How to Leverage Internet Reviews and Client Testimonials

Has a negative on-line client review cost your company business?
That game can be played both ways!
Learn to leverage the most powerful and effective PR tool available today!

Have you felt the sharp bit of a bad online review? Did you know that everyone in the world can see it just by Goggling your name?

I know at least one excellent, five star firm that has lost business on more than one occasion due to one bad review on Yelp.com. Well sure, It would be great if this was a freak thing. It would be great if everyone just realized how much damage is done to just one business, even when its undeserved. After all, what recourse does the average contractor or small business owner have to refute the damage done by disgruntled voice?

Don't get me wrong. I think this kind of reviewing has its place and value, and it came about as a result of consumer's need for safety, to keep vendors honest, and standards up through unsolicited feedback. But when it cuts undeservedly, it cuts deeply. In the case of the company I mentioned above, I happen to know that the company was never even hired by the reviewer. Still, that reviewer decided to leave a scathing 'review' on a very public venue. The likelihood that this will happen to you will become more likely over the next several years as it is a highly available way for consumers to vent, lash out, or praise, and all in a way that is truly effective, which ever their intent.

If you are a contractor or a subcontractor, you need to read the next sentence:

This is today's most powerful opportunity for free advertizing merely riding in on the back of a large, dark horse.

The writing is on the wall with online communities like Facebook, Angie's List, Yelp and LinkdIn. If you doubt this then you are in denial. This form of 'pre-qualifying' will continue to grow in influence. On the other hand, if you recognize the incredible opportunity to leverage these very venues then you are way ahead of the rest already... IF you actually do it.

Here's the deal: PR is no longer about just having a sign painted on the side of your truck, or business cards, or an embroidered logo on your crew's work-shirts. It's no longer just about placing an ad in some publication and hopping for the best.
Today it's about press releases, Moms clubs, and using internet technology as a mega partner in growing your bottom-line faster than before and more easily.

Two things you need to think about:

1. Word of mouth marketing is the fastest growing and most effective marketing trend today.

2. Irresistible-client-care beyond the project will give people something they can't stop talking about. Count on it!

Because of the internet, our public profiles no longer have a small foot-print. When we succeed big the world will know; when we mess up... well the world will know, because you can bet your bottom dollar someone will tell!

To double-end your campaign, here's what you do BEFORE they do:

1. Gather great Client testimonials, like they are going out of season!
You can use the ones you want and not the ones you don't. Aim for every positive client you have now, had in the past, and ever will have. Make it your standard operating procedure (SOP) and do it without fail.

2. Have them write out their testimonial and then if at all possible have them record it.
You can easily set up an online audio recorder. I use AudioAcrobat and I love them. I did everything myself within 20 minutes and now its done for ever. Every step was explained. I can help with questions for further information if you email me. You will be provided a phone number and extension that anyone can dial, from anywhere, to leave a winning testimonial.

Take a look at my testimonial landing-page. You will notice that there is a phone number and simple instruction to follow. Try it out yourself to see what your own clients might experience if they were calling to leave youa tentimonial. While you are there, take a moment and leave me a brief comment if my article is helpful.

2b. Attach the testimonial recordings, with text and client photo (were possible) to your web-site.
Don't forget to plug just one testimonial link into your email signature and e-card. This way you send out a testimonial about you every time you email anyone.

3. Ask clients to sign up with Yelp.com, Angie's List and other online consumer venues, to leave a positive review.
This is just as important as attaching gathering testimonials directly.These consumer venues are typically free for consumers so it's pretty painless. If they are not on-line savvy you may ask their permission to enter their written testimonial onto these venues for them, in their name and with their contact information.

N.B. It's best if they do this themselves, however. You can make a standard set of instructions (to 2-3 websites) and give it to each client to make it too easy for them NOT to follow.

Petalyn Swart Albert CPCC is a Life Transitions and Change-Managment life coach. Your comments and questions and comments may be email to Petalyn directly at:
Email: IrresistiblePro@comcast.net
Her Her web address is http://irresistiblepro.com

The New Plumb Line for Customer Service

Brilliant remodel professionals are redefining the traditional idea of customer service. They are heading toward something I call Client-Super-Care. Though only an elite few are turning up the personal in personal-service, these amazing contractors understand what word of mouth marketing (WOMM) research is just beginning to prove. Turning an otherwise happy client into a champion is profitable, and is the fast track to prequalifying clients. Extraordinary success no longer lies just in a job well done in relatively good time. That's being done by a fair number of professionals at every level and size in your area. It lies, rather, in the level of personal care you provide that others do not. It lies in your strategy to build relationships that are intended to last a lifetime, not just for the length of the job and perhaps one or two referrals.

“Long after people forget what you did for them they will remember how you made them feel.” Walt Disney


If you are a contractor then you know only too well just how true this is. So the idea of launching a client care strategy in this industry is brilliant, it’s smart, and it’s too fresh not to grow wings everywhere. There are many great companies out there doing great work; those who gross half a million per year to those who get up to 44 Million. However, today, few focus with equal facility to their production skills on the warm art of building relationships and with clients.

You might be thinking “That all sounds great, but my focus is in providing a great finished product to my clients. After all, their hiring a contractor to remodel their home within a budget, they’re not hiring a friend to hold their hand, and serve them dinner just because they want their kitchen remodeled”.

Ah… but is that really the whole truth? Actually remodeling homeowners want more. They’re just afraid to take their eyes off the ball in case someone drops it. A higher level of client care often helps clients relax more because they experience the feeling of having their contractor guard their back. There’s no mystery really, homeowners are often full of fear because of the tales they’ve been told and because they feel alone in their decisions …and in their mistakes. In terms of a remodeling, no matter where a mistake originated, fixing it can be expensive for both the contractor and the client. So, random acts of care and reassurance from get-go and throughout goes a long, long way.

Here’s a story that will show you exactly what I mean.

A client of mine (we’ll call her Lisa) was remodeling her kitchen. So naturally it was gutted. She had a micro-wave, barbeque and a small guestroom refrigerator set up in the laundry room to get her family through the months of being kitchen-less. Now, getting to this make-shift kitchen /laundry-room required climbing and descend twelve steps several times a day. Meal planning, grocery shopping and food-storage took on several logistical complications. Canned and dry goods stood everywhere in the laundry-room. And, the actual laundry itself? …Forget about it!

There was no place to chop, slice, or dice, and after she managed to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner, she had the back-breaking reward of washing the dishes in the guestroom bath-tub. The image of their new kitchen helped keep things in perspective for this family of four (most of the time), and like most people they learned to cope. Even though it can feel like forever it won’t be, they told themselves.

Then one day something happened. It was only the second week into the project when the doorbell rang. She went to answer it and found a FedEx box sitting there at the threshold. Apparently it was from a known ‘Gourmet Meals by Mail’ establishment. When she opened that box she found seven days of dinners for her whole family. The note inside was from her contractor, and it said,

“We hope this helps you take a break sometimes.
With Warmest wishes,
From the staff of Team Construction.”

Can you imagine the kudos that her contractor earned? Not to mention the staying-power of those kudos. With less than a couple-hundred bucks and one thoughtful act he won a very loyal client, and a strong champion of his company for life. He is an Irresistible Contractor! The word of mouth buzz that my client initiated with everyone she told was set ablaze… and believe me, she told everyone!

More to the point, how will you stand out from your worthy competition when everyone is hungry for work? I know you don’t want to put peers you respect out of business, but you’ve got to eat, pay your bills, and the kids will likely go to college one day, am I right? If you had to choose who had the advantage to getting work, you or your peers, who would you pick? I am going to assume that “Me, naturally!” will be your answer.

Let’s face it, there are people who refer us, and then there are people who champion us because somehow we touched them in some simple way that they never seem to forget. Which kind of contractor would you rather be? What kind of clients would you rather have and create? How many clients would you have to surprise or touch in some way before you had standing room only to your office door? What if you started with the clients you have right now? What about former clients?

Irresistible Question (IQ) #1:
How much advertizing money would you have to spend to get this kind of advocacy and good will?