Coaching Tools to help Coaches Get More Coaching Clients. Suzan Schmitt: The Coach Marketer

Get Your Clients to Testify

April 16, 2009

I can tell people all sorts of wonderful things
about my coaching and give them many reasons to coach and when I add a
testimonial from another person I give the statements credibility. When I add
several strong testimonials with website addresses and photos I give the
statements a lot more credibility.

If you do not have testimonials on your website you
are cheating yourself and your potential clients. You will get more clients
when they see that you have helped other people and those people want to tell
others about you and what you can do to help them. There are many ways to

ask
for testimonials from current clients and some work better than others.

Traditional
Methods for Getting Testimonials

Most coaches ask their clients to give them a
testimonial. This presents several challenges for most clients that may prevent
them from fulfilling your request for a coaching testimonial. The first thing
is that a client does not have any idea what you would like them to say so they
may hesitate because they are not sure what to do. Clients tend to write about
how nice you are and what a pleasure it is to work with you rather than what
you do to help them and what they got from your coaching. The biggest downside
of asking clients to write a testimonial for you is that it is not at the top
of their priority list and they are likely to say yes then forget to do the
testimonial.

Another approach is to ask your client to fill out
an evaluation form then use the information to form a testimonial. The biggest
challenge is that the questions will be flat and so will the responses. Have
you ever seen a dynamic questionnaire? Not likely. The flat responses tend to
make boring testimonials and they do not motivate others because they are dull
short answers.

Testimonial
Request Methods that Work Better

Do the testimonial for them. Try to write a
testimonial that talks about how you helped the client and try to use words
that they would use. I know it sounds pushy but people really appreciate it
when you make it easy for them. It also makes it easy for them to revise what
you wrote and make it their own. Your clients will not think you are pushy they
will be grateful and eager to help you.

Talk to your customer on the phone and ask them to
describe the value they are getting from coaching with you or the value they
got from a specific coaching session. Take notes as the clients speaks and
quickly create a testimonial from their words that captures their enthusiasm
and excitement.

Use
Your Testimonials on Your Website

The most effective testimonials have a person’s
picture, written testimonial, and a website. You can also have your client
record their testimonial and add audio to the site. The more strong
testimonials you have the more clients will want to take a closer look at
coaching with you. If you don't have a website or blog you must get one now.

If you enjoyed this post then you will like "Get Coaching Clients with Teleseminars".

Related posts:

1. Get Coaching Clients: Be a Winner in This New Market
2. 4 Easy Steps to Market Your Coaching Business
3. Don’t Sell Coaching Clients Attract Them
4. Motivation is the Key to Helping Clients Take Action
5. Coaching Tools: Social Proof and Scarcity

Filed under: Client Attraction

Tags: coaching, get coaching clients, marketing, marketing coaching, suzan schmitt, the coach marketer