Reviews mean more than you may think. In most markets, your business is likely supersaturated. It's hard to stand out among the rest of your competition when you look just like them.
I see google profiles every single day of great businesses that I personally know but only have 10-20 reviews. The funny thing about this is that all the competition is in the same spot! There is usually only one or two of your competition that is way out front.
CONGRATULATIONS the foundation is set!
When customers get on google looking for a service, they see you and your competition side by side. How much easier is it for a customer to choose you over the next guy if you have 3X as many reviews as he does? NO BRAINER right???
You don't need me to tell you the value of this.
You can see it right?
I know the hardest part is getting customers to actually write the review right???
If you make something hard for someone, it will be. If you make it easy for them, it will be.
You and I often make the mistake of making excuses for our customers. We know they are busy. That's why they hired us. We know they probably don't have the time to sit down and write a review anyway.
Hear me when I say this.
No is always going to be the answer as long as you don't ask.
Here is how I did it in my service business. (I went from 0 reviews to the top reviewed spot in my industry in less than 6 months.)
When we completed service and the customer was happy, we verbally asked them to give us a 5-Start review on Google.
They usually say "Ok, I would love to!" But they don't.
Most of your competition asks the same question, but stops from there. OR, they never even ask to begin with!
I always emailed the receipt to a customer, and in the comment section, I mention a 5-star review on google again.
This receipt triggers an action.
That action set the customer on a follow-up process in the company.
Then, within 24 hours of the job (While the customer is still in the WOW phase) we sent an email to the customer.
That email usually read something like this:
Hi Mrs. Smith!
We wanted to thank you again so much for using our service here at _____! If you need anything please reach out to us anytime. Our business is a small family-oriented business and we are honored to serve you. If you know anyone who could use our service please share our contact info. The greatest thing you could do for us is to give us a 5-star review on Google. This helps more customers just like you receive the same great service. If you have a Google account all you have to do is click right HERE to leave a 5-star review! Thank you so much for...............
I also followed up ONE more time within the first week as follow-up and asking for a review from a different email account associated with the service business. This gives a fantastic personal touch for to the customer and also sealing the deal. If you are watching your reviews you will never have to worry about doubling down here because you'll know who gave you a review and who didn't.
This simple email, that went out to all of our customers, was short, brief and customers were very likely to open it us as they just got an invoice earlier.
The key is simple:
You have to make it easy for them.
The key is not that we blasted them over and over again. The key was that we made it easy for them. When we made it easy for people to click and leave the review right then they were done.
We would simply copy and paste the link to our google business profile and link it to the (HERE) section of the email.
I knew my customers were busy and I figured they never wanted to bother writing a review.
But once I started applying this to my business process we instantly started seeing drastic increase within 30 days. If this is something you focus on for your business, you will see huge results in the quantity and quality of customers your getting.
This is something you can EASILY start implementing in your business today and it helps you get more calls. You can start winning more customers over your competition because the reviews show your customer who is the best based on their peers. This is huge for your small business! NOW GO DO IT!
I hope this quick tip helps you close more sales in your service business!
Good luck out there! Make it easy for your customer to succeed and you will too!