One the most common marketing recommendations you’ll read about is how you should add testimonials to everything you do to establish credibility. I couldn’t agree more. However, getting testimonials has always been a challenge for many martial arts school owners.
You can either wait for them to come to you or you can ask for them. That said, many people think they have to wait to for people to send them and that if they ask for them that it somehow cheapens things.
On this, I couldn’t disagree more.
Read on to learn about six questions you can ask to get higher quality testimonials.
If you don’t ask, the reality is that you will likely wait a long time before they come in. And, what’s more, is that you don’t always great testimonials that help influence prospective new students when you leave it up to your students to write them on their own accord.
Sure I appreciate and use testimonials I get from those who send them without me asking, but I don’t sit around and wait for them to come to me. I like to be a little more proactive.
Here is how I structure my request for testimonials. I simply ask them six very targeted open ended questions in the form of a questionnaire.
Six Questions To Get Better Testimonials
- What are your reasons for taking the martial art?
- What convinced you that this was the right place for you?
- In what ways has training in the martial arts affected your life?
- What do you like most about training here?
- How would you describe your training at our studio to your friends?
- Is there anything else you would like to add?
As you can see from my questions, I am asking questions that get them to open up about why why they joined, what they like about my martial arts school, how training with me has helped them in their every day life, and more. They are all open ended questions and get people to give you great insight into things you wouldn’t have likely gotten any other way.
Don’t be afraid to ask, oftentimes, you get a better testimonial because you guide things by asking the right questions. Ask for them. It works.
How do you go about getting testimonials for your martial arts school? Share your ideas in the form of a comment below!
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Solid Ryan!
Equally applicable in other markets, with obvious tailoring to the six questions you pose.
I expect to use a format like this for my next testimonial request.
Cheers!
Well, I signed up for Survey Monkey, created a nine question survey (I cheated, I used Ryan’s questions) and sent them out this morning. I will let you know what happens. So far I have one response and that is within the first 30 minutes.
I did the survey at 9 am and I now at 2 pm have 5 completed in. So far, all positive with things like, “love the instructors,” and “great atmosphere,” and “hard work made fun.”
I have garnered a better than 25% response via the survey monkey. It was easy for the teens to use, expect I got txt language, if you know what I mean. Like, “luv the ppl here.”
It is funny, but one of the main draws for our clients seems to be the atmosphere and the sense of family at the school. We’ve tried really hard with monthly activities outside the school and stressing that we are a family together in class and apparently this has really paid off.
Leslie, that’s great news. Glad the idea helped you. Be sure to send out another wave of emails to those that haven’t responded and reword your request this time. Be sure to let people know that others have completed the survey and you’d like their opinions and input. Also let them know it will directly help them see more of what they like or help you to change what they don’t.