We are depending less on our telephone directories and more and more on the Internet to find service professionals. The old ads in phone books listed name, rank and serial number and often offered free estimates. Fortunately, consumers have gotten smarter and now research their home service professionls with accuracy and blazing speed.

I remember decades ago when a business guru told me that unless I had a computer I was not serious about my business. Then it was a fax machine, then a website and lately it is "involved in social media". Each of these, in their time, were indications of your commitment.

The advertiser who thinks that they can just have a web page and broadcast to the world all the reasons why their business trumps the competition, is living in the past, in my opinion. These days your prospective client is able to "google" anything they want to know about you, including your web address and how others feel about you. A far cry from the days when all that existed was a phone book and eenie, meenie, minie mo.


So, what is important when considering reviews of work performed, quality or quantity? The best reviews come from sources where only the client can post. Which is not to say that all others are useless. Let the review itself be your guide. Is it just, "Outstanding Job. Well Done", which could be suspect or does it tell you a story. How about quantity? Any professional that "collects" reviews understands that unless your work deserves a positive review, you probably won't get one. So, the bar is automatically raised as a natural consequence. Secondly, it takes work to get the client to actually take the time to post a good review. These two actually work together.


How good is your carpet cleaner? Can you trust him? The answer depends on what others say about him. Truly, success in business, still depends heavily on word of mouth advertising.

How good is my carpet cleaner? Can I trust him?

We are depending less on our telephone directories and more and more on the Internet to find service professionals. The old ads in phone books listed name, rank and serial number and often offered free estimates. Fortunately, consumers have gotten smarter and now research their home service professionls with accuracy and blazing speed.

I remember decades ago when a business guru told me that unless I had a computer I was not serious about my business. Then it was a fax machine, then a website and lately it is "involved in social media". Each of these, in their time, were indications of your commitment.

The advertiser who thinks that they can just have a web page and broadcast to the world all the reasons why their business trumps the competition, is living in the past, in my opinion. These days your prospective client is able to "google" anything they want to know about you, including your web address and how others feel about you. A far cry from the days when all that existed was a phone book and eenie, meenie, minie mo.
So, what is important when considering reviews of work performed, quality or quantity? The best reviews come from sources where only the client can post. Which is not to say that all others are useless. Let the review itself be your guide. Is it just, "Outstanding Job. Well Done", which could be suspect or does it tell you a story. How about quantity? Any professional that "collects" reviews understands that unless your work deserves a positive review, you probably won't get one. So, the bar is automatically raised as a natural consequence. Secondly, it takes work to get the client to actually take the time to post a good review. These two actually work together.
How good is your carpet cleaner? Can you trust him? The answer depends on what others say about him. Truly, success in business, still depends heavily on word of mouth advertising.