042. How to Get Great Testimonials Without Begging or Bothering your Clients

Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck. And this is the Doing Business Like a Woman podcast, where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom one business at a time. Well, hello. Hello, my friends. How are you? I hope you're having a fabulous day. Did you miss me? I have been on vacation camping with the family, and I took a week off of publishing this podcast. And so it feels to me like it's been forever. We've gone almost an entire year with never missing a week, and I, I took a break and that's okay, right? So we decided to go on an extended camping trip. And we have a travel trailer that we pull behind our truck. And so we took the. My husband and I took the kiddos and we went to Southern Colorado, southwestern Colorado, and I've never been to that part of the state, so it was really fun to see and just explore. We stayed in Cortez, Colorado, and we visited Mesa Verde, which is a national park, actually. And it is a one of the largest archaeological sites or that whole area has the largest concentration of archaeological artifacts in the country, I believe, or one of them. I don't know. You fact finders will correct me if I'm wrong, but I read something that, that there's a. Just a huge concentration of archaeological artifacts there. And so we visited indigenous cliff dwellings and they were amazing. The people, they were built anywhere from like 600 A.D. all the way up the Puebloans lived in these, these structures, these dwellings that they built all the way up until right around 1300s. And so it was so interesting to just learn the history and see how these people lived and see that these structures are all still standing. I mean, obviously they're not as glorious as they were in their day, but it's amazing the architectural know how and ingenuity and creativity that they use and build these. So that was really fun. And then we drove north on that western side of the Rockies up to a town called Ouray and stayed there. And it's a mining town, so there's lots of mining history there and there's hot springs. And so we did some more learning and hiking, lots of hiking. It was just super fun to be back in the mountains. We lived actually in the Vail valley for about 11 years. Every time I go back to the mountains, I just feel so at home there. It's just such a beautiful, beautiful place. We had a great time, then just rolled in the Other night. And here I am back at the microphone. I am so happy to be here. I have a really great episode for you today. It is all about how to get testimonials and feel great about it, and your client feels great about giving it. And you get 100% response rate so that you can help future clients to decide make that decision whether they want to work with you or not, by hearing from how the work that you have done has impacted others. So this is how I collect testimonials, and I'm a little overdue in collecting them myself. Full disclosure. So I'm going to be starting to collect a whole new batch. So for you clients out there listening, be ready. But I have a very different way of collecting testimonials that is actually really fun. And so we have all been there in this testimonial world because we know that social proof is very important for our business, blah, blah, blah. But at the end of the day, we just always feel weird asking for testimonials. And so maybe we ask for them in some really, like, disconnected way and the most disconnected way possible so we don't have to get close to that weirdness, right? Maybe we send an email or make some offhanded ask and just say, hey, client, I loved working with you. Will you please write a testimonial for me? And then the client feels weird about it and they don't know what to say. They feel weird. They don't, you know, know what you want them to say. And so they just never do it. And so I know I've been on the end of this, of the, you know, the asking for the testimonial. And I've been on the end of it as the client, right? And being asked for a testimonial and being like, I don't know what to say. I loved working with you, but that's not going to help, you know. And so today I'm going to propose a whole new way of collecting testimonials that is going to blow your mind. And it's actually really fun. And so all it takes is a very simple mindset shift, just a shift in how you're thinking about testimonials. Because I think the weirdness comes from us thinking like we're trying to, to get or ask or take something from our client, right? And then, you know, if we're feeling weird about it, then we're going to ask them in a weird way, they're going to feel weird about it, and then it's never going to get done. So. So the way that I'm going to propose to you today, we're going to talk about the mindset shift, just that, that little shift, and then I'm going to give you an entire process so you can like, basically cut and paste this process as your standard operating procedure, share it with your team, if you have one, and just make it like part of your standard operating, standard way that you do business. Right? So here's our mindset shift. Let's get started. So instead of thinking about testimonials as, you know, asking for something from your client or getting a glowing review, I want you to think about testimonials as an opportunity to celebrate your client, to celebrate what they have been through, as wanting to give them this gift of throwing them a mini party, a mini celebration to acknowledge all that they have been through, the transformation, the solving of the issue or the problem that they came to you for, that they have done the work to get here, to get the result they wanted, the problem solved, the transformation, and you are just their guide, right? So instead of us wanting them to worship us in a testimonial, that's why it just feels weird, right? I want you to think about it as they are the hero and we're going to throw them a party and just be like, client, you are amazing. Look at all you have done, work you have put in and how it's paid off. And, you know, we want to document this and share it with the world, right? And so you step into the role of that guide, right? And so we're just going to shift those roles from you being the hero of the testimonial to the client being the hero. And you are just the guide with your amazing process and the service that you provide and how you get them to where they want to go. The magic of that little shift is that you both feel so much better about this whole testimonial process to begin with. This is the cut and paste process, so you're welcome to take notes and obviously, if you're driving, don't. But the podcast will be here, you can come back and listen to it. And we're just going to go through the entire step by step. And you can, of course, modify this to something that fits and feels good to you, but I'm just going to give you the basic outline. And this is the process that I follow, and it works really well. You feel great about it, the client feels great about it, and you get amazing information that you can use in your communications to share with other potential clients so that they know if working with you would be the right fit for them. So here's the process. So what I want you to do, step one is you're going to contact your client and you can, even if you have a session or a meeting with them, you can tack this on to the beginning or the end and, but you're just going to do this. You could do it in email or in person, you know, on a call with them. You want to let them know that you want to celebrate how far they've come and ask if they would be willing to share what it was like to work with you. And in a very simple way, just with a conversation with you for about 10 minutes and they always say yes. I've never had someone say no, I don't really want to do that. Right. So they always say yes. And then, so once they say yes, I'd be happy to do that. Of course. Then you ask them to schedule. And so you can either schedule it with them during the conversation, you can say, oh, let's tack this on to our next meeting, like 10 minutes early or, you know, stay over 10 minutes. Or you can set up a completely different, you know, 10 or 15 minute meeting, but schedule the call right then and there. Okay. Don't be like, oh, let's sometime do this. I want you to schedule it. If they say yes, you say, okay, great, when is the good time for us to put this on the calendar and then schedule it. You can also, if you use a meeting schedule scheduler like Calendly or any of the others, you can set this up as a, as a meeting type and keep it short. I would say 10, 15 minutes at the longest. Okay. And just in respect of their time. And then you're going to meet them on Zoom. Or if you do this in person, you could also just record it like on your, you know, iPhone on your smartphone is probably the easiest way. And so you're going to meet them on Zoom, or if you're in person, like I said, record that way you're going to record the meeting and then you're going to ask a series of questions that I'm going to share with you a bunch of ideas and you can adapt them to your business and just your flavor of the way that you talk about working together. Right. So make these questions yours, but you're going to meet on Zoom and record the meeting and ask a series of questions and make sure that you are cognizant of the time and respecting their time. We don't want this to go on for hours and hours. That's just weird. Question number one is, what was the issue or problem that you were having that led you to look for help from me or led you to seek out my business? Then just let them talk. Answer the question. Number two is, what did the frustration feel like as you tried to solve the problem that you were having? Let them talk about that. And you can have some back and forth, right? It doesn't have to be real rigid or formal, but just kind of get them talking about what was happening when they sought you out, when they saw were seeking out help, what was going on? How are they thinking? How are they feeling? What were they doing? Okay, question number three, how are you trying to solve the problem before we met? And then number four is, what was different about my business or service or me when we met to talk about solving your problem? And obviously you can put your service in that, you know, fill in the blank. If you're a financial planner, it would be like, you know, what was the frustration you were feeling as you tried to plan for retirement or, you know, whatever the issue is that you help them to solve? Number five, what has the process that we have been through together been like for you? And let them really talk about what was it like to work together? And then number six, take me to the time when you realized that the work that we were doing together was actually working to solve your problem. How did that feel? And like, have them tell you about that. And with that light bulb moment. And then number seven, what do you feel like has been your greatest growth throughout our time working together? And I just love that question. I always ask my clients that as we're wrapping up. And okay, number eight is, what does life look like now that your problem is solved? And for a lot of us, our clients, like, it's not. The problem is solved and off they go. It is, what is your life like now that we have worked on this issue or have worked together, that sort of thing? So you can adapt that to what sounds and feels good to you. And then finally, what advice would you give to someone in your similar situation, the similar situation that you were in before we started working together? What would you tell them? So there are some great question ideas. You don't have to use all of them. You can let the conversation just flow naturally, but really just make it about what they have been through to get where they are. I think that that is just such a beautiful conversation and it just really, at the end of it leaves Both of you feeling so accomplished, right? And that's how we want our clients to feel and to feel in working with us, is accomplished and satisfied and happy with the work that they have done and the growth that they have experienced. And so then you're going to wrap up the conversation by thanking them for joining you, congratulating them on their success. And of course, just keep that call to the time that you promised and then sign off, hang up. And then you have this recording, right? You have this. If you're doing it on Zoom, you have the video, you have the audio. And so what I want you to do next is have that entire call transcribed. And so you can use a service like Rev.com, it's R E V as in Victor.com, and for a very low cost, you can have. Have the entire call transcribed, and then you have that video, audio, and the written transcript that you can use across your platforms in all different kinds of communications, on your website, in social media, posts, in sales pages. All of that, you have that to take with you and use. And it's so valuable. And I know that this works. This is how I do my testimonials, and it's worked really well. And I've been able to get some really great information from my clients and also that social proof that we all want to have. So that's what I have for you today, my friends. I hope that this has been useful and just making that small mindset shift and then using this process will help you to get great testimonials that will help you to also increase your revenue to make your sales easier. And it's really such a great, like, confidence builder as well for. For you and for your client. Right? And leaves everybody just feeling great. So there you go. That's what I have for you today. I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day, rest of your week. And we have some exciting things coming up and I can't. I've been working on some stuff I can't wait to tell you about, but stay tuned. All right, so take care and I will talk to you next time. Bye. If you like this podcast, then you have got to sign up for my free on demand video training, Grow youw Sales Doing what yout Love, Where I teach you in depth. My simple process that you can implement right away to harness your mindset and your skills to grow your sales to whatever level you want. So go grab that now. The link is in the show notes and I'll see you next time.