Episode 7: How to Collect Testimonials

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the six Figure Systems podcast. Today we are going to be talking about a hot topic, and that is how to collect testimonials. Now, for many people, who I work with, one of the reasons why they end up working with me is because I post an exorbitant amount of testimonials. I love Instagram as a form of social media, and if you go on, you'll see every third post is all about a client, their wins, their testimonials. And that is what we're going to be talking about today. So today, quick overview of all the fun things to come. We're going to talk about why 89% of people need to see, testimonials in your marketing in order to buy from you. The second thing we'll be talking about is a simple way to collect and repurpose testimonials. And last but not least, the mistake and why only 30% of entrepreneurs actually use testimonials. And of course, the reason why I wanted to do this is because at the outro, for every single one of these episodes, I'm telling you to collect testimonials to use the template that I'm providing in the show notes, and I want to explain why that's so important. So, within testimonials, the reason why 89% of people need to see a testimonial in order to buy is because when you see a, testimonial, your brain immediately says, hey, this person can get me results. And what happens is, when you post the testimonials, your potential clients are going to a see themselves as a person that could potentially work with you and get a similar result to the person that they are seeing. And what's going to happen is they are also going to become an amazing. What, we've lovingly nicknamed brand ambassador for your business. So maybe even if they don't need your product or service, what will happen is they will know that, hey, this is Megan's offer. If I ever know of any service based business, I see that Megan gets results. The second somebody wants to start a business. I know Megan is a great resource. I want you to be seen as that expert for your people, too. And what happens is the beauty of using a testimonial, especially in your marketing, is that you, it sells itself. When you see that someone else has gotten results, what happens is you, just by seeing that are already sold, and that creates trust with your future clients. There are many different ways to collect testimonials, but many people see a testimonial, and they see it as much as, like, a regular friend that is also telling them to work with the same person. And I was actually reflecting on some purchases I've made recently. So I'm working. As you guys know, I love getting coached, and I truly believe in coaching. That's why I invest in it very heavily myself. And one of the things that I thought about, I'm like, why did I make some of the investments that I did? So, for instance, I was a part of a business mastermind called the 200K mastermind, and I had never heard of this lady, Stacey, Bayman, before. She had no frame of reference in my wheelhouse, and my coach was in that mastermind back in, like, 2019 to 2020. And because I saw her in that mastermind, and she told me about it, I decided to pay 25k every six months for four different rounds of 200K. So 100,000, all because I trusted Jackie, and by proxy, I trusted Stacey, who ran the 200K mastermind. So I, want you to think about, like, I've literally spent 100,000 because of a, testimonial. And someone told me about someone else's program, another program that, like many other programs that I've done, literally all four of the programs that I've done in, that I've invested in in this year, in 2024, are all because I heard somebody share about their personal testimonial, how they've experienced and gotten results that I also wanted. And I've spent literally every single penny that I've spent this year has been because of a testimonial. I want you to think about how you buy as well. I want you to think about the reasons why you invest in things, and it's probably because you know that person, you like that person, and you trust that person. But that trust is the sneakiest and most challenging piece that I think you guys all are probably seeing. And it's the thing that is going to shift your business really quickly.

So when I was sharing about my story with my m business at the beginning, one of the things that I found that was a really big shift for me was, of course, sharing testimonials. So what happened is, at the very beginning of my business, I was so excited about it, and I actually thought I was going to coach children. So I started coaching kids. I posted on Instagram, and I was like, hey, I'm coaching children. Send me any and all people, if you know of anybody. And immediately, I had a bunch of people who were booking consults, but I also had friends that were from high school and from college that were so excited because they had seen my growth, and I was a proof of concept, literally, just like living, breathing. I had gotten better, and they were like, I want that to be me as well. And what happened is they decided to work with me, and that's when I shifted away from kids to adults, and it was a really beautiful time. So that was in, I think, August or September of 2020. And, yeah, it was 2020. God. Crazy. And so in October, so just a month later, my client grace and my client Kristen, had gotten such incredible results that they wanted to share about their experience. So, randomly, in October of 2021, I went live on Instagram and with both of my former clients, and they were a living, breathing testimonial of the results they gotten just one month in. And from that, I signed the next four clients that were adults that ended up working with me. And they were my first six clients. They were the only six people I worked with. And then I had a drought of consults, ironically. But it makes sense now, looking back from October of 2020 to April of 2021. So within that time, after I had done those two Instagram lives, what happened is I did not realize that that that was the secret. That was something that people were super excited about. They wanted to see me going live, and they wanted to get those results as well. And, for some reason, I just didn't think about having other people onto my Instagram and to any other social media platforms. I literally just had those two share, and then that was it. So, obviously, I'm sharing about my own results. But people naturally wanted to know that it wasn't just coaching, wasn't just going to work for me. M it was going to work across the spectrum and a broader audience of people. So what happened is then in April, I also started sharing more testimonials. I got back in the habit of doing it because I had worked with a marketing coach at the time, and she was like, yeah, you need to start sharing testimonials. And that's when I started collecting and gathering testimonials for people. So the first thing I want you to think about is, if 89% of people need to see a testimonial, I want you to think about how you can incorporate that into your marketing. And I would recommend it as much as weekly for me and my marketing system that I have and that I teach, of course, my clients is, I teach them is that the third post of the week is a testimonial. The first one is a written post, and then the second one is a video. Now, one of the things that I hear from many humans is that, Megan, wait, how do you even collect testimonials? How do I even get started collecting those testimonials? And here's what I would recommend, is I would recommend sending messages to clients that you have worked with in the past and even clients who are working with you currently. I would highly recommend getting a, getting a testimonial from someone after they have experienced what I've nicknamed a big win. So after they've experienced something really positive, something that's been really helpful, something that is a, result that you are offering, I would be like, hey, I am so proud of you. I. Congratulations on the promotion. This is incredible. I wanted to let you know that I really want to help other people to get promotions as well, if that. This is why I was back and I was a career coach, and I know that your story will resonate with so many people. Would you be willing to fill out this quick form? It's just a couple questions that are about you and your experience, and I would really, really appreciate it. Let that sink in. See how people feel and you. They definitely do not have to give you a testimonial. However, what happens is when people see you start to post testimonials, you start to normalize other people sharing about their experience, and more people are willing and likely to share their experience as well. A big mistake that I see a lot of people do is they wait until the very end of their time working with somebody and they're like, oh, yeah, by the way, I would love, I would love for a testimonial. And just like any natural human being, a lot of times people forget. And so they would just have these incredible results. Like, and I've talked with clients who have gotten like, 50k pay raises, 40k pay raises, completely moved companies, moved different cities, and if I hadn't asked them during the coaching time that we had together, I literally, like, we never would have. No one would ever hear about their results because people forget. And so it's helpful to have that as a reminder. It's not because they don't care, it's not because they don't love you and have had a great experience. It's just that life gets busy and so it's helpful to ask for testimonials during your coaching time or the time that you're providing your service to them. Another thing that I like to do is I like to sometimes get clients before videos. So I will get clients to send me a video and be like. And, I, For me at least, because I'm a business coach, I'm like, here, this is your before. Share about it, and I will share about you on my instagram. And it's good business for them for you. You might not have business related clients, and there's absolutely still a way that you can get those testimonials from them, and you can still ask them for a before video and after video if they feel comfortable. One of the things that I see is that with your testimonials, when we're thinking about collecting testimonials, many of my clients think about testimonials is you either have to get a video or it's not able to be repurposed. And that is not true. Now, do 95% of people say that they recommend when they see a video testimonial? They think it's just as good as actually being referred by a human being that they actually know? Yes. Video is an amazing thing to get from your clients. So if you have clients who are able and ready and willing to give you testimonials, having them record a video is the most effective way for your marketing to get repurposed. It's not the only way, of course, but it's a really great starting place. So what I do is I have my clients send me a testimonial. They record it on their phone, and they send it to me with their headshot and information so I can celebrate them online.

Another thing that you can do to share about testimonials, let's say that you have a client and they are awesome, but they don't have a. They don't feel comfortable, let's say doing a video. There are some people who I've worked with are like, oh, video is my achilles heel. I really don't like the way I look and sound on camera. And I would love to provide you a testimonial, but I feel weird about recording a video. What I do for them then is I'm like, great, no problem, send me a written testimonial. And in the template I have provided for you guys, the written piece is at the bottom. And just answer those questions and I can definitely share about your experience. So for me, if I was like, sharing about races experience, for instance, I could be like, let me tell you, I would provide first the written testimonial in a post. So I would include that in a post. And I would include that in, any spaces that I'm doing my marketing. And what I would do then is I would have Grace's post, her testimonial, written right next to me, right in front of me. And I'd be, and I would record a video reading her testimonial. And I would say something like, Grace is one of my amazing clients. You have to hear about her journey. She has completely revamped her life just within the first two months. And then I would go through and I would read Grace's testimonial and I would be like, Grace? It's like, hi, I'm Grace. So this is my client, Grace. The biggest win she had is this. The biggest blank she had this. And just read it. While I have either her headshot up as a part of the video, or I just have her name listed, it helps, again, build that trust factor. Now, let's say you are, your client has gotten an amazing result. They want to provide you a written testimonial, but they feel weird about their name or their name and likeness, aka their name and their picture being used on social media. What you can do is you can then still have them fill out the testimonial, have them answer each question, and then from there, what you could do is you can get your, you can record a video and just be like, I know that you are. You are probably experiencing very similar things that my client that I just talked to this week is experiencing. Let me tell you about their story. This is why they started working with me. This is this. And they were able to get this. I would love to work with you. Set up for our consult using link in my bio. do you see how it's like you're still recording a video, you're still sharing about their experience, but it is anonymous and private. Last but not least, if you have clients that are getting amazing wins and we want to keep it anonymous, one of the things that you'll see on my feed and something that when you get the testimonial template you'll see I include as well, is a texted testimonial. This is something that's really fun to do. So if you've got the written the video, then you have the written testimonial. The third one is a screenshot, and I call it that, the texted testimonial. What I do is I take screenshots of client wins or I will share, like, I'll pretend like they had texted me and I'll text that win to myself, upload it on my story, and it's really helpful for other people to see because it's so specific and it's so believable. So I actually have one of those typically on my story every single day, which is pretty neat. So you guys can absolutely do that, too. within that.

So that's the first thing. When you're thinking about testimonials, you want to make sure you got a simple way to collect those testimonials and repurpose them. Now, if you've got a client that you've been working with, and just in general, they're getting incredible results, but there hasn't, like, been something to stand out, like, right away. I would still ask clients four weeks before they finish. So I still ask my clients four weeks before they're done. I'm like, hey, this has been awesome. I would love for you to share about your results if, if you feel comfortable. He here's this testimonial template I have. I would love for you to hear from this. Now, the crazy thing you all know, I love some statistics, is that only 30% of entrepreneurs use testimonials. So even though 89% of people have, need to see the testimonials, people aren't showing it. So why, why are people not collecting testimonials? And I genuinely believe that the reason, there's no, like, statistical, there's no, like, fact about, like, why 70% of people are missing out on this, like, huge piece of your marketing. But I believe it's because a lot of times, entrepreneurs get really busy. They are stressed, they are running all these different things. They feel like they're building the plane as they fly it. They're not really sure what each role in their business is supposed to entail. So just adding another thing because feels so stressful, and I don't want that to be you. So that's why I want you to make a system for this, make it something that's very easy to do, something that is simple. And what I have my clients do is they actually, like, they track each client, they know how many sessions they've had. They know, when their time is coming up. And I make it a part of their monthly protocol that they look through all their clients, see who has a month left, and they message them about the call to potentially renew with them, or for sure, collect a testimonial. I would highly, highly, highly recommend a system around this, making sure you're managing your time well so that you become one of the 30% of people who's actually using testimonials, which will inevitably help humans work with you. So that is how to collect testimonials. If you have any questions at all, because feel free to reach out to me about collecting testimonials, and I can't wait to see you in the next episode!