Online customer reviews are today’s “word of mouth.” This new form of publicity is essential for your construction company, so making sure you get more and better reviews is worth your time and effort.
There are two parts to this.
1) Doing excellent work that goes above and beyond your clients’ expectations.
2) Encouraging satisfied customers to post the kind of reviews that will generate new leads and help you grow your business.
Here’s how to turn both these goals into reality.
Be prompt. Contact leads quickly and not only will you increase your chance of getting the job, you’ll impress your future customer with a "let’s-take-care-of-this" vibe. They accepted your bid? Congratulations! Continue your class act by showing up for work on time and always call or text if you’re delayed.
Offer good prices. If your bid is higher than the competition’s, tell your customers exactly why. For example, you may be providing better quality materials or a more inclusive warranty.
Do fantastic work. Give them top quality results to review. A positive, customer service-oriented attitude is important too.
Turn compliments into reviews. When customers rave about the fantastic new floor you installed or the emergency plumbing repair that saved the day, tell them how much you appreciate the feedback. Then ask them to put their praise in writing on your website and social media.
Say thank you. You personally thank every customer for their business, don’t you? Whether you phone, text, email, or even snail mail your thanks, add a polite request for a review.
Optimize your opportunities. Include your review request and your business URL as standard items on all written communication, whether online or on paper. As well as emails, think receipts, letterhead stationery, you name it.
Focus. Decide where you want online reviews most (Facebook? Networx? Angie’s List?) and ask your customers to post there.
Read your own online reviews and follow up. Never leave a negative customer review dangling - offer a solution to the problem right away. Respond to a positive review with words of thanks, along with a comment on what you particularly liked about doing the job.
Don’t even think about posting fake reviews. Popular e-commerce sites are starting to identify – and punish – posters of this new type of false advertising. For example, Yelp slaps this warning on profile pages: “We caught someone red-handed trying to buy reviews for this business.” In October 2015, Amazon went a step further and sued the writers of non-legit reviews.
Thirsty for more? Check out other popular posts by Laura!
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