By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
Online reviews used to be the domain of the consumer. How many times do you visit TripAdvisor before you book a hotel? Or go to Yelp to find which local restaurant you should eat at? I have, and it now often powers my decisions. So, what about your business?
There is no doubt that the business review is powering those decisions too. I recently shopped online for a local carpet cleaner – I’m a staunch believer in supporting my local businesses and found a company that had really positive reviews so I decided to give them a try. It was a great, affordable experience which they then followed up with a hand written thank you note, a request for a referral, and you guessed it – a positive review.
Take that one step further and think about your business and how reviews can help you.
The Good Review
Good reviews are powerful tools. You are no longer in charge of the selling process. That power is squarely in the hands of the buyer and they are doing much of their due diligence via on online search. Good reviews from customers who have had a great experience with you are more than likely THE persuading factor, and I would almost say – over price – for others to work with and buy from you.
The Bad Review
So this one comes up quite a bit in conversations I have with clients. Nobody likes a bad review and most people are afraid of them and don’t know what to do with them. Wouldn’t you want to know if there is an issue with one of your clients, with one of your consultants, or with your service delivery?
The bad review provides a valuable opportunity for you to personally call the client and work with them to resolve the issue. Sometimes the result may still be a bad review but you’ve done everything in your power to resolve it. However, more often than not, you can turn that situation around – just don’t forget to ask that customer to change their review and show you in a more positive light. In my view a bad review is a good thing – it provides you with better insight into what is going on in your company. If you have many bad reviews there is probably something systemically wrong with your business that you need to fix.
If you’re concerned about receiving bad reviews on your website, consider Hundredx Inc. Good feedback is publically posted while bad feedback is delivered directly to you so you can take ownership of the issue and get it fixed.
Bottom line is GOOD REVIEWS DRIVE CONVERSIONS! Whether it’s LinkedIn, Google +, Facebook, Yelp or Microsoft Pinpoint, it’s time to get to work on them.
