Over the past several weeks I worked to secure testimonials for my series of ebooks. I’ve asked and received testimonials before. Since the bulk of my projects are ghostwritten books and articles, it can be tricky. My clients want to remain anonymous. And I want to safeguard any information that would indicate my clients’ identities.

But I still want some horn-blowing, thumbs-up giving, “Tina rocks the written word” kind of quotes so I can put them on my sites, in my marketing materials and so on.

So I use initials. No names. No links.

But sometimes I need a different kind of testimonial. Not just a “Tina’s great – use her for all your writing needs!” kind of statement.

Sometimes I need someone to read something, mull it over and then write something…a few sentences…nothing too crazy…

I sent my first ebook (and in some cases, all three) to several people. My return rate for testimonials?

A dismal 50%.

Yes. Half of the people who VOLUNTEERED to provide a testimonial failed to come through.

Words that come to mind? Disheartening. Frustrating.

Here are a few tips for those of you who are ever asked (or perhaps volunteer) to provide a testimonial of any kind of product:

Ask how soon the testimonial is needed. Most people have deadlines of some sort. And they are probably waiting on your testimonial before the design marketing materials, launch a website, etc. So you want to know when they need the testimonial from you.

Ask exactly what is needed. Do they need a single sentence from you? A paragraph? Do they want you to specifically refer to the value of the item, the content, the design? Ask what is expected of you.

Evaluate whether you truly have the time to provide the testimonial. If you don’t have the time, then don’t volunteer or don’t accept when you are asked. Don’t feel bad if you don’t have the time. Everyone (well, most everyone) has a busy life and you can’t do everything. So if you don’t have the time, say so. Immediately.

Give yourself a deadline. So, the person who needs the testimonial needs it by Friday at 8am. Set a deadline for yourself at least 24 hours before, if possible. This gives you some wiggle room if something comes up at the last minute.

Start as soon as you can. Seriously, you don’t want to forget about it. If you have something to read, or a product to try out, it’s easy to set it aside. And the next thing you know, you’ve totally forgotten your testimonial task. And then you’re scrambling at the last minute.

Try to beat the deadline. If you can, try to beat the person’s deadline by providing your testimonial a little early. If that person was thinking ahead, she probably already built in some breathing room in terms of her own deadlines. But you never know. And by beating the deadline given to you, even by an hour, you can give that person some time to look over your testimonial, make sure it’s what she’s looking for and to ask any other questions of you…just in case.

Be honest. If you seriously hate the product, what it stands for, think it smells on a multitude of levels (whether it’s a book or a software program…anything) then tell the person that you will not be able to provide a testimonial. And tell them why. Whether your criticisms are legitimate or not, they are your opinions and you are entitled to have them.

It boils down to the fact that you need to make sure you never accept the opportunity or volunteer yourself for anything that you can’t follow through on or don’t intend to follow through on. You are doing the person a favor – yes. But you have also placed that person in a position of relying on you to help their business, to help with marketing. You’ve made yourself a party to that and it’s important to keep that in mind.