In today’s day and age, all business owners know the importance of reviews when it comes to their businesses. Whenever you walk into a coffee shop, restaurant or salon, you can see a Yelp sticker proudly displayed in their windows. Whenever I travel to other cities with my family, I use Yelp when looking for places to eat or things to do and go off of reviews. Just as Yelp does for these business owners, it is imperative to my businesses that people also review me.
As a real estate agent, one of the things we always tell our clients is that referrals are the best thing they can give to us. If I did a stand up job for them, and they appreciated my work and dedication to helping them buy or sell their house, that they please remember when they hear someone discuss looking for a realtor to give them my name. In the real estate industry, a lot of our business comes from referrals while the other comes from our own circle plus going out and meeting new clients. I also ask my clients, if they would recommend me and think I did a great job for them if they would write a review about me on either my LinkedIn page, Facebook Page or my personal website. These three are the best places to write reviews reaching a large audience and also are a type of a digital word-of-mouth. It’s imperative to have these reviews for any business owner because –
· These reviews allow your business to reach new audiences
· They enable your business to build up a positive reputation
· They can help your business be found through an online search
A study a couple years back stated that 92% of consumers read reviews, 92%! Basically everyone out there is going to try and find a review about the good or service they need and will make a decision based on the reviews they read. Of those 92%, 68% said that when they read positive reviews about a company or a person, it made they trust the business more. In the real estate industry, I know how imperative it is to have trust with my clients. While it is important to have all the real estate knowledge I have, when I first meet with new clients I know that the two things that will be the biggest factor in their decision if I am the right realtor for them or not is if they trust me and if they like me as a person. So building a portfolio of positive reviews from previous clients always is a helpful place to point new clients to before we sign any contracts together.
That being said, I know how important reviews are to my business and that is why I make it a priority to write reviews for the people I do work with as well. I take time every week to go through the people I have worked with the week before and find a place to write a review about them so that they too can grow their business because of the positive reviews. We are all here to help one another grow in our businesses, so make sure to take time to post good reviews when you can!