These 12 Things Will Change Your Business Forever

Posted on:

December 6, 2018

So many marketers are full of crap.

Most HVAC contractors feel ripped off when they think about how much money they’ve spent on advertising—and how little they have to show for it. It doesn’t matter if you’re a 5 van shop or a 50 van operation, it’s easy to make one wrong decision after another and keep dumping money down the drain.

At DP Marketing.Services, we’ve developed a proven marketing process to get you the leads, jobs, and revenue you deserve. In fact, our process has worked so crazy well, we’ve seen shops have an 8x revenue growth in just over a year.

12 Proven Strategies To Grow Your HVAC Shop

We got tired of correcting all the misinformation that contractors are told about marketing decisions, so we decided to set the record straight. We’ve literally taken our process and made it available for you to put in place in your business. There’s practical insights and examples of shops just like you that have used these principles and had massive success. This isn’t a ‘get rich quick’ scheme; this is a ‘make smarter decisions than the other guy’ plan. The twelve chapters in this book will absolutely transform your business.

Mastering Even This 1 Thing Will Make A Huge Difference

It’s no secret that online reviews are a big deal. But what you may not realize is just.how.big. of a deal. In fact, the latest Google algorithm update increased the value of reviews to be one of the largest indicators of local search traction. Yes- a big deal. We’re actually providing a small sample of the book below. Read it. Understand it. Apply it. See what happens.

Want the whole book? Grab it from Amazon.

Or, want to grab a bigger free sample? You can get the first 3 chapters for free on our website.

Responding to Reviews

Where reputation management is concerned, the keyword is most definitely management. Asking for (or paying for) and getting reviews is only the first step. To make reviews “work” to bring you more business, you’ll need to engage with them—every one of them, every time. I can see that big question mark over your head right now, so let’s go ahead and start with the most counterintuitive situation.

Responding to Negative Reviews

On ReviewTrackers’ recent customer survey, 94% of people indicated that a negative review has convinced them to stay away from a business. Yikes, right? Fortunately, for most people, a negative review only stays negative if you ignore it. Since you’re likely thinking “Oh, yeah? Prove it,” I’ll toss you some data:

1 in 3 people name “responds to reviews” as a key factor when deciding to engage with a business.
More than half of customers expect businesses to respond to negative online comments within one week.
Up to 70% of people say they’d give a company a second try if they respond to a complaint, and that number jumps to 96% if the business offers a satisfactory resolution.

And here’s an interesting twist: Politely worded negative reviews actually increase the likelihood of someone giving your company a try. Weird, huh? But according to research, it’s true: Reviews that begin with phrases like “I don’t want to be mean, but…” are helpful to your business, not hurtful. And angry customers are more likely to give you gentle negative feedback if they see that you’ve responded kindly to negative comments in the past.

You may be tempted to get defensive and even downright rude when you respond to negative reviews. Don’t do that. Remember that while the customer may not always be right, the customer is always the customer. Treat them well—regardless of what ridiculous things they post on Google—and that review may actually grow your business.

Try these tips when you see not-great reviews:

Remember how many people are going to see your response. Your responses to reviews are public, which means lots of people are going to see how you handle tough situations. If you lose your cool, the original commenter isn’t the only one who’ll know it.
Respond quickly. Since you’re checking your review sites daily (you are, aren’t you?) you’ll know right away if someone has less-than-flattering feedback for you. Respond to it within 24 hours or, if you need to cool off, within 48 hours.
Identify yourself. It’s easy for people to be angry with Hometown HVAC. It’s more difficult for someone to stay angry with “Matt, owner of Hometown HVAC for 12 years.”
Even if you completely disagree with someone’s criticism, it’s important to acknowledge their perspective and apologize. Keep it simple and sincere: “We are so sorry our technician was late.”
Don’t overlook star reviews with no comments. If someone leaves a one-star review with no details, try a simple, “Oh no! It looks like we may have really goofed up. Can you let us know what happened?” If someone lives a three-star review, respond like this: “Thanks for your kind rating. Can you tell us how we might’ve earned four stars from you instead?” More often than not, people will give you that last star simply because you took the time to respond.
Offer an offline conversation. When people are upset, a text-based conversation rarely results in a complete solution. Be sure to invite folks to call you so you can learn more about what happened.
Don’t play point-counterpoint. If someone posts a bullet-point tirade, don’t address every concern. Instead, apologize and summarize. “Ugh. I’m so sorry to hear about your disappointing service call. What you’re describing is definitely not our typical level of customer service. How can we make it up to you?”

Responding to Positive Reviews

When a customer’s standing in front of you and they say something nice about their experience with your company, you respond, right? Why would you treat online reviews any differently?

Say thank you. I don’t mean to sound like your mother here, but use your manners. If someone offers you a compliment, the first thing out of your mouth (or off your keyboard) ought to be, “Thanks!”
Be specific. Reviewers want to know they’re hearing from an actual human being at the company, not a robot. So respond as specifically as you can. “Thanks for your kind words about Joe. He really does have a great sense of humor, and he genuinely cares about our Portland Plumbing customers.”
Use keywords if you can. Don’t be ridiculous about it, but if you can work a keyword into your response, do it. Google crawls reviews, too. “It’s so great to hear how pleased you are with your water heater installation, Kim!” If you can naturally work in the name of your business, all the better.
Include a CTA. Again, don’t go overboard here, but don’t be afraid to include something like, “Call us when you’re ready to set up a preventive maintenance plan for that new furnace!”

We have to keep this short for now. Want the whole book? Grab it from Amazon.

Author
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Ryan Redding

Home Service Marketing Expert at DP Marketing Services

Ryan is a digital marketing expert that has made a career out of growing organizations in both large and small markets. As the owner of DP Marketing Services, he crafts his company to help HVAC and Plumbing contractors around the country grow their business by smart marketing, and solid business concepts.

Ryan studied marketing at the University of Tulsa (MA), and went on to the University of Houston (CTC) and Northeastern State University (MBA).