Hey, welcome back. We are still talking about the 5 best practices to get more reviews online for your business. What I want to do is just do a lightning round here where we talk about exactly what we’ve already talked about in the last couple of podcasts.

First, ask how they heard about you. This is going to allow you to figure out what marketing is working, allow your staff to build rapport if they’ve been referred by a previous customer, and if they’ve read your reviews, it’s a great time to set the stage and thank those people who have left reviews in the past to get them in the mindset of thinking, if I left a review, they’d really appreciate it.

Number 2, check in with them regularly. This allows you to avoid costly mistakes or missteps at the end of the process when they say, hey, this isn’t what I wanted. It allows you to change mid-course as opposed to at the end. It also gives them the idea that you are anticipating their every need and in tune with them during their entire buying process.

Third best practice was making sure that the owner asks for feedback himself or herself after the purchase. This makes them feel like they’re not a number on your balance books, that instead they’re an actual person and you are building a relationship for the future with them.

Fourth was to thank everyone that has given you feedback personally, because when you do that, they realize that, hey, it didn’t just go into the void and they didn’t pay attention to me. No, this business owner, she really cares about me, and feel like they are a person.

Number 5 best practice is to thank everyone publicly that gives you a review. On Google+, Yelp, and Facebook, as well as many, many others, you will be alerted when you get a review on one of these platforms. Immediately, or at least that same day, get on there and thank them. Each one of these platforms allows the business owner to respond to these reviews and to share their comments, so why not do it? I know the majority of businesses don’t do it on Yelp, and it’s a huge missed opportunity for that business to show how much they care and how much they’re engaged with their customers.

Now, if you went to one of these review sites and saw that a business owner had taken the time and energy to publicly thank every single person for their feedback, obviously, whether it’s negative or positive, you want to make sure that you’re reaching out to those customers to show the potential customer, or the prospective customer that’s going there and checking out your reputation on these review sites, that you’re the type of business that listens, that actually listens and engages. You’re not one that complaints and concerns fall on deaf ears, because if they can see that you resolve issues, they’re going to be much more likely to spend their money with you.

As a business owner, make sure you’re getting on there and thanking them publicly. Number 1, to thank the individual who took the time to actually leave the review, but also to set yourself up so that any prospective customer or client that’s coming from these review sites understands how much you care and how much you’re engaged.

There you have it. Those are all 5 of the best practices for getting your business more online review. Stay tuned, we’ve got some great content in the next episode.