In business, creating a great first impression means nothing unless that impression stands the test of time. You might grab a client’s attention with a snazzy-looking website, but if it isn’t matched by the quality of your work and the professionalism of your service, then your business won’t succeed. If you want to stick around for the long haul, your second, third, fourth, and fifth impressions need to be as good as your first one. Your reputation is everything.
While this is true across industries, it’s especially true for pros in the home improvement sector, where homeowners are quick to research you online to assess your reputation before hiring. In addition to reviewing your website and social media profiles, homeowners pay special attention to your business’s Star Score and customer reviews to gauge the experiences of previous clients. According to a 2020 survey by BrightLocal, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses, and only 48% of consumers will consider working with a business that has fewer than 4 out of 5 stars.
Given how important online reputation is to the continued success of your business, it’s important to monitor it frequently and take steps to ensure you’re in good standing. Here are 9 tips to get you started:
Monitor your Online Presence
Before you can take any steps to improve your reputation, it’s important to take stock of where it stands at present. Find out what people are saying about your business by performing a Google search of your company name and reading the results. Set alerts using online tools like Mention or Google Alerts so that you’re notified whenever a new mention occurs. Once you have a sense of what people are saying about you, you can ask yourself whether this aligns with what you want people to be saying, and take steps to address the gaps.
Put Your Customers First
It feels almost silly to mention this, but the best way to improve your reputation is to improve your relationship with the people who uphold it: your customers. Listen to your customers, understand their concerns, answer their questions, and implement their feedback. Put your clients first and you’ll reap the benefits of lasting relationships and great reviews.
Prioritize Communication
A simple rule of thumb: always keep homeowners in the loop. Whether your work is ahead of schedule or you’re waiting on materials to finish a job, a quick call or email to touch base goes a long way towards building a solid reputation. Transparency prevents dissatisfaction and minimizes the chance they’ll share a negative review about their experience.
Ask for Reviews
According to BrightLocal, 94% of consumers say that positive reviews make them more likely to use a service, and 79% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. There’s no denying the massive impact reviews have on your business’s reputation. Reach out to homeowners to politely request reviews when your jobs are complete. Provide links and instructions to make it as easy as possible for them to complete this request.
Address the Negativity
Nobody is perfect, so negative reviews are bound to trickle in occasionally. By taking ownership of problems and addressing homeowners’ concerns courteously, you can show other homeowners you’re open to feedback and attentive to client needs. Negative reviews can hurt your reputation if handled incorrectly, but they don’t have to.
Get Social with Social Media
Harness the power of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to communicate directly with homeowners. Control the narrative of your reputation by highlighting your company’s brand and showcasing positive reviews from previous clients.
Check Out the Competition
Studying the way your competitors manage their online reputations is an easy way to improve your own approach. Check out their websites and social media profiles. Pay attention to how they handle reviews. Ask yourself: in what areas do they excel or miss the mark? Adjust your strategy to implement what they’re doing well and learn from their mistakes.
Branding, Marketing, and Content
Proactive branding, marketing, and content creation efforts are a great way to reinforce or push back against your existing online reputation. Whenever you’re running pay-per-click advertisements, publishing a blog, or updating the photos on your website, think of this as an opportunity to relay desired messaging about your business, educate homeowners, and project an image of professionalism by maintaining a consistent visual signature. For extra credit, tailor your content to make sure it’s seen as widely as possible by following this SEO guide.
Let HomeStars Lend a Helping Hand
Managing your online reputation isn’t complicated, but it can be time-consuming if you don’t have the right tools on hand. Fortunately, at HomeStars, we’ve built an entire platform to help home service professionals like yourself implement the tips referenced in this article.
HomeStars makes it easy for pros to request, respond to, and showcase reviews. We help pros boost their legitimacy through special features like Verified Badges and Star Scores. In addition, we have an entire Pro Centre packed with information about how to succeed on social media, build great websites, and everything else in between.
We hope our reputation speaks for itself, and we want to make sure yours does, too!
*Article updated on July 8, 2021
