I happily evaluate a lot of tools, products, and services– and love to talk about how awesome they are…
If they’ve earned it.
But this company got greedy– they wanted me to COMMIT to the ongoing promotion of their product immediately.
Remember, I don’t even know them yet.
Her rationalization was that providing stuff for free was an investment on their end and they needed to see a return. So I was hugely turned off, as I think you probably would be, too.
This leads to the lesson– the best reviews are authentic. Do such an amazing job for your customers and clients that they can’t help but rave about you.
We all know how important reviews and word of mouth are– earn it.
If you have to awkwardly ask, something is wrong, isn’t it?