Mike Montano on ReviewBuzz

In this week's episode of the MegaMarketer Coachcast, host Justin Jacob interviews Mike Montano. Mike had been a contractor for over 20 years and when he started his business marketing was one of the areas he struggled with. He put in the work and learned that trust and credibility were crucial, which is when the idea for ReviewBuzz came from. Main Questions Asked: How does ReviewBuzz work? Why are reviews important? What are some best practices to dealing with bad reviews? Key Lessons Learned: ReviewBuzz The customer experience is pretty much entirely dependent on your employees. For contractors, it's not about looking good, it's about being good. Nothing will move the needle more than the quality of your work. ReviewBuzz is both a review management system as well as a review engagement program. It incentivizes employees and technicians through gamification to deliver better customer experiences. Most employees will not ask for a review, but customer experience management is one of the most important things for the future of contractors. The simplest way to get more reviews is to ask. If you deliver a good experience, the customer will usually be happy to give a review. If they're reluctant or you think they may not give a good review, that's an opportunity to address an issue and make it right. If you personalize the ask, it increases the number of customers engaging and the overall number of positive reviews. Most people will leave a positive review if you make it easy to do so. A lot of contractors will be able to relate to the experience of creating positive word of mouth and how referrals can build their business. Today word of mouth is online, people will look to see what others have said about you before making a buying decision. Google competes against companies like Yelp and Facebook, if you want to rank highly for SEO positive reviews matter. Reviews will also impact your ability to upsell additional products and services. When you're selling your services, it's not just about the quality of the equipment, it's also about the quality of the installers. Review show that your installers have a track record of taking care of your customers needs. The most valuable reviews will focus on the experience more than the equipment. 97% of shoppers say review influence their decision one way or another. Displaying reviews can increase conversion rates by up to 200%. The Customer Experience As the algorithms get smarter the consistency of the reviews are becoming more important. You can't just look good, you have to actually be good. Ideally from the first call to the final install. No one has more of an impact of the customer experience than your employees. When they don't have to protect their personal reputation, there is not as much commitment on their end. One way you can avoid negative reviews is by giving your potential customer options. If your CSR is booked up, offer to recommend the customer to one of your friendly competitors. Your employees and marketing are the face of your business. Unless there is something in place to encourage accountability in your employees, it can be hard to maintain a consistent customer experience. Dealing With Bad Reviews It's never too late to go back and apologize. Going above and beyond to make things right can turn a bad review into a good one. Talking to disgruntled and unhappy customers is the perfect opportunity to learn how to improve your business. There is a lot you can learn about your business that you would not be able to otherwise from people who are more than happy to tell you what your company did wrong. Investigate what the issue is, many of the times you can make the issue go away with nothing more than your time and willingness to listen. Your customers don't care about your brand, they do care about your people. Being remarkable is essentially showing authentic care. If you show that you care about your customer, your customer will reciprocate with a review for your business. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating and review in iTunes! Links to Resources Mentioned [email protected] [email protected]