When it comes to selling our services as a coach, one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal is the humble testimonial! 

Testimonials from previous clients can play a very important role in how easily we sign new clients and sell other products and services, so it’s important that we collect those testimonials in the first place, and that they’re actually effective and communicate what they need to in order to help other people decide to work with you.

In this post I’m going to break down how to collect really effective testimonials for your coaching services so you can book more clients.

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What is a testimonial?

A testimonial is a written or recorded statement from a former or current client describing their experience of working with you or using one of your offers or products.

A testimonial can be used as evidence or ‘proof’ that you have helped someone experience a particular outcome – which is why they can be so powerful when it comes to selling coaching services.

A good testimonial is specific and authentic – we want people to resonate with the person giving the testimonial so they can see themselves reflected back having experienced those positive outcomes.

Which brings us on to the most important part of a testimonial and where coaches can often get stuck – we need to be asking our clients the right questions when we request a testimonial so we get specific information about the tangible outcomes they’ve experienced.

Get good results

The first thing we want to be focusing on when it comes to getting amazing testimonials is supporting our client’s to get excellent results that they can’t wait to share.

When we are helping our clients experience those positive experiences and outcomes, good testimonials are easy to come by as long as you ask the right questions!

Something I was told in my Health Coaching Certification was to under promise and over deliver which is a great way to delight your clients, especially when so many coaches over promise their results these days.

So focus on supporting your clients to get the results you say your offers will help them achieve and you’re over half way there!

Support your clients to feel safe

Especially in the business to consumer coaching industry, we need to be mindful that not all of our clients are going to want to have their face plastered all over our websites and social media, so we need to consider how we can support our clients to feel safe in giving us testimonials and allowing us to share them.

Making sure that consent is built into the whole process – especially with non formal feedback and comments (we’ll get on to social proof and other forms of feedback that can serve as testimonials soon) is the first step. We must have our clients permission to share their words or recording and they need to fully understand how and where that will be shared.

It might be that we need to anonymise the testimonial or social proof so that the client feels more comfortable. Yes, this does affect how impactful the testimonial is on people considering whether or not to work with you but that’s the way it is if the client doesn’t feel good about it.

I also always ask if people are happy if I edit the response and reword the testimonial in order to fit where I need to share it as long as I don’t alter the spirit or energy of the original testimonial. When you ask a few questions sometimes you need to edit that into a single statement so it’s definitely worth explaining this so no one feels blindsided when they see their testimonial on your site.

Ask the right questions

To get amazing testimonials we want to be asking the right questions!

Those questions need to be quite specific in order to get the client to share what we need them to – remember we’re looking for proof and evidence that someone else has experienced the outcomes you say your offer will help people experience and we want the testimonial to be authentic and relatable.

I always include a question that sounds something like ‘what tangible changes, shifts or differences have you experienced as a result of working with me in this programme’. 

I often give them examples so they get what I mean, but not too many.

Something we don’t want to squash out of the testimonial with questions that are too specific is the natural language people will use – we want our testimonials to be authentic and believable!

These are the general questions I ask in most of my testimonials (alongside name etc)

How were you feeling about yourself and your business before (the offer they’ve been in) What were you struggling with?

What tangible results do you feel you’ve gained as a result of (the offer)? More clients? More confidence? Etc

How would you describe working with Laura?

I find that these three general questions help to collect some really useful feedback and those important tangible outcomes. Questions work well when you’re collecting testimonials via a form, but for video testimonials you might want to explain what you need before the client records.

Collecting your testimonials

A simple form can work well for collecting testimonials from coaching clients. Most form tech will allow you to request an image so if you want to ask for a profile pic of your client to accompany their testimonial then you should be able to do that right in the form.

Ultimately we want to make it as easy as possible for people to provide us with testimonials and feedback.

As well as written testimonials, video testimonials can be very powerful. You can ask your client to record themselves on their phone and send you the video or use an app like Video Ask to automate part of the process.

You can also collect testimonials via platforms like Google or Facebook, although you won’t be able to steer your clients to respond to particular questions as you would in a form.

Sharing your testimonials

You can share your testimonials in a range of different places within your business (just bear in mind the consent we mentioned above!)

Places you can share your testimonials include:

• Within your sales pages for that specific offer
• On the checkout page for specific offers
• On social media
• In sales content marketing (more on this in my membership Content Marketing for Coaches Club!)
• On a standalone testimonials page
• On your home page
• On printed marketing materials if you have them

I tend to like having testimonials scattered around my website rather than a specific page, I also always include them if I have them on sales pages for my offers.

Social Proof

Social proof acts in a very similar way to a testimonial – but they can be more powerful.

Social proof is basically a screenshot of a comment or feedback from a social setting such as Facebook, Email, Instagram etc. Social proof can carry a lot of power because the clear social setting can make the feedback appear more genuine and authentic.

Screenshot reviews on Google or Facebook can also work in a similar way. 

There are ways you can get more social proof rather than just accidental. For example, if you have a Facebook group as part of a programme, maybe asking people what their wins have been can help generate social proof.

Don’t forget the consent side of things when collecting social proof either!

Testimonial Karma

Testimonial Karma is my totally made up thing that basically means if you want to get good testimonials in your business make sure that you’re giving them out when you work with someone too!

Obviously if you don’t have a good experience with someone it’s not about still giving good feedback, rather it’s about remembering to actually fill in feedback forms and respond to requests for testimonials if you get them.

So there you have it, a process and lots of tips for collecting and sharing amazing coaching client testimonials!

If you’re a coach who is looking to get more clients so you can collect even more testimonials then don’t forget to check out my free Aligned Client Attraction and Marketing Workshop below:

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