Three Easy Steps to Increase your Online Reviews

First, you have to do a little research. Where are clients going to regularly find homes for sale? Are they going to Google, Facebook, Realtor.com, Zillow, Yelp or another online source?

For me, I try to cover all of them with reviews, but it gets challenging when I have to ask the client to fill out reviews for me five different times because they don’t reciprocate correctly. Here’s what you do—you focus on the top two to three places where people go and find homes in your area.

The two real estate portals (Zillow and Realtor.com) both have sections for reviews but, from my experience, Zillow’s reviews get my phone to ring. Choosing between Facebook and Google is tough, but I would go with Google. Make sure you fix your business profile so it looks like the picture below. I chose Jason Walter’s profile because it’s much better than mine.

Then we have YELP! This one is a tough one because not every review that’s posted will stick. Yelp is a finicky website when it comes to reviews, but the reviews are gold. The people who call from Yelp reviews are absolutely great leads! So I would definitely focus on Yelp.

Here are the Three Simple Steps to Increasing Your Online Reviews!

1. Make sure to set the tone early on. What I mean is make sure that you are verbally telling your client throughout the transaction that you value their relationship and that reviews are important to you.
   • Mrs. Buyer-Seller, please keep the line of communication open with me through out that transaction, if you don’t feel like you are getting a 5-star service I need to know.
2. The day you get the keys for your client, make sure to text them a link to your profile so they can write a review. Make it easy for them to do because if the process to review you is a challenge, it just won’t happen. I do it like this: Voicemail, Email and then Text.
   • Mr. Buyer-Seller, It’s been an amazing ride and we hope to be of service to you and your family in the future. I just sent you an email with instructions on how to review me and my team. Our business is built on 5-star reviews from clients like yourself, please help us grow our clientele.
3. Make it a process! If you don’t systematize it, then it won’t happen. My friends Jason Walters and Gayle Zientek both have a system for getting referrals and reviews. Jason sets it into his drip campaign so it’s done automatically and Gayle makes sure she sends a card. Both of them have created a system that works for them. I would recommend to do something on the day that the closing happens so it’s fresh on everyone’s mind. Create a system that starts from the first day you open escrow to the last day it closes. The best system I have used is a combination of the following:
   • Calling and leaving a VM on the day of closing, followed by a text that day with a link to the review sites.
   • Send an email the next day thanking them and putting a link to your review sites.
   • Five days later, stop by their home to check up on them to see how the move is coming along. You showing up will remind them about reviewing you.
   • Finally, if none of that works (and sometimes it doesn’t) give them a gentle nudge by letting them know you are holding seasonal team events to raise your reviews for the team. Let them know you are offering a $5 Starbucks Card for every review you get on all the different venues: Google, Facebook, Yelp, Zillow, Realtor.com and whichever ones you use.

However you decide to approach getting reviews, it’s important to make sure you work on them. The younger generation makes a lot of their decisions based on reviews. It’s a way of life now, so find ways to show your worth and be recognized for the success you bring to others.