A case study guide for solo consultants & coaches

A case study is the story of a project told in your client’s words with added insights from you. It combines story, learnings, and results.

Case studies are the Swiss Army Knife in your marketing toolkit because they’re entertaining marketing content, win new clients, celebrate your fav client, and help improve your business.

Case studies are great for business development

Case studies kick arse because they’re a triple banger.

1. They educate. A rich case study shares valuable learnings. And business owners want to know how other business owners like them solve problems, more than almost anything else. .
2. They prove you deliver the goods. Not only do case studies demonstrate you’ve a track record of success. They also show how you deliver such great results.
3. They share your process. This helps potential clients imagine working with you bringing them several steps closer to picking up the phone and yelling ‘Take my money already’.

Need more convincing? The 2018 Content Preferences Survey by those saucy Demand Gen minxes said 79% of B2B buyers read case studies before a purchase.

Case studies deliver strategic insights

But case studies aren’t just about business development.

They help you gather insights that help you improve your business.

When you interview your clients about projects you’ve done together you learn:

• Why they decided to work with you.
• The most valuable things you bring to the table.
• How you can up your game and improve your process.
• What outcomes your clients value most.

Case studies celebrate your clients

Great solo pros obsess about their clients’ success.

They make their clients heroes. They tell their stories. They celebrate their wins.

Case studies do all these things. Few things says, “I value you and your business,” more than taking the time to craft a great case study about an adventure you went on together.

Good case studies are entertaining stories

And I don’t need to tell you we’re hardwired to suck up stories like crack.

Sure, you could present your project as a dry problem, solution, results case study, with a few success stats. But why would you do that to your poor potential clients, when you could serve up a juicy story they actually want to read instead?

The two principles of effective case studies Before we get stuck into the nitty gritty of how to craft a case study, let’s touch on the two principles of a great case study.

1. Tell the story with your client.
2. Use the story to teach.

1: Tell the story with your client

Many businesses treat case studies as a monologue, when they’re far better as a duet. If you want your case studies to be more compelling and credible, create them collaboratively with your clients.

1. Consider how you made a project work and what it taught you.
2. Interview your client and ask them why the project was a success and what they learned.
3. Then weave both points of view together to tell a story.

Doing this, you tell a story that’s rich, detailed and educational, using your client’s own words.

2: Use your case study to teach

Case studies are not about saying how awesome you are. Sure, that’s implicit, because you’re demonstrating your expertise. But potential clients don’t read your case studies to find out how awesome you are. They read them because  there’s value in your case studies for them. Good case studies educate, empower, and entertain potential clients.

Ask yourself and your client what problems you solved, and what you learned along the way. A great question to ask your client is, now you’ve been through this experience, what advice would you give a someone facing the same issue? Use those learnings to teach others how to solve the same problem.

How to write a case study

Case study projects move through nine steps.

1. Decide the purpose of your case study.
2. Ask your client’s permission to do a case study.
3. Do a project download yourself. More tips for this below.
4. Interview your client, record the interview, and transcribe it. Thought starter questions below.
5. Write up case study. Tips for this below.
6. Pop your case study away for a few days, then edit it with fresh eyes.
7. Send the case study to your client for their review and approval.
8. Source images for your case study and publish the sucker.
9. Repurpose the bejeepers out of your case study and publish it everywhere.

1: Get clear on your purpose for your case study

Before you invest time and effort into creating a case study, know why you’re telling this story.

Ask yourself four questions.

1: What are you trying to achieve?

Do you want to promote a specific service, launch a new product, or talk to a particular group of people? Make sure your case study supports your goals.

Case studies take time. So, invest in telling project stories that will benefit your business. Double down on your top sellers. Talk about a new offer you believe has real potential to grow.

2: Who is this case study for?

Make sure you know who you’re talking to. Who will be interested in this project? Who else can you solve the same problem for? What will hook those people in and make them want to read your story?

3: How will you use this case study?

Where does your case study fit in your marketing mix? Are you using it on your website? For RFPs? On social? In your e-news? The correct answer is, of course, everywhere.

I recommend you create four versions of each case study:

1. A long-form version that sits on your website. You can also publish this as a white paper you can email directly to potential clients.
2. A shorter version to use in e-newsletters, proposals, and RFPs. You can link to the full noise version for people who want more detail.
3. A series of posts you can share on LinkedIn over a week. Make your case study into a little business soap opera and link to the full version on the final day.
4. Pull out key testimonials to use throughout your website, in proposals and RFPs.

Slicing and dicing a case study like this means you get maximum ROI from your case study investment. Because they are an investment. But boy do they work.

4: Who will you interview?

Choose clients who are articulate, interesting, and will say nice things about you. Your goal is to share learnings from their project, so pick people who will be open to speaking candidly about what went well, what was a challenge, and what they might do differently next time.

2: Ask your client permission to do a case study on their project

Explain you’re keen to do a case study because their project was so excellent, and it would be valuable to share learnings. Tell them where the case study will be published and promoted.

Tell your client what to expect. You’ll record a half hour interview with them and they’ll get to review the case study before it’s published. Show them some case study examples if you have them. And don’t forget to tell them what’s in it for them (promotion, undying gratitude, cake).

Most clients are delighted to be featured in case studies. It makes them feel appreciated, records their achievements, and gives them content they can share too.

It can be tricky to get permission to write a case study for projects with publicly funded bodies like local or central government. Government organisations can see case studies as endorsing a supplier and they’re not allowed to do that. If you encounter push back, remember there’s nothing stopping you sharing your own learnings as a project story (unless you’ve signed a non-disclosure agreement) but don’t quote your client directly without their permission.

3: Give yourself a good grilling

Sit yourself down, put your investigative journalist hat on, and give yourself a good grilling about your project. Ask yourself these questions.

1: Why did your client approach you?

• What problem did they ask you to solve?
• How did they feel when they got in touch with you?
• Why do you think they chose you to help?

2: How did the project go?

• What was your plan of attack and your process?
• What were the key project milestones?
• What were the big wins?
• What challenges did you encounter?
• Is there anything you’d do differently if you got to do this project over again?
• What could another business with the same problems learn from this project?

3: What results and outcomes did you deliver?

• Can you point to any measurable results?
• What about intangible benefits like new skills or improved confidence or valuable insights?

If the project you’re writing about was a team effort, gather your whole project team and ask everyone these questions. And pull out your project WIP reports, your wrap-up notes, and anything else that will help you analyse your project and extract those nuggets of learning.

4: Interview your client

Schedule a meeting or a video call with your client and ask their permission to record the interview.

You can do this interview yourself. However, it can be helpful to ask someone in your team who hasn’t been involved in the project or contract a professional to do this interview. You may get a franker take on things from your client when they’re talking to a neutral third party.

A note of caution. If you get constructive feedback from your client about things you could have done better, be sure to do something to make things right.

1: Questions about why your client embarked on this  project

• What challenge led you to look for a coach / consultant?
• How were those challenges affecting you day to day?
• How were those challenges making you feel?
• What did you want to achieve? What did success look like for you?
• Why did you approach me?
• Did you consider other coaches / consultants? Why did you choose me?

2. Questions about the project process

• What were your key project milestones?
• What were the big wins? What would you definitely do again next time?
• Were there any difficult bits?
• Were there things you’d do differently next time?
• Were there any surprises?

3. Questions about outcomes, learning & working with you

• What has been the most valuable outcome from this project?
• How do you feel now compared to how you felt before we started working together?
• If someone was trying to solve the same challenge and asked you for advice, what advice would you give them?
• How would you describe the experience of working with me?
• Is there anything I could have done better for you?
• If someone were on the fence about working with us, what would you say to them?

I know this seems like a lot of questions, but you don’t have to ask every single one. You’re mirroring the questions you’ve already asked yourself about the project and digging deeper to unearth interesting insights and learnings.

This interview typically takes about half an hour. People often enjoy revisiting projects. If they’re waxing lyrical, don’t cut them off mid flow. However, if you said the interview would only take 30-minutes, check in after half an hour to make sure your client doesn’t have another commitment.

Consider emailing questions to your client ahead of your meeting, so they can consider their answers. Some people like to prepare for interviews. Others prefer to wing it. Make it clear that it’s cool either way. All these questions can be answered off the cuff.

5: Write your case study

Find your case study angle

Your angle needs to be a juicy hook that will grab your ideal client’s attention and position your case study as an essential read. To identify your angle, read through your notes and your client interview transcript and ask yourself:

• How did we achieve the big win?
• What did we learn along the way?

Imagine you’re using the story of your project to write a how-to-guide. What will that guide teach people? What’s the key message you want people to take away?

A simple structure for a case study

A good case study tells a story about a project where your client is the hero and you’re the guide.

1. Write an intriguing title that makes people curious enough to read on. Link this to your case study angle – what’s the key thing people will learn when they read your case study?
2. Hero. Introduce your client and their dream. What did they hope to achieve with you?
3. Pain.

• What problem caused your client to reach out to you?
• How was that issue affecting them and how was it making them feel?
• What would have happened if they failed to solve their problem?
• Why was it not their fault they had this challenge?

3. Guide. Explain why your client chose you. Use their own words and add in any key credentials you’d like other potential clients to know.
4. Journey.

• How did you help your client overcome their pain and attain their dream?
• Share the process so others can learn from their experience.
• Share any stumbling blocks, successes, and key learnings along the way.

5. Success.

• What does your client consider the most valuable outcomes of this project.
• How do they feel about those outcomes?

6. Proof.

• Your clients’ own testimonial about the project.
• Metrics that prove success.

Write this story as much as possible using your client’s own words.

Remember you’re telling a story

A good case study is a story. It has human interest, real characters who speak in their own words, struggle, bold ambitions, successes, failures. All the good stuff.

Please resist the temptation to squash the life out of your project stories by shoehorning them into three generic paragraphs entitled problem, solution, and results. Please. You’re worth so much more than that, and your clients won’t thank you for it either because it’s really, really boring. Instead, make your case study easy and entertaining to read, as well as educational.

Doing case studies this way isn’t quick or easy. But it’s a fun process, and your end results will be rich, and human and compelling. Plus, you’ll strengthen your relationship with your clients as you celebrate your work together and showcase their smarts.

Want smokin’ case studies, but haven’t time to write them?

If you haven’t got time to write your own case studies, and you need a case study whisperer to come make your project stories sing, I can help.

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