Testimonials E-Book

Janine Bray-Mueller

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: Quick Reads for Busy Freelancers
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 89

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Methods For Collecting Testimonials from clients and students Discover the secrets to securing the best testimonials from your clients and students to build a strong portfolio of testimonials and win a steady stream of new customers for your teaching business. New customers don't want you to tell them how good you are. They want incontestable evidence from past students about their learning experience and achievements in your courses (with you as their teacher/instructor). A teaching service needs written references from satisfied customers. They create a powerful third-party proof of your expertise and professionalism and can be used for student acquisition, marketing and selling your services as a teaching freelancer. 1. How and when to ask for testimonials 2. Strategies to prepare your referrers for the types of testimonials you need to create a powerful proof of your teaching expertise and professionalism. 3. Tips on how to ask for different methods of testimonials beyond purely written statements Benefits of reading this book: Use this book's easy-to-use ideas to provide evidence for future customers and students of third-party proof of your teaching expertise and professionalism. Learn how to build a strong portfolio of testimonials to grow your freelance teaching business successfully.

Leseprobe

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES:

The information presented in this book represents the author’s view alone as of the date of publication and should not be taken as expert instruction or commands. It is strictly for informational and educational purposes. The author reserves the right to alter and update her opinion based on new data at the rate information changes.

While the author has made her best effort to verify the information provided in this publication, the author accepts no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, or omissions. This publication is for informational purposes only, and she makes no representations or warranties concerning the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document. Any slights of people, institutions, or organisations are unintentional. When advice concerning legal or related matters is required, the service of a fully qualified professional should be sought. You should be aware of any laws that govern business transactions or other business practices in your country. Any financial numbers or statistics referred to here or on my websites are estimates or projections and should not be considered exact, actual, or a promise of potential earnings. All numbers are illustrative only. The author expressly disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, promoters, or written sales materials. The author shall not be made responsible for or liable for any loss of monies or any damages, including commercial profits, but not limited to personal or other incidental or consequential damages.

Because of the rate at which information changes on the Internet, individual links and website information contained in this publication may have changed. The author makes no representations about the accuracy of the web information shared. Readers of this publication need to accept full responsibility for their actions. They should consult a professional about their own circumstances before following anything in the book.

QUICK READS FORBUSY FREELANCERS

Contents

P

REFACE

W

HY COLLECT TESTIMONIALS

?

Should you make an effort to get testimonials?

Creating credibility with testimonials

T

ESTIMONIALS AS RISK

-

REVERSAL TOOLS

Eliminating student and customer worries

Testimonials help students to accept (higher) prices

Using testimonials to solve problems

T

ESTIMONIALS ARE DOCUMENTED THIRD

-

PARTY PROOF

Testimonials as a referral system

What if you don’t have any testimonials (yet)?

What kinds of testimonials should you focus on first?

A

TESTIMONIAL IS JUST A TESTIMONIAL

,

ISN

’

T IT

?

The purpose of testimonials

The candlemaker story

Spoilt for choice

R

ESISTANCE TOWARDS TESTIMONIALS

Is it reluctance or procrastination?

What holds you back from asking for testimonials?

No time to prepare testimonials

Testimonials during workshops and seminars

The verbal testimonial

Reluctant corporate customers

T

WO KINDS OF TESTIMONIALS

Logistical and experience-based testimonials

When to use logistical testimonials

A series of steps for your first logistical testimonial

When to use experience-based testimonials

How to get ‘meaty’ experience-based testimonials

U

NEXPECTED CRITICAL TESTIMONIALS

Unexpected criticism

Testimonials are associated with glowing praises

Flipped testimonials are small diversions

The advantage of using flipped testimonials

T

ESTIMONIAL MISTAKES

Mixing up feedback with testimonials

Testimonials—but I forgot to ask!

G

ETTING TESTIMONIALS IN ADVANCE

Three specific points to get testimonials

How initial and in-progress testimonials work

Different approaches when asking for testimonials

A

SKING FOR TESTIMONIALS

Asking for LESSON testimonials (open-end)

Asking for COURSE testimonials (set finish date)

Asking for WORKSHOP-SEMINAR testimonials

Q

UESTIONS FOR

LOGISTICAL

TESTIMONIALS

S

IX QUESTIONS FOR LOGISTICAL

-

BASED TESTIMONIALS

Six areas to kick-start a LOGISTICAL testimonial

Q

UESTIONS FOR

EXPERIENCE-

BASED TESTIMONIALS

17

EXPERIENCE

-

BASED TESTIMONIAL QUESTIONS

The experienced-based questions

EXAMPLE: 17-question testimonial

R

ANDOM QUESTIONS ABOUT TESTIMONIALS

How many questions should you ask?

Should clients be informed in advance?

What is the correct length for testimonials?

Can I change the order or structure of a testimonial?

Is it okay to edit testimonials?

What if the person who hires you is not the student?

About testimonial photos

T

ERMINOLOGY USED IN THIS BOOK

Preface

During the first two-thirds of my working life (the late 70s, 80s and early 90s), I never gave testimonials a single thought. The idea of being a full-time, one-person business owner (like we do today) would not have been feasible. Without the digital tools we take for granted today, a freelance teaching career was a daunting prospect. Today, however, the possibilities are wide open.

I was no exception and forced myself through various long (computer-related) learning curves.

However, it was marketing my little business that kept me financially afloat. And one factor was testimonials. They saved me a lot of time, frustration, and energy in persuading future customers to enrol in my English language courses.

Did I know why I wanted testimonials? Back then, not really. But today, I know differently and understand much more clearly the benefits of collecting testimonials, and that’s why I wrote this book.

Why collect testimonials?

Should you make an effort to get testimonials?

Yes, because they can make or break your freelancing business.

1. Testimonials (a marketing tool) enable you to catch the interest of new students.

2. Testimonials reveal information about your teaching service that only clients and students can speak about.

3. You can steer your testimonials to close information gaps in your promotional materials.

4. When your students are satisfied with your courses, testimonials give them a chance to show their appreciation. So please don’t take away their opportunity to express their gratitude for a wonderful and satisfying experience.

5. Testimonials are an endorsement that your clients made a good decision by investing in you.

6. Testimonials can be used for reversing risks—the worries and doubts—potential customers feel when they enrol for the first time.

Creating credibility with testimonials

As teaching business owners, we need to recognise that testimonials gain credibility for our teaching services. They prove that other students have paid our (higher) fees and have enjoyed attending our courses. When testimonials are voluntarily given, they are one of the most valuable tools we can possess to attract—and catch—new customers.

Should you go through all this hassle every time?

The answer is yes, for three reasons:

1. Clients and students are explaining insights about your course, lesson, or product. This gives you an idea about the students’ experience in the lesson or workshop. Ten participants will provide ten different insights of your business because no participant will have the same point of view.

2. A student’s or customer’s experience increases each time they attend your courses or read or use a teaching product. Their growing expertise means that our courses have to meet these new expectations. So we need to capture them as well.

3. New observations help us improve our tuition and teaching products. When we implement the requested (or implied) changes, we strengthen our teaching service exponentially.

Have you read a good book that kept you sleepless until you finished it? And a friend asks you what you thought about it? You’d probably go into a fair amount of detail about what you liked about the book, how it was a page-turner, etc.

In other words, you gave a testimonial when your friend asked you for one.

You feel great when another person receives or uses that information. The same happens when you recommend an excellent restaurant or a film worth seeing. The feeling-great part is the reason we give recommendations. People like to do this frequently.

It’s the same feeling when we ask our customers for a testimonial. They don’t see it as a favour but a means to pass on excellent recommendations to others—our colleagues or strangers.

Don’t be surprised when the requested testimonials become wordy (i.e., meaty). You should, in fact, dance with glee and be happy because these are worth their weight in gold.

A former student’s recommendation will revoke doubts by defusing suspicions about the quality of tuition you offer. Readers recognise authenticity when they read them. And rightly so. They make decisions based on what they read. For example, their indecision fades away when they read other people stating they have made the right decision by investing in your courses.

You may not use all of them immediately for various reasons. However, collecting as many as you can is still worth your while.

Testimonials are teaching freelancers’ best friends and supporters because they help us to grow our teaching business by:

Finding new students

Supporting our prices and lesson rates

Qualifying the quality of our tuition

Testimonials as risk-reversal tools

Eliminating student and customer worries

Potential customers are reluctant because they are plagued by past experiences. They are also guided by their own perceptions of tuition and teaching services (regardless of which teaching field). They have at least three reasons why they won’t enrol in your courses:

1. First, they are constantly tapping in the dark about tuition quality. Quite a few potential customers are wary because they’ve suffered unpleasant experiences in the past.

2. Second, they want to know whether they can attain their (learning) objectives. They’ve tried before but failed. So why will it work this time—with you?

3. Third, potential customers want to gauge the risk factors involved. Is it worth the cost? What if they realise they don’t like your teaching method? What happens then? What if something happens and they must change their learning plans (private or in their job)?

Unless you have a plan in place for recommendations and referral requests from your satisfied clients (testimonials), you stand to lose many future customers.

Here is an example of such a plan using three steps:

Step 1:

We need to prepare a list of typical student problems and obstacles. We can start by asking one of our preferred students1 to list problems that plagued them in the past

(before they attended our courses). Alternatively, we can prepare a list of problems and obstacles we know persistently hinder students from enrolling in our courses. These hindrances are the ones that need to be defused in our promotional materials.

Step 2: We allow the preferred student to choose one obstacle or problem (over all others mentioned) from the list elicited in Step 1. As an alternative, we pick the most pressing obstacle we believe needs to be fully explained and resolved as soon as possible for our teaching service.

Step 3: