When was the last time you made a purchase online on Amazon.com or some other retailer without looking at the star rating or reading a review? I can’t remember either.
A recent article was talking about some similar services to Yelp and TripAdvisor but for real estate pros. It got me thinking about how Realtors could be using Facebook’s built in Ratings and Reviews to help drive more leads.
Facebook’s system works similarly to what you would expect but give you a couple of advantages.
“First, unlike most other review systems, with Facebook you can actually request for reviews to be removed. For example, there are always people who are unfair, rude, offensive, untruthful or just plain don’t like you. For these reviews, you can request that Facebook remove them. Often times they will, especially for the first 4 reasons I mentioned in the list above.
The second advantage you get is for any other bad or mediocre reviews you might receive, Facebook actually allows you to comment back to the person. This is a great tool for not only making an effort to remedy a true issue, but also to show potential customers that you actually take pride in what you do and will be responsive even in tough times.
That said, don’t strive for perfection. Strive for honesty. If you have a mediocre or even negative review every once in a while, it makes you human and relate-able. Life isn’t perfect and neither are you. We once had a review on our FB page that was quite negative, but I replied to it offering to do whatever it took to get to the bottom of the gentleman’s accusation with my personal cell number and email. I reached out to him personally as well and he didn’t respond to any of this. And ALL of this was public, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. All it did was make the accuser look like he was a guy with an axe to grind and no real issue.
I win.
It is not whether or not you ever make any mistakes that determine the course of your career. It is how you handle those mistakes that makes all the difference.”
“Imagine how many more people you could help find a home if you have 25 positive reviews and the other Realtors in EP have none. Luckily for us, we strive to please and have almost exclusively positive reviews. 🙂”
Social proof sells.
Until next time,