Luck is For Losers. Generate More Leads With an Agent Review Strategy

March 12, 2016

Esther Lee

According to T3 Experts, one of the two biggest trends reshaping real estate right now is online agent reviews. People trust peer recommendations 6.5 times more than advertising. Reviews are an organic way to build trust and strengthen your reputation.

73% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust a business more
– T3 Experts

72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from real people
– Search Engine Land

Positive reviews from your customers have the power to attract quality new business with no true direct cost. Leads who have seen your online reviews tend to be of higher quality and easier to convert, since they already have a positive view of you. Online reviews are the new, and very public, word of mouth in an industry where your reputation is your greatest asset.

80% of consumers say that online feedback and research helped to influence their decision to purchase.
– Google, 2012

Where To Start

If you haven’t already, claim or create your business on all major sites, like Google, Yelp, CitySearch, yellowpages.com, Zillow, Trulia, and realtor.com.

Start with Google+
Having your real estate business listed on Google+ local is crucial for SEO purposes. Your business will not show up properly in a Google search if you don’t have verified business information in your Google+ profile.
Get on Yelp
For a former San Francisco resident like myself (where Yelp was born), I go to Yelp to find everything from restaurants to dry cleaning. Yelp is the leading consumer review site, particularly in more urban cities. It’s important that you have at least one review on Yelp. Yelp drives Apple’s iOS maps and business directory, meaning that Yelp is what drives Siri search accessed by 63.2 million iPhone users in the United States. Be sure you only ask active Yelp users to post a review, as Yelp only shows reviews from accounts with more than one review.

Have a presence on Zillow, Trulia, and Realtor
Whether or not you advertise or buy leads from these sites, make sure you build your reputation with positive reviews. Like it or not, these sites are where most potential home buyers and sellers are going first to search or find information. So be where they are with glowing reviews. So hit them with rave reviews where they are already looking.

Build a Review Strategy

Always provide outstanding service
This one seems obvious, but you don’t want to be asking clients for reviews after providing mediocre or even terrible service! People are much more motivated to post a negative review after a bad experience than to post about a good experience. Provide a level service that your clients will be more than happy to share online.

45% share bad customer service experiences and 30% share good customer service experiences via social media.
– Dimensional Research

Ask for the Review
This also seems like a no-brainer, but many agents are shy about directly asking clients for a review. They’re afraid it might come off as too pushy or obnoxious, or put the clients in awkward place.

Instead of bringing up reviews for the very first time at closing, mention them throughout the time you are working with your clients (in moderation, of course). This lets clients know that reviews are important to you and your business, and makes writing a review a natural part of the process rather than something you’re asking for last minute.

Make it part of your closing process
An agent review strategy has to be a long term objective. Don’t make it a race load your pages with reviews in 2 weeks. Google and Yelp will question “fishy” reviews that have all been done in the same time period. So make it a priority and set goals.

Clients are more likely to recommend you immediately after the close of the transaction, so build it into your closing process to ask for a review. In BoomTown, you can create an Action Plan and set “Send review request” as a follow up task in your closing workflows.

Don’t Fear a Bad Review

Bad reviews are tough to deal with, but it’s not the end of the world. In fact, having a couple bad ones makes the rest of your positive reviews seem more genuine, and not like you paid your friends to give you only glowing reviews.

Here is how to handle a negative comment, should you receive one: