Successfully Managing “Word of Mouse”Ratings & Reviews

March 25th 2017 JLC LIVE 2017

Bill Owens & Shashi Bellamkonda

Bill OwensBill Owens, CGR, CAPS, CGP, is president of Owens Construction, currently celebrating over thirty years as a leading residential design/build firm in central Ohio.Active with:National Association of Home Builders

Home Builders Institute

Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies

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Shashi BellamkondaShashi Bellamkonda is the Chief Marketing Officer of Surefire Local - Local Marketing Company for Local Business (Roofing, Remodeling, Replacement..)Shashi Bellamkonda is an adjunct faculty member of Georgetown University, teaching Marketing Analytics and Digital, Social Media and Mobile. Keynote speaker on Digital Marketing and Small Business. JLC LIVE 2017

Community called him “Social Media Swami”

Background: Challenges for contractors

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Resting on our laurels

Success• Do great work

• Clients love the experience

• Have a great team

Problem jobs

• Work out issues with clients privately

• Do right by the Customers - Always to a mutually satisfying conclusion JLC LIVE 2017

“Word of Mouth” has gone to “Word of Mouse”Believe the vast majority of our opportunity is referral and repeat business

But what are we perhaps not seeing?

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Make (or at least soften) the sale even before prospects reach out to usVery likely lost opportunity because:

• Search before homeowners contact us• Potential clients see few or no ratings• Maybe some average ratings on a few

websitesJLC LIVE 2017

Understanding the growing importance of an online, social presence

Challenges

• Tough time getting clients to engage

• Small number of yearly transactions (30 to 50 jobs/year)

• Lackluster number of reviews

• How to best excite and encourage clients to rate and review us?

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Where to send customers, let alone, where are prospects looking?

We know Google is important….confused on what sites we should be focusing on.

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New 2017 Recommendation

Feeling defensive, insulted and destroyed by 1 star reviews

Source: MotherJones

Joshua Tree National Park, CA

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Don’t worry, people review campgrounds in National Parks too !

How to think about this….

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Reinforce Your Beliefs

Do excellent work and have lots of pride in your process as well as the finished product

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Expect that this could

happen

.....because it will…..and that’s OK!

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Get ahead of this ● Manage through these

events● Don’t react

emotionally, internally or in the public eye

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Readjust our thinking

● Spend more on creating satisfied clients

● Well-developed and properly channeled reputation management system

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Don’t ignore reviews hoping they will go away

Even if you build your business mainly through local referrals or word-of-mouth, you need some kind of online presence if for no other reason than the help those referral customers actually find you.Source:SmallBizTrends

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Understanding the Reviewer Emotion

Warn other Consumers

I want to warn others of bad products

I want to save others from having the same negative experiences

Venting negative feelings

I like to get anger of my chest

I want to take vengeance upon the company

The company harmed me, and now I will harm the company

Help me shake off frustrations about bad buys

J.M. Rensink - What motivates people to write online reviews and which role does personality play?

Help other consumers

I want to help others with my own positive experiences

I want to give others the opportunity to buy the right product

Helping the company

In my opinion, good companies should be supported

I am so satisfied with a company and its product that I want to help the company to be successful

Emotion – Negative>> Positive

Intensity

18

Hidden Conversations!

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Hidden & Good Conversations!

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Hidden & Good Conversations!

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Hidden & Good Conversations!

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Tip : Claim your business on NextDoor.

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Positive Reviews: While seems not necessary, it is good practice to respond and thankNegative Reviews: You need to respond 100% of the time

No Review Left Behind

Tip: Go back and respond to older reviews that appear fro your search results

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1. Show clients you care2. Demonstrate your

passion for customer service

3. Retain existing customers

4. Increase chances of new customer referrals

WHY Respond?

Turn a negative review into a positive experience!

Tip: People will gain respect for your business if you respond to the comment in a pleasant and helpful way

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1.Thank them for the review➔ Be humble and appreciative, make the

person feel heard and acknowledged.”

2. Explain the future changes➔ How are you going to prevent this from

happening again?

➔ Draw attention to your business's many positive qualities

Assume Positive Intent

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1. Publicly➔ Shows both other, and potential, clients that

you care2. Privately

➔ Address and resolve the client’s issues

Respond Professionally

• If you are angry step away from your phone or computer!

• Get a review of your response from friends/peers

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➔The sooner the better

➔Aim for under 24 hours

➔OK to respond to older reviews

Timely Response Shows Character

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➔ Setup, implement, and manage your company's reputation plan long before a problem or crisis strikes

➔ You can really change/regain your reputation

➔ Get back the business you are losing because of your reputation

Key Points

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Your Reputation Plan

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➔ A proactive strategy to get reviews is required for all businesses

➔ Create a well-defined strategy➔ Mission: “We will strive to get

nothing less than 5 Stars”

1. Goals & Objectives

• In Production Reviews

• Team “ If you see something Say something”

• More Owner –Customer interaction

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➔ Set responsibility• Proactive : Getting Customer

Reviews• Reactive : Quickly Act on Reviews

➔ Monitor >> Respond>>Resolve

2. Plan

Customers look for: • Who to contact• Easy to find• Empowered team• Wow experience !• Right Expectations

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Every member of your company can help you with your review strategy➔ Define the experience➔ Explain the process➔ Reinforce importance of reviews➔ Set rules of engagement➔ Provide service standards➔ Power of conversation, eye contact

3. Training

Customers look for: • Who to contact• Easy to find• Empowered team• Wow experience• Easy Digital Tools

www.yourdomain.com

4. Be in places your customers are

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Build your community even before you need it

5. Remind customers where they can review you

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6. Ask but don’t reward➔ Use Messages like

“People on Yelp like us!” or “People love us on Yelp!”

➔ DON’T offer incentives for reviews

➔ Use review toolsJLC LIVE 2017

7. Engage➔ Claim your business pages

➔ Increase your chances by non-review type engagements

➔ Increase check-ins, photos, like and add tips

➔ Create Ideabooks on Houzz

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8. Go mobile

➔ Reviews can be done from anywhere including on the phone

➔ Use SMS to send customers links to reviews with their permission

➔ Take pictures and send to your website

➔ Use Geo Location check-ins to add reviews and location data to your website

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9. Get alerts for new reviews➔ Google Alerts are

free➔ Other tools like

Mention.net➔ Reputation

Management Tools➔ Agency

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10. Respond to all reviews

➔ New prospects can come across old reviews

➔ Customers form opinions on company response

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Recap

➔ Focus on showcasing all substantial projects on social media and your website

➔ Aggressively seek more and better quality ratings and reviews on specific sites

➔ Mandate responsiveness to any reviews by all company representatives

Why?➔ When potential customers are searching for your

business online, you compete with every other similar business in your area.

➔ Prospects do a quick Google search before making their decision, you only have a short amount of time and a limited amount of space to convince them to choose your business over others.

➔ Monitor how your business appears in certain search pages and add information to your site data that can help you put your best face forward online

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Conclusion

Setup, implement, and manage your company's reputation plan long before a problem or crisis strikesYou can really change/regain your reputationGet back the business you are losing because of your reputation

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Bill’s Advice, “from the trenches”

Proactively-Focus on showcasing all substantial projects on social media and your websiteAggressively seek more and better quality ratings and reviews on specific sitesMandate responsiveness to any reviews by all company representatives.

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Thank YouShashi@surefirelocal.co

m

Bill@owensconstruction.com JLC LIVE 2017