You know your business possesses a great model, code of ethics and produces top-notch results – but how will potential customers see this?
Think of the most powerful companies today; Facebook and Google both implement a five star rating platform that allows customers of businesses to rate their experiences based on services provided. Companies of this status understand the importance of business networking through reviews. Word of mouth is no longer limited to the small town that your company is located in, due to the Internet testimonials can spread across the entire world. There are even websites like Yelp, Trip Advisor and Four Square which were purely designed for reviews to help guide customers in choosing the business to best suit their needs.
There’s no question that you want testimonials for your worthy business, so follow these tips to engage customers in leaving a review of your company to not only create customer loyalty, but also generate more leads through this specific word of mouth marketing technique.
Create social accounts. As a real estate agent, setting up profiles relevant to your business on social sites with review platforms is imperative. Popular and trusted sites include Facebook, Google, LinkedIn and Yelp. It’s recommended to review how each site operates. For example, LinkedIn does not have an option for endorsements to be left on company profiles meaning the account would be a personal profile endorsing your professional skills as an agent (do add a link to your company’s website though!).
Links – lots of them. Make it easy for your customers to leave a review. Add direct links to all of your company profiles. Your email signature should include a list of your social networks with links to each of them and every page associated with your business (Facebook, Google…) need links. Most website platforms are smart and are designed with fields that make it easy for you to quickly add the URL to other platforms used by your business.
Just ask. Your business now has all of the necessary tools to receive great testimonials from (ideally) happy customers – but you should know that only a small percentage of satisfied clients leave reviews whilst most require prompting. This is why you’ve ‘linked up’ your accounts to make it easy for customers to leave a review of their experience. Make it a habit to ask pleased clients for a review at the end of your service. It is as simple as adding, “I’m so glad we’ve found you the perfect new home. I’ll send a follow up email today and if you don’t mind, will you please leave feedback from your experience with me?”
Engage reviewers. Take time to thank clients that have left feedback – both the good and bad. It may seem counter intuitive to thank someone for a bad review, but always acknowledge their experience, give an apology and offer a solution. With the doors open for your company to receive reviews, it will collect positive and negative feedback, but handling the negative in a prompt and professional manner will show potential customers that your business tries to ‘right their wrongs.’
Stay alert. There may be mentions of your company in blogs or other review platforms that you’re not associated with, but there’s a way to keep up with what others are saying about your business. The best tool is Google Alerts, which provides daily email notifications after choosing keywords to be filtered by Google. Track mentions by filtering in your business name, brand, location and specific products offered.
Display testimonials. Once you’ve nabbed a few, great reviews reach out to your clients and ask them if you can proudly display the testimonial on your website along with a photo, which will help personalise the content. Not to mention, all of the possibilities to use testimonials as part of blog content, email marketing and newsletters.
The power of testimonials will definitely generate leads. A survey conducted by Zendesk revealed that 90 percent of participants were influenced by positive online reviews when deciding what product to purchase or what company to work with – so don’t miss out and let word of mouth start working for your business.
