Client testimonials are the proof in the pudding to potential clients about how amazing you are. You need to be able to back up your claims of being able to achieve XYZ results for your clients and the wonderful experience you provide. Not only do they serve as a diverse marketing asset that you can repurpose in numerous ways, but they’re also like hanging those sticky fly traps.

The fact of the matter is that dreamy clients know other dreamy clients. As soon as you land who you consider a dream client, you have to use that person and their testimonial for every referral or potential client that you can because you’ll get even more like-minded clients from them.

So in what ways can you use testimonials to signal more dream clients that they should work with you?

We think congratulations are in order! Since you’ve come to this blog post, that must mean you’re doing something right with your marketing, so we’re proud of you for getting to the point where you’re now officially overbooked. Although it’s stressful, this is a stage in your business that can open so many doors and opportunities that you’ve probably only been dreaming about until now!

First, though, we need to deal with the overwhelm and figure out how you can free up space on your calendar so that you can give your undivided attention to your clients, plus what to do with new leads. Keep reading as we cover all of these things and more in this blog post!

When it comes to running a service-based business, there’s one term that you’ve likely heard a lot– client experience. It’s honestly the sole thing that service-based businesses revolve around because it can make or break your business.

But what exactly does client experience mean? Why is it so important? These are the questions that we’ll be answering in today’s blog post!

Client and customer testimonials are one of the most crucial pieces of your marketing strategy. The journey you want to take people on to lead them to a sale consists of three main parts:

1. The “Are you in my head?” stage when you relay their pain points to them

2. The “Yeah, that actually would be nice..” stage when you have them envision what their life would be like if those problems weren’t problems

3. The “Okay, I’m ready to buy!” stage when you present the solution as your product or service

But– hold on a minute– hardly any one is just going to be ready to buy after seeing your thing. First they want to know if it will even work, and that’s when you bring in the big guns. (Big guns being testimonials, if that wasn’t clear.)

Testimonials can sometimes be the single defining moment of someone ready to hand their money over, or not. You probably wouldn’t purchase a product on Amazon if it didn't have a single review, would it? We as consumers count on those reviews as the proof of a product being worth the investment or not.

So, what makes your products or services any different? You can use those testimonials strategically in your marketing plan to be the final push that gets someone over the line and to the checkout page or paying their first invoice.

That’s why we’re going to share with you 7 places you should be showcasing client or customer testimonials, if you aren’t already.

You’re working your tail off in your creative service-based business.

Your life is all about clients: finding them (where ARE they??), landing them (and competing on price makes your feel like you’re charging so much less than you need to if you want this biz to be sustainable), making the ones you DO find happy (so much so that you find yourself delivering WAY more than you originally agreed to)...

And maybe you’ve convinced yourself that this is just how life has to be if you’re going to do what you love for a living.

Do you ever find yourself on the word vomit train when attempting to sell anything? You know the one that makes zero stops and is stationed in Awkward Townsville? The one where you’re chatting with a potential client and you find yourself having the out of body experience where you hear yourself doing things like…

It feels like you’re still playing “pretend business” and you’re wondering if you’re even smart enough to figure this all out like it seems like everyone else has.

This convinces you that the only way to get clients is to do what works for everyone else - posting 3x a day on Instagram, blogging “value add” content, showing up in Facebook groups where you *think* your client might be and so on…

You’re listening to countless other business owners tell you that doing all that ^ is what’s going to work for you...so why isn’t it?

Here’s the truth: it’s not you. It is the strategies you’re using. They aren’t right for YOUR business.

Marketing can do pretty amazing stuff for your business. But the one part of it that's not that cool is customer profiles. And that's especially true if you're starting a brand new blog from scratch.

What's a customer profile anyways?

Customer profiles are semi-fictional representations of the people you want to reach. These profiles, also known as buyer personas, include details such as:

• Who you want to reach
• What they do for a living
• How old they are
• Problems that they face daily that might impact their decision to buy things.