Word of mouth

 People are shopping around more than ever before making their buying decisions thanks to review sites and social media. Your reputation will precede you, so make sure you know what it is.

A recent survey of 1,046 individuals by Dimensional Research, an independent market research company specializing in technology, found that 68 percent of respondents find online reviews extremely or very valuable when looking at residential service providers, and 86 percent will pay more for a business with higher ratings and reviews.

Ken Hyatt, founder of Village Green Lawn & Landscape in Garland, Texas, keeps close tabs on his company’s online reputation and knows first-hand how important it is.

“The main area where that helps is our pricing is a bit higher than some of the other companies and when the customers are looking at our reviews, they feel like it’s justified,” he says. “They understand that we’re earning that extra money because we’re earning the reviews that we’re getting.”

Dick Bare, owner of Arbor-Nomics in Norcross, Georgia, and his two sons pay close attention to the company’s online reputation and even go hunting for different sites.

“Both of my sons are incredible computer geniuses – being young,” he says. “They find some really unorthodox things sometimes with reviews and so on that we can fix because half the problem is there’s a lot of them out there that you may not even know about.”

The good, bad and ugly. Village Green has about 800 reviews on Angie’s List and includes a sample of them on its website, both good and bad. Hyatt takes advantage of negative reviews to show potential customers how he handles problems or complaints to show credibility.

“It’s not unusual for me to get a call from somebody saying ‘Hey, I read all of your reviews, including the bad ones, and I was impressed by the way you responded to them. You were respectful and gave your side of the story,’” Hyatt says.

“Sometimes you admitted you were wrong and sometimes you pointed out where you disagreed with the customer. If it’s possible for us to fix it, then we do. If we made a mistake, we’ll own up to it and sort out problems and that ties back into then being able to get a better review the next time around.”

And customers are looking for reviews before they buy. From Yelp to Facebook to Angie’s List, 56 percent of the Dimensional Research survey respondents said they used the web to find a service provider, with 74 percent checking Yelp.

Hyatt also includes both positive and negative reviews on his website to show how the company solves problems, and to add credibility. “I think if you handle it in a positive manner, it’s good,” he says. “You do need some negative reviews because when people see that you just have all 100 percent great reviews, they get suspicious of it.”