon!
A Surprising Connection Between Pricing and Useable Testimonials
I’ve learned from experience that when you price your services higher you earn better testimonials.
Interesting, right?
It comes down to the energetic and emotional investment people feel when they invest more money into services. They are highly aware about the value they are receiving for their investment of not only your fees but their commitment to the work.
They continuously notice their own transformation, which helps them integrate changes.
5 Places to Put Testimonials from Coaching Clients
I feel so blessed to have a robust testimonial page on my website ProsperousCoach.com on a tab called What Clients Say. Included aremy client’s name and photo. Skimming through those, a prospective client can get a great sense of the variety of value my clients have appreciated working with me.
Other places where testimonials will help you are:
- In the pre-Discovery Call email you send out inviting a prospect to have that free enrollment conversation with you, where fit is assessed.
- If you have a blog, podcast or other type of steady-drip generosity marketing, place a few testimonials for it in the confirmation email they receive after they opt-in. Yes, it’s good to have testimonials after prospects engage.
- If you offer lead magnets, also called freebies, put 1 – 3 testimonials in those in the right place.
- If you have an online training program or webinar you sell, add in a well placed testimonial or two, or ten on the sales page.
The best thing to do is pepper testimonials all over the place.
In fact, I’m going to model that just now …
“I’ve been listening to Rhonda’s insightful podcast for several months now, and I often binge-listen. I absolutely love how open, sincere and generous Rhonda is with her time tested wisdom about what it takes to build a successful coaching business from scratch. Her advice takes me out of the fog and intro clarity, out of stumbling into jogging steadily forward.”
Thank you, Lena!
That showed up on Apple Podcast app totally unbidden. You can get reviews and 5 star ratings like that too!
Now, if you’ve got a new-ish coaching business you might not yet have testimonials. That’s okay. Do not put testimonials on your website until you have at least 3 high quality ones to put up there.
If you have a sensitive audience that doesn’t want to share their name or photo with their testimonial, you can still post it with their initials. But ask, rather than assume, if your clients are willing to be named.
Now, what could YOU put in place right now that would help you seed and cultivate authentic and highly useable testimonials from your clients?