I know this is a point of friction for a lot of coaches because it can feel awkward or uncomfortable to ask for a testimonial. BUT they’re like a big gold ticket to your marketing material! They literally will help you grow your business and help you sign more clients in the future. So they are very important and you absolutely need them. And today, I’m going to share how you can collect testimonials without feeling slimy or awkward! I’m actually going to share a great way to collect testimonials without even having to ask for them!
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Before we get into how to ethically request a testimonial and easily extract it from your client, there are some mistakes that coaches make when collecting testimonials.
Mistakes when collecting testimonials
- not focusing on collecting testimonials at all
- not asking for them
- only asking for testimonials once
- only asking once the client has completed your program and you’re no longer working with them
- not providing incentive to give a testimonial
So you may be wondering how to collect testimonials? You should be looking for testimonials everywhere, all over the place – on your social media feeds, in you DMs, in your email responses and in your group program message boards.
When you see a message where someone is sharing how much they love your content or found value in something you did, screengrab that and save it to a testimonials folder. You want to screenshot those and put them because these are social proof that someone likes what you did and that can be used as testimonials.
How to collect testimonials and share with consent
If somebody shares something in a public comment like on your Facebook wall or Instagram feed, that’s public domain, so you can share their identifying information (their thumbnail and username) in the screenshot. But if they’re sending you something in direct message, in email or even in a private Facebook group, you have to ask for explicit consent to include their thumbnail and name. If you ask them for consent and they say no, you can still share it but ensure that you remove their identifying information so that nobody knows actually who it came from.
When is the best time to get a testimonial or to request a testimonial from your client?
You should be checking in with your clients on a regular basis to get their wins. I always recommend that within a signature program, you make sure to ask for your clients’ wins because you might get a win. And those wins make for great testimonials. And then all you need to do is simply ask for their permission to share. Towards the end of the program can also be a really good time to ask for a testimonial, but this shouldn’t be after the program is done. In your last couple of sessions, you can start to request it. You do want to follow up a couple times as many people will forget.
Make giving a testimonial worthwhile for your clients
This means you should provide an incentive for testimonials submitted. There’s a number of different ways you can provide incentive. It could be a gift card, free consult with you, or access to another course.
Once you’ve been working with clients for awhile and established yourself, you may not have to ask for testimonials as much. You don’t have to dedicate one hour a week to getting testimonials but be more conscious of when people actually compliment you online.
