We ended Part 1 of this series saying that you can’t directly control what people say about your home improvement business in online reviews. All that you can control is how you operate your business and how you treat your customers. The chances are that when you do that, your online reviews will generate leads, or, at least help consumers make informed decisions, that will grow your business without you trying to do anything more than ensuring your past and current customers are satisfied.
It Is What It Is
Somewhere, sometime, someone is going to say something bad about your home improvement services business. That doesn’t mean that you did them some kind of disservice. It just means that they were not happy. Even that may not have been your fault.
Some people – you’ve probably met one or two – have unreasonable expectations. There is nothing that you, or anyone else can do to satisfy them. It is what it is. Accept it. Do your best. Treat them right, then move on. They may (or may not) write an online review criticizing your business.
Embrace All Online Reviews
I love all my online reviews!
You cannot expect to benefit from online reviews if you are “reviewaphobic.” As noted in our previous post, those reviews help to generate leads that grow your business.
Think of it this way: Everybody claims to want to have peace all over the world and for everyone to love everyone else. That’s what Miss Columbia wanted when she was crowned Miss Universe 2016, but it didn’t take her long to stop liking Steve Harvey!
I want peace all over the world… except for Steve Harvey!
No matter how hard you try, not everyone is going to like you and all of your staff. Learn to love the bigger picture. Cultivate an appreciation for anyone who takes the time to write a review about your business. The majority of those reviews are going to be favorable, if not highly complimentary.
A bad review is not the end of the world. It might even be the beginning of something very good. (We’ll discuss some excellent ways to handle bad reviews in Part 5 of this series.)
Is Any Publicity Good Publicity?
There is an old saw (not that kind) in the world of public relations that says, “Any publicity is good publicity.” Whether that is true or not has not yet been definitively proven. However, it should be noted that online reviews – good or bad – play an important role in how search engines and review sites rank businesses. The volume of reviews is a bigger factor in SERP rankings than their content.
Other things being equal, Google’s algorithms give weight to local businesses based on the number of customer reviews they have. That contributes to making even a negative online review a good thing.
I can’t believe it! Steve Harvey just gave me a bad review. I’ve never done any work for him!
The Here and Now Is Preparation for the Future
Your target customers – on average, a homeowner over 50-years-old – are probably not fully engaged with online reviews. They are also more likely to take negative reviews with a grain of salt. That portends well for home improvement lead generation.
Don’t worry about the Millennials who are review-addicted. Prepare for them. Use the here and now to build your online reputation so that your company is ahead of the local competition when Millennials age into your target customer range. If your children and grandchildren are involved in your business, they will thank you someday for what you have begun to do today.
Contact us and let us show you more about how to take away the worry about home improvement online reviews. Look for the third article in this series, “How to Encourage (and Get) Good Online Reviews,” coming soon.
