Asking for testimonials is a weird thing. I’m not talking about asking clients to give you a nice quote to slap up on all your marketing materials, online and off. In those cases, you’ve already provided your service or product and hopefully the whole transaction/process was a fairly smooth one.
What I’m referring to are the testimonials you need for NEW stuff. Like a new book. Or a new product. Those kinds of testimonials.
And asking for them is weird. Why? Because you know that you’re putting people out. You are asking them to do something that requires time and effort on their end. And you want them to like it and not feel put upon and be timely.
I had several hiccups in my quest for testimonials for my WAHM Agent ebook series. And waiting on testimonials pushed my site launch back by a couple of weeks. Stupid me. I should have launched without the testimonials. But my web guy had designed things in a way that incorporated the testimonials…and not having them would make the site look seriously half-assed. So I chose to push the launch back.
What I have found is that I need to be very specific in my needs. I need to create a simple to follow, easy to read “Testimonials for Tina” guide for those who volunteer a testimonial.
I also need to learn that some people are just flakes, period. I abhor flakes. I hate excuses. But there are people who will flake out and give every excuse in the book as to why they haven’t done squat in reading your book and providing a testimonial. Even when you remind them after a week. And even when you check in on them a week later than that.
Instead of accepting excuses and giving more time, I should have just said, “You know what? You volunteered to read my book but it seems like now is just not a good time for you. Your schedule sounds pretty tight. So I’ll just find someone else.” Then I should have scrambled to find someone else to fill the void. And my time fuming about the flake would be side-tracked as I did that scrambling.
I need to lower my expectations.
I need to be pleasantly surprised when people actually follow through.
And I need to look to my family when all else fails. Because they won’t BS me and they won’t provide a testimonial if they hate my writing. Which I love about them.