The thought of people talking about your home improvement business online can be exciting… and a little scary. In the world of home improvement contractors, your online reputation can have a major impact on whether or not you will be chosen over a competitor. But people will say what they want, right? Can you actually sway how people will perceive your business online? The answer is yes, you can. Keep reading to find out how.
Check and Respond
Take the time to check the biggest review websites — Google, Facebook and Yelp — once a week to see if there are any new reviews. The reason for this is that you don’t want a negative review to stay for a long time without your response underneath. If you fail to respond to a negative comment, potential customers will only see the reviewer’s side of the story. They are going to want to know: Is the reviewer overreacting? Are you going to fix your mistake? Should I move on to the next contractor on my list?
When responding to a negative review, you need to watch your tone. Name calling, sarcasm, and blame shifting will only help to make you look like the “bad guy.” Find something in the complaint for which you can take responsibility. At the very least, you can apologize for a miscommunication. Next, offer a solution to please the dissatisfied customer if you can. If they are unhappy with the quality of your work, tell them you will be happy to come back and make it right.
Get More Reviews
Building your review rating is a numbers game. The more reviews you have, the more accurate the average. Unfortunately, most satisfied customers don’t automatically think to leave a review. When their home improvement project is finished, they are ready to enjoy the fruits of your labor and move on with their life. Therefore, it’s important to proactively ask your customers to leave a review when their project is nearing completion. To make it more fun, offer a free promotional item (e.g., a t-shirt or coffee mug with your logo) if they send a screenshot of their review on Yelp.
Hire Professional Help
There are a few different companies, such as Reputation Defender or Gadook, who will take the burden of managing online reviews off your shoulders. The benefit of hiring these experts is that they might be able to have certain negative reviews removed. They do this by reporting them to Google or Yelp as defamation or as violating the website’s terms of use.
Offer Contractor Financing
At HFS Financial, we want to help make you a five-star business. Your customers are sure to be satisfied when you partner with HFS to provide contractor financing. All they will have to do is fill out our 60-second application, and their home improvement loan could be 100% financed quickly. That would put a smile on anyone’s face! Partner with us today to offer the best contractor financing for your customers. With HFS Financial, “You Dream It, We Finance It.”