How to Get a Killer Personal Training Testimonial

Hey There, Hope you are doing awesome!

I am going to show you how to harness the momentum of the January rush to make more money all year long by using personal training testimonials :-) Do you know exactly how to get awesome testimonials from your fitness clients?  The exact questions to ask? And how to ask, so its not uncomfortable or weird?

Testimonials are a key to building a successful personal training business career.  Successful personal training businesses are built on a solid foundation of results and the word of mouth buzz that those results generate.  So being able to deliver awesome results and having a method for getting your clients to share their results with others are critical. Fitness testimonials are one of the best ways to have your clients spread the word :-)

NOT internet marketing. NOT email marketing NOT social media! All of these combined will not get you as many quality fitness clients as word of mouth marketing. I recently posted an article on How to Get Killer Video Testimonials for Your Personal Training Business.  Video testimonials are incredibly powerful, because it is way more intimate and revealing, but it is important to have a simple and clear strategy for getting written testimonials which have other advantages; using video can be cumbersome to edit and make the client feel uncomfortable.  Written testimonial can be easier to get fast!  And once they get comfortable with providing a written testimonial, you can use that testimonial as a script for their video testimonial.

Killer Fitness Testimonial Guidelines

When it comes to getting a written testimonial for your personal training business, the easier you make it on your client the better!  Giving them a step by step outline, for them to fill in with FACTS; it will ensure they take the time to write you a nice testimonial.  A bunch of the tips on how to get a create video testimonial still apply.

Do:

• make it super easy on them!  Ask them for 10 minutes of their time AFTER their workout, then interview them. Then, ask them:
  
  
  
  • What do you love about training with me?
  
  
  • What is remarkable or surprising about training with me?
  
  
  • What results have you achieved?
  
  
  • How have the results affected your life?
  
  
  
  


• Jot down their answers to these questions, and create a small paragraph that that sounds great, based on the highlights.  This way you make it much less work for them.


• create an incentive for them to provide the testimonial (reward them).


• use a deadline to ensure they provide the testimonial fast.


• have a real reason for the deadline (i.e. I am updating my website next week and need all testimonials by Wednesday).


• get their permission to use the testimonial in your marketing materials.


• use a picture of them, don't just use text!  Often, you can just pull one off their facebook to make it easier on them, just get their approval first.


• learn how to get an awesome video testimonial from your clients, you can use the same script you created for the text testimonial.

Do not:

• just shoot them an email, try and talk to them about it in person first.


• ask for testimonials from people who just started training with you!  Get them some real results first.


• have them write 3 pages of text! The shorter, more to the point, and emotion provoking the testimonial, the better.

A Simple Outline for  a Written Personal Training Testimonial

Here is a step by step outline you can copy to get testimonials from your client.  First, get them awesome results.  Then, talk to them in person about doing a testimonial for your business. Provide a deadline and reward as an incentive to get the testimonial fast.  That night, send them the following in an email and ask them to reply with their answers via email.

1. Who- Your name, where you live, what you do for work, who you workout with? (Example: My name is Ted, I am a doctor in South Florida, and I workout with...)


2. Result- the most amazing specific result you have achieved working out with me and/or the coolest/most unique aspect of my fitness services?


3. Effect of Result- How your life has changed since achieve that result or working with me?


4. Call to Action- Tell them what they should do! (Example: "I highly recommend you workout with my trainer, you will achieve amazing results and enjoy life more than ever!')

Once you have a bunch of written personal training testimonials, create a page on your website and send potential fitness clients to that page, or organize the testimonials in a word document and mail it to them.  This will work allot better than just sending them a link to your website and letting them surf around.

Prove to them you can deliver results, and they will be much more likely to show up for that first appointment (which is, as we all know, the hardest par.) Give it a shot and let us know how it goes or if you have any questions in the comments.

Until next time, keep your business fit.

Johnny Fitness