It’s pretty well established that customer reviews of your business will help grow it and draw positive attention to you, your establishment and the services you offer. Since the onset of the “online” review system many businesses rely on positive reviews to bring in new business. But, many business owners don’t know where to direct their customers who express a desire to write a review about you.

ReviewsI’m sure that all of you have had customers who can’t say enough kind words about the services you provided them with and tell you effusively how pleased they are with their dealings with you and your business. Of course, you thank them and perhaps ask them to mention you to their friends but is that enough? If a customer feels strongly about your business and is extremely satisfied with the services that you provide than why not encourage them to go online and let the whole world know about their positive experience? Perhaps you have no idea where they can go online to do this and hope that they are savvy enough to find the places that will publish their reviews…or…you can inform them yourself of where to go to accomplish their goal of applauding you and spreading the word.

Below are a few places where reviews are widely seen and included is a website that will further aid you in getting these positive reviews in the vast world of cyberspace.

  • Angie’s List
  • Yelp
  • Google+Local
  • Yahoo Local Listings
  • Insider Pages
  • City Search
  • Consumer Search
  • Facebook (Properties You Control)

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33741/12-Places-Businesses-Should-Be-Collecting-Online-Reviews.aspx

The above website will help you understand what is entailed in writing reviews on these sites and whether membership is required. It will also help you to understand the “scoring systems” used by each site and how they work.

It isn’t enough to ask your customer to go online and write their positive review; you can help them write them with their permission. Sit with them and help them express what they are feeling and why. Keep it concise, positive and clear. What did they like about the services you provided to them? Will they recommend those services to others? Was the time spent in your establishment pleasant and how would they rate your business? Of course, if they don’t have anything nice to say than they should say nothing at all (remember when Mom told you that?). Always encourage the positive and avoid the negative and take advantage of a sincere “thank you” by suggesting that they go to one of the above mentioned sites to express themselves.

If a customer is really pleased they won’t hesitate to spread the word so take advantage of this and do your utmost to help them get your name out there where many others can discover who you are, what you do and how well you do it.