High-rated Google Reviews gives you instant credibility in the eyes of searchers. And outpacing your competitors in reviews is a surefire way to generate more IT services leads.
Think about it. When searching for “Computer Support Dallas,” which company would you call first?
You’d probably give the first company a call. With 16 five-star reviews, you know other local companies trust this IT services firm.
So, given the power of reviews, why do so many MSPs have so few reviews?
Evaluate Your IT Services Firm’s Online Reputation
Reviews play a defining role in a consumer’s purchase decision. In fact, 81% of consumers research online before purchasing from a local company.
They’re typically looking for online reviews (quantity and ratings), social mentions, recommendations, complaints, court cases and any other supporting material they can find. What your prospects see (or don’t see) has a huge impact on your ability to attract and close new IT services leads.
Go to Google right now and search for your company name. What do you see? Is it positive? Does it make you cringe? Does it represent your IT services firm fairly?
If you were happy with the results, then keep up the good work. If not, I’m going to give you a few easy strategies to take your online reputation the other way.
How To Improve Your Online Reputation
If you don’t like what you see, it’s time to get to work.
Here are three basic steps you need to take to earn positive Google reviews:
Earn The Reputation
Delighting your customers should be first and foremost. You’ll only get a five-star reputation by giving five-star service.
Ask For Reviews
It’s very rare for positive reviews to happen just because you’re doing a great job. The companies that have a system for asking are the ones with the most referrals.
Beat Out Your Competitors
Get more referrals with a higher average rating than all your competitors.
How Google Reviews Affect Local SEO For Your IT Services Firm
If generating IT services leads wasn’t enough to get you on the review bandwagon, how does improved SEO sound? A recent survey of over 22,000 local listings found the following to be true:
- Listings 1-3 on Google’s local results have an average of 472% more reviews than listings 4-6.
- The top three Google local results have nearly twice as many reviews as the next three
- 63% of the time, Google’s local “three-pack” on page 1 contains the listing with the most reviews.
What does all this mean? The more reviews you have, the more likely you are to surge onto page 1 of local search results!
How We Received 75 Five-Star Reviews (And How You Can, Too)
About six months ago, I set out to see how many five-star Google reviews I could generate out of thousands of IT services clients.
Using a simple strategy, we went from five reviews to over 60 completely legitimate reviews nearly overnight. And we now have 74 five-star reviews and one four-star review.
We quickly developed an online reputation that is almost impossible to damage (at least via Google). But we also developed a marketing asset our sales team can use to close deals whenever they’re talking to an unconvinced prospect.
Here’s how to implement this Google reviews strategy to win more IT services leads:
1. Create And Send A Webpage To Your Top Clients
Ask your client base a simple “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” question. (This was so easy that almost 100% of clients who clicked on our page completed the survey.) If you need help, this page is included as part of the Technology Marketing Toolkit.
2. Direct People Who Clicked “I Had A Great Experience” To Your Google Review Page
Make sure the five-star rating is already filled in to make their experience even simpler. For my clients, some added a comment while others just clicked “submit.” Not one person changed the number of stars, though.
3. Direct People Who Clicked “I Had A Bad Experience” To A Feedback Form
This Google reviews strategy isn’t about gaming the system. It’s about letting people share their experience with your IT services firm and improving customer relationships.
Listening to positive and negative feedback is critical as a business owner. Only one person clicked the “I had a bad experience” link, and they were directed to a feedback form. We then dealt with the criticism immediately, made the situation right with the customer and kept that negative review off Google!
I’ve seen dozens of MSPs successfully implement this same strategy and go from zero to two reviews to double-digit reviews in one day.
Want to learn other ways to multiply your Google reviews and earn more IT services leads?
Technology Marketing Toolkit is your complete IT services marketing system in a box. For a small monthly fee, you gain hundreds of ready-to-go marketing materials — including marketing campaigns, templates, email newsletters, sales strategies and more.
Click here to see how the Technology Marketing Toolkit can drive more IT services leads to your business.
