Online Reviews - why you need them, where to find them and how to respond.

This lively visit with real estate agent, Kristina Smallhorn applies to all businesses who need and receive reviews. The video version linked in the bottom will have some how to tips, too. 

Business reviews are not just for B2C and brick and mortar. ALL businesses need reviews in the right places where their potential clients go when considering them as as solution. This, along with what their colleagues and friends recommend play the biggest role in decision making before they even contact you.

My guest is Your Real Estate Whisperer, none-other than Kristin Smallhorn, a successful real estate agent in Louisiana. Her engaging YouTube channel is how I knew she was a great guest for this topic. But videos are what you EDIT and produce. Reviews - we do not control what people post. We can hope, we can ask for them when we have a successful transaction, but ultimately, we cannot control what others say about us - this gives reviews more credibility.

Why do you think some businesses don't pursue reviews?
Well, you may be surprised.
Businesses don’t want to end up in one of these situations:

receiving zero business reviews
receiving zero recent online business reviews
receiving negative online business reviews
or, the business simply has a chaotic presence of online reviews across multiple business review websites

OK, listeners, put on your big kid pants. Reputation provides interaction.
AND business reviews provide valuable feedback for businesses.
Business reviews and social posts help shape a company's online reputation.
AND, if you don't like what's being said, well, it may be time to do it better. Your problems are bigger than what people are posting. That's just the result of the issue.

Ask yourselves these questions:
How your are reviews?
Are you are sure you know where they all are?
What about when you get a bad review?
How do you respond and how quickly?
Were you able to turn any around to either remove them or update them to something positive?
Have you converted any bad reviews into clients or advocates? PIE IN THE SKY hopes!

We cover a couple of stories in this episode you may be able to relate to or find entertaining.

 

What you do to get reviews and testimonials from clients?
How do those play into your conversion rate?
How do you share reviews with your target farm, audience without constantly blaring the "LOOK AT ME! I'm GREAT!" horn.

Time for your do to list, listeners.
Where to look for your existing reviews?
You can do a quick look on the three major venues in order of weight:
Yelp!
Look on your Facebook business page.
Your Google My Business page - the right hand box.
You can also do a search on Yext! without signing up - you'll get links to all of your current profiles and can see what others see.

Now, if you are niche - you need to also receive and review your listings on those sites:

For Real estate professionals: Zillow, Realtor.com
For attorneys: Avvo, Lawyers.com
For Medical professionals: Healthgrades, RealSelf, ZocDoc
For restaurants: Zomato, TripAdvisor
For service providers (contractors, roofers, cleaners, etc.): AngiesList, HomeAdvisor, NextDoor if it's popular in your area.

Of course you want to get reviews concentrated on the most important online review sites.

That's why we recommend you focus on no more than five review sites total.

Listen to this replay and catch the video on Susan Finch's site here >