I know building credibility is the key to attracting more dream clients and growing a thriving business, but most business owners miss the mark on how to do it effectively.
In this episode of The Hayley Osborne Show, I’m revealing the most powerful (yet often overlooked) way to establish authority, gain trust, and make selling effortless.
I’ll also share simple strategies to implement this in your business, common mistakes to avoid, and a quick action step you can take today to start seeing results.
Hit play now to discover the secret to building unshakable credibility!
SUMMARY
0:00:01 Introduction
0:02:30 The #1 Way to Build Credibility in Business
0:06:30 The Challenge of Getting Testimonials
0:09:47 Strategies for Gathering Testimonials
0:15:00 Leveraging Testimonials in Marketing
0:19:30 Maximizing the Impact of Testimonials
0:22:00 Overcoming Common Pitfalls
0:24:30 Call to Action and Final Thoughts
Hayley Osborne
Hi, and I hope you are well, welcome to I think this is the third episode this year of the Hayley Osborne show, I’m really glad to be in your ears. No, it’s the fourth Hello, hello. Oh my goodness, we are ticking along. We’re cooking with gas. I’m excited to be in your ears for another week. Whatever you are doing, I hope it’s something productive. I hope that you are doing something towards reaching your goals. And if you’re like me, you had massive goals at the start of this year, and I hope that you know you can’t achieve them in a day, these big, big goals, big, hairy, audacious goals, right?
So you need to be chipping away like small amounts every single day, every single week to be able to hit that massive goal at the end of the year and look back and go, Yeah, you know what I did that. I cannot believe I set myself that goal. But little by little, I did it. And so I hope that’s what you’re doing at the moment when I am in your ears, listening with you, listening to me. So one of the ways that you can achieve those big goals in business, and I’m sure that your goals are around growth, and I’m sure that your goals are around reaching new audiences, expanding your business, growing your brand, and all of those things.
And so today I wanted to talk about the number one way to build credibility in your business, and why you’re probably overlooking it, because it’s hard, and so I think it’s important that your business does have massive amounts of credibility, because that’s how people buy from you, right? So when you when your business is appearing to be credible and a great source of whatever it is that you offer, right? You all want to be the best in the business at what it is that you do, then people are more likely to buy from you. And I love that so much.
And so I thought that it’s, it’s nice to be able to give you some tips and tricks on how this is and why you’re probably overlooking it. So to me, the number one way to build credibility in your business is through other people, and not just anything, not word of mouth, but, you know, positive testimonials and client feedback. And so if you can get as much as that as possible, I think you’ll create some really big strengths inside of your business.
And you know, I think an example of that is last year I had a huge year in my business, even though, you know, I had a baby and I did all the things, I still had quite a good start to the year. And so on the back of that, I created some pretty amazing things for my clients, and I then went about getting Google reviews, Facebook reviews and video testimonials from my clients, because I had some huge wins for them, and so like that is one way, if you have a look at My Google reviews, it’s definitely gotten stronger last year, and I think that has definitely strengthened my business, because 99% of people will Google you before they pick up the phone.
Now I understand that I play in quite a saturated market, right? There’s lots of bigger agencies than me. I’m not an agency. I am more of a bespoke business, so I operate in a different way. It’s more I, you know, obviously you guys know, I’ve got my membership in CBRE marketing, and I have my course, the magnetic marketing formula. That’s an eight-week course. And then you can work one on one with me. And then I do social media strategies and marketing strategies for businesses. So I’m not a big agency, and I never want to be, and so I think that that has in this space of what I’m talking about with my own feedback. So the positive.
Testimonials and, you know, client videos and Google reviews and Facebook reviews, it’s definitely helped to position me as a really credible source, even though the market is saturated. So I don’t have hundreds and hundreds of Google reviews, but the ones that I’ve got are really, really good, and I’m so, so proud of that. So I think I just want to talk about how important that is in today’s episode, and what you should be doing in order to gather them right? It’s really hard to get people to say good things about you in your business, because they’re busy doing life, right?
They’re busy either running their own businesses or they’re working, they’ve got a family that, you know, exercising. People are like, we’re focused on ourselves, and that’s okay. So in order to be able to get these testimonials and client stories like, you have to work for it. You know, if it was easy, everyone would do it, but it’s not, and that’s why I think you should do it, because credibility is everything, and social proof is definitely like the key to raising your vibration in your business, just having all of those feelers out there, and it’s one part of solidifying your marketing foundations, right? So it’s that plugging that part of the crack in the bucket, we’ve just sealed that up so nothing slips through, because we’re working on what that looks like, and it’s so beautiful, right? Nothing screams You’re amazing, like somebody else saying it for you.
There is so much power in your client stories. So they can be in the form of case studies. You can actually load them onto your LinkedIn testimonials and feedback. I think the power is in what people say about you. So yes, there’s word of mouth is amazing, but you could have somebody that’s been circling in your world for a while and they really want to buy from you, and they’re like, you know, they get distracted, and they have to go and do something else, and then they come back to it, and then, you know, say it’s a little bit more of an investment, and then they come back.
And then they’re like, hang on a minute. I’m going to check out the reviews. And we’ve all looked at Google reviews or case studies or anything like that before we’ve made any investment. We do our research. And so this is one way of solidifying that social proof and having that power on your side. So essentially, when people are going to buy from you, they’re looking around, looking around, looking around, they’re on your website.
They’re reading everything, reading your blogs, listening to your podcast. Okay, looking at your social media, that’s the shorts and T shirts side of your business, they see video testimonials, they’re on your YouTube, and then they have a look at your Google reviews, and you don’t have a say in that, right? That has to come from someone else’s Google account. And they’re like, oh my god, okay, I’m sealed. So everything around you, your marketing, has done 99% of the work that you don’t have to do. Okay? So see how we’re like slowly making an impact with everything that we do.
That when someone comes into our world, they’re not going to slip through the cracks and be gone, because we have made sure that every touch point of ours, of our marketing mix and our marketing foundations, have been taken care of so this takes time. It’s hard. It’s not easy, and that’s why it’s a small win, okay, if you can get it right. So I always ask for feedback, and it also helps you right. So as a business owner, I think most definitely you have to have thick skin anyway, like just running a business is hard, and so I think feedback is really important. How you deliver something inside your business and constructive criticism.
What if you could be doing it better? Whatever it is that you do, but you just don’t know it, right? Because you don’t know what you don’t know. But then when someone tells you, I think it’s like, okay, it’s important to take constructive criticism on board, and especially like, if it’s great, wonderful, and then you learn. So it could be in the way of a survey, it could be in the way of a, you know, a feedback form, something like that, but definitely in terms of client stories, testimonials, and then Google reviews. Hands down, no brainer, one of the best ways to build your credibility in your business.
So how do I do that? Hayley, okay, so firstly, I would send an email, or I would ask over a DM, definitely, and then, you know, it would have to be during, like, a moment where you’ve definitely got a good result for one of your clients, so you’ve just, like, nailed something and in the best possible way, and then you’re sending an email to be able to have a follow up and have, like, their satisfaction, like. Beaming through via written, written testimony or video testimonial for you. So I don’t think that it’s a bad thing to ask for a video testimonial.
These days, I feel like I have parameters around that. There’s a series of questions that I actually ask, and that’s something that I share with my private clients. It’s something that I share in my membership that will get the answer that you’re looking for as a business out of the client that you’re working with, right? So if I’m hiring a videographer, a photographer or anything like that, I’ll always look at their testimonials and see what the other clients have said about what they’re like to work with and how quickly they deliver photos and things like that. I think it’s so important.
And you know, I think there’s definitely a psychology and an impact with that that goes with seeing other people’s success in the thing that you want to buy. And that just helps to reduce any hesitation, as well as build massive amounts of trust. And so it’s definitely like it is a peer. It’s your peer-to-peer recommendation, and it’s more than what you could ever claim that your business does Okay, so coming from someone else screams and speaks volumes more than you saying how good you are. And so make it easy. Okay, make it really easy. So some of the things that I’ve done in the past was, if I want a Google review, it’s just an email asking for a Google review. It’s not an email asking for, can you give me a Facebook review, plus a Google review, plus a video testimonial, plus, can you please recommend me on LinkedIn?
No, it’s one thing at a time. Otherwise, that’s just ridiculous. You’re taking up someone’s life, hours of their day. And then if, usually, if it depends on how well I know the client, I will draft it for them. I’ll say, hey, I know you’re really busy. I’d love it. If you can give me a Google review. I’ve written something from you below based on what we’ve done together. I’ve tried to write it in your tone of voice. It’s just a paragraph. Have a little read. If you think that this sounds great and sounds like you, could you please copy and paste it into the link below, and I’ll always put the link and so that’s one way to gather Google, get Google reviews, and even Facebook reviews, you can even so much as leverage, like your AI to write it for you, it has to be good, right?
And you have to edit it, because I don’t believe that AI produces like it’s a bit of a cookie cutter approach, and that’s not what I’m about. And so that’s one way that you could save yourself time. And if you’re not the best writer, that could definitely help you with research of what you could write for this particular client, and you’ve got to put the parameters in, otherwise they’re not going to get it, it’s not going to get it right. But that will help you. If you want to send that in an email. I think video testimonials are the absolute Bee’s Knees, though, because you can see someone’s face and you can see that they are telling the truth and that it is credible, and you know it’s coming from the heart, because people, you know, when you get in front of a camera, it’s like, okay, you really have to tell the truth, otherwise you’re not going to do it.
So I think video testimonials are definitely above all my favorite, and then Google and then Facebook. So figure out which one you want from who, and start gathering that for yourself. I think the best way to have the maximum impact for testimonials is obviously on your website. They need to all be there. They need to be on your homepage, your sales pages, your checkout pages. Needs to be everywhere. How to do that? I’ll teach that inside of my membership, social media, hands down, definitely. So it can be either in your stories.
It can be in your as a carousel, post, if it’s like a written testimonial or a video, upload it as a video. And then I think in your email funnels, definitely. I think testimonials are a great way to have them filtered through your email funnels. When someone starts to come into your world. That’s a beautiful place to put them, and then in your sales conversations. So when you are handling new clients coming in and they are looking for real success stories, I think that having those case studies of your wins as well as testimonials, are such a great place to have in your sales funnel. I think that is like an incredible source of value, like true value, especially if what you sell is a really high ticket.
That’s one way to get people over the line. I think the reason it’s overlooked is because not many people ask for it. Not many people are. Ask for testimonials, because, you know, like you’re always on to the next thing. So it’s important to have that as part of your marketing funnel. Is on the back of having a client work with you or buy from you. It’s important that you don’t lose that and, you know, fix that mistake of keeping them in your world and gathering a testimonial, I think only collecting, like surface value feedback, like great service, well done. She’s amazing, like generic sort of stuff, you may as well not do it at all.
I think there’s no space for that in my world. And then I think that if you don’t guide your clients on what to say that can also be a problem, because then you’re not actually getting out of it what you want. They’re going to the effort. So you need to know what questions to ask that are valuable to get the answer that you want. And so I’ve created a whole master class on that with workbooks as well on the right questions to ask that will get you the answer that you want, that will help you and build your credibility in business, there’s all of my templates and swipe copy on what to actually say inside my membership, superhero marketing.
And then I think if you’re keeping testimonials hidden instead of showing them everywhere, you are doing a massive disservice to yourself. I definitely want to challenge you, like this week on the back of this podcast, to reach out to a couple of your clients and ask them for testimonials in a really structured way where you are getting the answer that you want to hear, right? You’re getting the feedback, the strategic feedback that showcases your business in a very clever way. I think I would like you to leverage these testimonials that you’re going to get this week for your business to build your authority and credibility massively, and that’s about it.
I would love to see you incorporate some of what I’ve taught into your business, and you know, share with me over on Instagram, like you can tag me in your stories and this podcast, if you’ve had massive takeaways from this episode and what you’re going to do in order to move forward, to Build your own credibility inside your business through testimonials in any medium possible. Connect with me over on my social media. I would love to hear how you go with this. I think this is one of the most important things that is overlooked, so make sure you include it in your repertoire this year, and that is it, my friends for today’s podcast episode.
I hope you have the best day, and thank you so much for letting me be in your ears. I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode. If you have hit subscribe, so you don’t miss any new episodes released every Tuesday, and while you’re there, leave me a review. I would absolutely love to read it. Also, don’t forget to tag me @hayleykosborne over on Instagram and share this post with your audience so they can get learning too. Sharing is caring. If you want more, head over to https://hayleyosborne.com/category/podcast/ for today’s show notes and links, catch you next week for another episode of The Hayley Osborne show.
