The digital age we live in almost necessitates an online presence and most people will look to online reviews for an unbiased, authentic opinion on a multitude of different businesses and topics. As a matter of fact, virtually ever consumer starts their buying journey with online research and more often than not, reviews are one of the first places they look for service-oriented businesses.
Unfortunately, most satisfied customers won’t take the time to write a review and provide feedback. On the other hand, unsatisfied buyers are likely to roast you any way they can. Here’s our guide to getting reviews for realtors.
Start Social
If you’ve already got a healthy and robust social media presence, start there as your primary source of getting reviews. With the online footprint that Facebook and Google have on the internet, those are some of the first places your potential customers will land when they search for “John Smith Realtor.” If you already have reviews, great! If you don’t, how do you get them?
The best way to get reviews is to ask your existing clients to give their opinion, but make sure you aren’t soliciting puppet reviews which can actually damage your reputation. Most of your current and past clients will be happy to give an honest opinion, but just need a little reminding about getting on social media and jotting down their thoughts. Why not capitalize on that client relationship and make it “Facebook official?”
Be Review Focused
Social media reviews from existing customers are a great way to start, but getting even more raw, unbiased feedback from new customers will go a long way in establishing you as a realtor. If you focus some of your efforts at the close of each deal to making a point of asking your clients to take time out to review you, you’ve got one foot in the door for a solid online reputation.
Of course, your relationship with your client won’t likely stop when you hand the keys over to them, and you shouldn’t let that be the end of your efforts. Make the review process seamless and easy to navigate for new clients. Without fail, they’ll be inundated in new homeowner tasks: moving, decorating, remodeling, repainting, etc. It’ll be easy for them to forget to write a review, so set up a seamless system to remind your clients to review you.
Create an Online Survey
One method of gaining more reviews from real customers is to create an online survey. This allows you to not only get some testimonial feedback, but also to give you real, hard, quantifiable data with which to evaluate your own performances and compare to others who use similar metrics. One of the main advantages of surveys is you can warehouse both the survey and data online and both you and your client can access it at any time.
Another major benefit of gaining reviews from online surveys is your ability to vet potential negative feedback and have an opportunity to rectify any misgivings therein. Let’s face it, not every bit of feedback is going to be positive, but you should do everything you can to make things right and possibly change the opinion of your dissatisfied client.
Go Above the Call of Duty
As a realtor, your job is to sell and to represent your clients with your best foot forward while keeping them 100% focused. If you’re already successful at selling in the real estate market, then perhaps it’s time to focus even more on helping your clients ease into their new home while giving them a review-worthy service. Staying on top of the mortgage game is a great way to do it.
Helping your clients understand the best options for them in terms of home ownership and personal finances puts you in an echelon above most real estate agents. Of course, you don’t want to get away from the core of your business (selling homes), but having a good foothold and understanding on what’s going on in mortgages is a valuable asset. Help your clients find the right mortgage solution through Tidewater Mortgage Services.
Tidewater’s experienced professional staff can hammer out the finer financial details and get your clients pre-approved the same day they call. Meaning you get deals sealed sooner, more houses sold, and get some righteous review-worthy material for current and future clients.
