Why Reviews Matter
The purpose of this article is to provide actionable ideas, so I will quickly cover WHY building Google reviews are so important:
- Reviews build trust, and trust increases the likelihood that a prospective client turns into a paying client
- Your total Google reviews, and the consistency in which they are posted, positively influence your rankings – ultimately bringing more website traffic, leads and phone calls
- Reviews reinforce reputation, and a strong reputation brings many benefits. One noteworthy attribute to mention is, with a strong reputation, you can confidently charge premium rates, ultimately bringing more profitability.
Now that we’ve covered a very brief list of benefits, let’s get to it!
Successful Review Process
Developing a process to CONSISTENTLY build reviews is key! It’s totally fine and understandable to manually text/email a review link when you’re getting started, but working towards a more developed system is prudent.
Google reviews do help with your rankings, especially alongside professional SEO. (It’s one of the most important things we need our clients to do!)
Since 2023, a new ranking signal called “review velocity” has been identified in Google’s ranking algorithm. Review Velocity is a fancy $5 marketing word which translates to “the consistency in which reviews are posted to your account.”
SO – this underscores the importance of a Review Process to, not only assure you are building reviews, but doing so on a consistent basis.
Phrasing
How you phrase your “review ask” is important! At the end of the day, it’s a FAVOR your clients do for you. Don’t shy away from that!
Here is an example Review Ask:
“Hi Mrs. Smith, thank you for your business! If you could do me a huge favor and leave a Google review for my business, I would greatly appreciate it! Reviews help more people find my business and also verify my reputation. Thank you! *INSERT REVIEW LINK*”
🤔 Aren’t sure of your Review Link? You can find it in your Google Business Profile dashboard. Totally lost? Email support@handymanmarketingpros.com requesting your review link and we’ll send it to you ASAP!
Timing
The best time to ask is right when the job is complete. My favorite recommended strategy (listed below) is this:
1. Let the client know you are finished and have another 5-10 mins to clean up,
2. hand them a “Review Business Card” that has a QR code that takes them directly to your Google review form,
3. and kindly ask them to do you a favor to leave a review when you leave
4. Last, for a catch-all, most CRMs can automatically email a Review Link after an invoice is paid, so be sure that is setup as well
Automation
As mentioned in #4 above, automating your review process is extremely helpful and efficient! There are MANY online tools that you can pay to do this. However, it’s best setup through your CRM to automatically trigger when an invoice is paid, or a job is marked complete. Most robust software has this capability so be sure to check with your estimating/invoicing company to see if this is possible.
Review building ideas
Now that we’ve covered a general process you can work towards building, let’s cover some actionable ideas to start building Google review for your handyman business!
Text and/or Email Review Link
Ah yes, the good ‘ol fashioned manual message. 😎 No shame in this at all. It’s better to get started than not get started at all!
Keep an easy-to-find note in your phone that you can copy/paste into a text or email. You can use the template message I listed above.
When you get into your vehicle, BEFORE you leave the client’s property, copy/paste that template message into a text and email, and fire away!
It’s not the most modern strategy in the world, but it will certainly work to build reviews. Just be sure to build a habit to do this for every job.
Automate
As mentioned a few times already, so I’ll keep this one short – setup a Review Ask automation in your estimate/invoicing software. If you have the option to customize the template message that will automatically go out, be sure to do that and make it more personal.
Review Card with QR Code
My personal favorite strategy! Go onto Canva.com or work with your local graphic artist/print shop to create a business card that is all about Google Reviews. Add a QR code with your review link, drop that puppy off on every client’s countertop when you leave, and you’re done!
Be sure to politely ask the client to leave you a review!
(A Google search of “free QR code generator” will give you tons of options to create the actual code.)
Review link in invoice
Another outlet for asking for a review is including the Review Ask in your invoice. It’s not as personal, and will generate less reviews than all other strategies mentioned, but for the sake of exhausting all options – there you go!
Follow-up with especially happy clients
Following-up with your best clients is a great way to give your reviews a bump! We all know those specific clients who are great to work with, and always have glowing feedback for your work.
Make a list of those fantastic clients, and send them a nice message asking if they’d leave you a review.
How to handle negative reviews
The best, most helpful, most successful businesses get bad reviews. It’s part of business! At the end of the day, we are humans and mistakes will happen. Also, some people are just flat-out unreasonable, or having a terrible day, and feel compelled to leave an unwarranted bad review for your business.
Take heart! All businesses will deal with negative reviews or comments – even the good ones. HOW you deal with them makes all the difference.
Respond professionally in a timely manner
First, we recommend responding to the review with truth, kindness, and professionalism. Try your best to leave emotion out of it.
Did you or your team mess up? Own it, and offer a solution to make it right.
Is the bad review completely unwarranted? Share a truthful, fact-based response of your side of the situation.
Your ideal clients might read the review and your response. You can win-over prospective clients with how you professionally respond to the situation.
Overall, you have the power to turn a 1 star review into a positive representation of your business!
Report & Attempt to remove a bad review
You can report and attempt to remove 1 star reviews from your Google Business Profile.
First, report the review right within Google by clicking the “3 grey dots” next to the review, then click Report. Do you have employees or friends/family that will also help report the review? Ask them! We do this for our clients when they ask us about a bad review.
Next, you can officially Report the review to Google following these steps:
2. Follow the prompts until you get to a screen that allows you to select which review to report
3. Report the review
4. Check back every few days to see the outcome (use the same link above)
5. If the request is denied, you can submit an appeal. If the request is accepted, the review should be removed.