They really do matter
Online reviews for home service businesses generally fall into one of three categories: 5-star, with comments suggesting your tech is a hero; 4-star when they still love him but maybe he forgot the shoe covers; or 1-star, with an unpleasant suggestion that both you and your business should be run into the ground. Business owners tend to get worked up about bad reviews — and then take the good ones as no big deal. Maybe you don’t give all that much thought to reviews – but if you want to be among your area’s most successful contractors, you need to understand why they pay a lot of attention to reviews.
Reviews can boost your growth
If you’re inclined to brush reviews aside as an annoyance or something as useless as a gas valve on an electric heat pump, you need to consider how today’s homeowners find your business. When they’re looking for someone who does what you do, they don’t ask their neighbors or think about your billboard on Maple Street. Instead, they open their favorite search engine and enter their need. They see the first three results and recognize the names from service vans they’ve noticed in the neighborhood. So, which of you gets their phone call or email?
Reviews can give you the edge … or not
How does the homeowner decide on the winner? More often than not, they take a quick look at the online reviews to see which of the companies has the highest rating and the greatest number of reviews. Your company has been around for 40 years, but you only have 100 Google reviews with an average score of 4.6. That new competitor has been in your market for a year, but he has 700 Google reviews at an average of 4.9. Who do you think the homeowner is going to pick? Who would you choose if you were in their shoes?
Don’t take a passive approach
Far too many business owners just accept reviews as one of the realities of doing business today and are always happy when they receive a good one. What they don’t realize is that it’s possible to get more of their customers to leave those good reviews. There are mechanisms you can put in place that will generate significantly more reviews. For example, we equip our clients with an automated text system that makes it easy for customers to post a review from their phone within seconds. Unless your tech has really screwed up (in which case you have a bigger issue), the customer will provide a positive review.
Techs play a big role
You know how important likeability is when hiring the people you send into customers’ homes. People prefer to do business with people they like, and they’re more likely to provide a review if your friendly tech asks them to. “One last thing before I leave: if I gave you five-star service today, I would really appreciate a good review. And if I didn’t, my boss wants to know that, too.” Some owners give monthly rewards to the techs who earn the most five-star reviews.
What about negative reviews?
Business owners often panic when a customer posts a vicious review. Sometimes employees really do mess up, but most angry reviews come from people who, sadly, tend to be on the angry side of life. They’re chronic complainers who look right past the great work your team provided to find some kind of flaw. If you’re tempted to delete those reviews, don’t do it. Potential customers will see that you’re not afraid to share criticism as well as praise – and they’ll quickly recognize and dismiss the negative reviewer as a chronic complainer.
Some reviews deserve action
It does pay to look at negative reviews, because sometimes they reveal a shortcoming in the service your team delivered. You can ignore the chronic complainers, but when someone who’s been a longtime customer posts something less than glowing, it’s worth your effort to follow up with the customer. Not only will you become aware of whatever went wrong, but your willingness to reach out and listen to what the homeowner has to say may rebuild their trust in your business … and make them even more likely to call you next time they have a need.
Just sharing what we know
Knowledge and proven strategies like these are how Cornerstone has helped home services companies throughout the U.S. and Canada achieve growth their owners didn’t believe was possible. We’ve shared this and 11 other critical questions to help you determine whether your marketing is an effective investment or a frustrating expense in our white paper: “12 questions to assess your marketing’s efficiency … with answers that can supercharge your marketing ROI.” You can access it here.