5 Ways To Use Your Trade And Construction Reviews To Get More Business.
So you’ve got a tonne of reviews for your Trade and Construction business.
Great stuff.
(If you’re really struggling in collecting money-making reviews for your business, then give our Trades Review Toolkit a go. Grab it here.)
But what if I told that even if you had thousands of reviews in your business, you are probably leaving a serious amount of money on your well sanded and polished table?
If you do nothing with these show-stopping reviews that you have been left, then that my friend, is exactly what you are doing.
So how do I use my reviews to actively get more business, I hear you say.
Well I’m glad you asked.
Collecting reviews is the hard part.
Getting a client to leave you the dreamiest of reviews on your platform of choice in the first place takes work.
But you’ve already done that.
Maybe they’ve been left for you on Google, your business Facebook Reviews Tab or your LinkedIn profile.
⛔️ But that’s where most Trades stop.
When the client has left a review.
But this is only half the story.
The second part of this fairy-tale is about getting more eyeballs on these money-making reviews in the first place (because you’ve learnt how to get clients to leave you detailed reviews via our Trades Review Toolkit).
Why?
Simple.
Because brilliant, money-making reviews from clients:
✅ Tell stories.
✅ Help us relate to our own problems.
✅ Show us how you make our lives easier.
✅ Build trust.
Which in all helps to…
⬆️ Increase enquiries.
💰 Convert clients.
💥 Build your business.
So let’s jump into the 5 ways you can use the reviews you’ve worked so hard for to start doing the heavy lifting in your brand and marketing…
1. Use your Trade and Construction Reviews in Print.
We all spend a lot of time online.
📲 Social Media, Websites, Online Directories etc.
But we are firm believers that Print has a very important role to play for your Trade and Construction business.
And should not be overlooked.
Because not enough Trades are using it effectively.
Use reviews that have been left for you online, offline.
How do I do that, I hear you say.
Within print is a great place to start.
Brochure designs, leaflets designs, even Stationery designs if they allow for it.
These branded items may well be first or even only item that clients come onto contact with.
You may be at a Trade Show handing out leaflets.
Or you’ve gone to quote a job via a word-of-mouth recommendation and will be leaving one of your brochures with the client.
Don’t miss the opportunity to show off a happy, satisfied client in your print designs.
The item itself will determine how much of the review you may decide to use.
For example.
If you are handing out a small leaflet, then you might want to use a short extract – i.e. The most important part of the review that absolutely sells you as the miracle worker you are.
If you have a meaty brochure, then using the whole review might work better, as the number of pages and space allows for that bit more detail.
However. Remember.
Reviews you decide to use in print can’t be changed at the drop of a hat - as you’ve paid to have everything printed up.
So be sure that the winning reviews you choose to make the cut come from an Ideal Client (i.e. The kind of client you want more of – domestic, commercial, certain location, specific job type) and select the part that tells us exactly what we want OTHER ideal clients like them to know about you.
But don’t panic.
When it comes to the next round of print, review the review you’ve been using (that reads funny) and feel free to change it up if you’ve been left a new review that is absolute gold and hits the nail on the head even more. 🔨
2. Create Branded Graphics for Social Media Posts Using Review Snippets.
This is one of our favourite ideas.
Turning your Trade and Construction reviews into branded graphics across your Social Media pages.
Why is this such a great idea?
Well firstly, let’s take a quick look at some of the platforms online to find out where the challenges are.
❌ LinkedIn only allows reviews on your PERSONAL profile.
There is nowhere to leave them on your LinkedIn BUSINESS pages.
Which means unless we go searching for you personally, we won’t see any.
❌ Instagram does not even have a review tool where clients can go and sing your praises for others to see.
Facebook has a great Review system in place on its Business Page.
❌ But we only see these Facebook reviews if we actively go looking for them.
Meaning we either would already know about your business or be ready to buy from you - which most of us aren’t.
We want to get the great things clients are saying about us under the noses of people are AREN’T yet looking for our services.
So that when they are ready, we are already on their radar.
By turning the reviews clients have left for you online into visual GRAPHICS, you have control over how they are used and start getting under the noses of people who do not already know of you.
Review Graphics absolutely rock because
✅ It’s the only way you can get your reviews up on Instagram.
✅ It’s the only way to get your reviews on your LinkedIn Business page.
✅ You can post on your Facebook Business Page as a way to get your reviews under the noses of your followers rather than tucked away of the Reviews tab.
✅ It’s a great way for you to share visual posts on Facebook Groups that may have a lot of your Ideal Clients in, as well as your personal page to let people know what others are saying about you.
We like our information short, sweet and to the point on Social Media.
Visual graphics are the best way to grab attention.
Also, a vast majority of us will be scrolling through on our phones.
Meaning everything will be much smaller than on the big screen.
Therefore, I’d advise using snippets of your Trade and Construction reviews here, rather than big beefy paragraphs, so it’s easier for us to digest.
PLUS…
According to studies, the brain process images 60,000 faster than text.
So if you have created an eye-catching graphic with a review extract, then this has a whole lot more chance of being noticed.
3. Take The Best Bits From Your Client Reviews and Use Extracts On Your Website.
A Trade and Construction website without tonnes of client reviews is about as useful as a chocolate fireplace.
There’s no point you telling us how good you think you are.
We only want to hear it from satisfied clients.
Your website has so much potential for sharing reviews.
If you don’t have any reviews on your website right now, then I highly recommend that the very next thing you do after reading this, is fixing that.
When we design websites for our clients, we look to feature at least 1 review on pretty much every page.
I see a lot of Trades create a Reviews or Testimonial page on their website.
This is a great start.
But there is an issue with this.
What if a client visits your website and doesn’t go to that page - maybe they don’t see it or just don’t visit the page?
Then all that praise and all those relatable stories/extracts can’t influence them to choose you.
I’m in favour of a Reviews or Testimonial page ONLY if you do this also.
Scatter your Trade and Construction reviews across your whole site.
Maybe the Review and Testimonial page can have the full length versions.
But every page on your website should ideally have at least one review.
That way, no matter what page your potential client lands on (it is not always your homepage don’t forget) then they are seeing how you, your team and your services are being validated by actual clients.
Go one better with my biggest review tip for Trade and Construction websites.
Place specific client Reviews on Specific Service pages of your Trade and construction website to back up the projects or services you are showcasing.
🤔 So you have a page on your website for Herringbone Flooring, as it’s a flooring type you want to specialise in?
🙌🏽 Then show us a review ON THAT PAGE from a happy domestic client of whom you’ve serviced this style of flooring to.
🤔 You’ve got a page on your site for Commercial Painting for Restaurants?
🙌🏽 Then make sure on that page you have a review from a happy restaurant owner of whom you painted their walls.
🤔 Want to start working with more Film studios for your Rubbish removal business?
🙌🏽 Well, if you are going to have a page on your website telling us how you do exactly that, make sure you have a happy client testimonial on there to back it up.
It's all pretty straightforward really. Not rocket science. 🚀
4. Use Screenshots of Your Trade and Construction Reviews On Your Social Media Stories.
I am all for beautifully branded graphics all over your Social Media pages, reflecting the calibre of work and business that you are.
But there is also a place for Client Generated posts too.
This is when a client posts something on our pages and creates the content for us.
Photos, videos or reviews for example.
Creating branded graphics (as we mentioned previously) to post across your platforms is absolutely brilliant – provided clients have actually posted these on yrou online platforms in the first place.
Facebook reviews. Google Reviews. Your LinkedIn etc.
So that the validity of your reviews never comes into question.
We can jump over to the platforms themselves and see that yes, in fact you do have tonnes of reviews that REAL people have posted.
We have a Tree Surgeon client for example – of whom we manage all their branded social media posts.
Creating branded review graphics for them is one of them.
We’ve created well over 150 of these.
But should anyone question this, clients can pop over to our client’s Facebook page and see in fact he has over 150 reviews that have been posted on there by clients.
People often question the validity of testimonials, so you want to be sure they are all online somewhere, should we ever need to find them.
A great way to eliminate this common concern from clients, is to screen shot new reviews that has been left for you and post them on your Social Media Stories.
Why is this awesome?
✅ A screenshot is of a review an actual client has had to post themselves.
✅ Super quick, easy, and free to do.
✅ Screenshots can be used across platforms i.e. A screenshot of a Facebook review can then be used on Instagram Stories (where Instagram doesn’t have a review tool) or a Google Review on Facebook Stories.
✅ If a client has left you a review on the ‘wrong’ platform that you don’t use much or direct clients to, then this is a way to increase exposure to it.
✅ By using screenshots in your stories, you are utilising the platforms other ‘tools’ and they love this! Social Media platforms WANT you to be using as many of their features as possible.
✅ This means they are likely to start showing your posts and stories to more people… which means more eyeballs on your business!
✅ Stories only last 24 hours. So even though the screenshot isn’t ‘on brand’ to your business (in case you’re worried) it doesn’t last forever.
✅ It’s a really easy way to make a post for a day might be stuck for ideas.
8 reasons to give Screenshots of your reviews a go in your Stories.
Now onto the final big idea…
5. Use Part Of Your Best Trade and Construction Review Within Your Email Signature.
Final one.
And definitely one not a lot of Trades use.
Take a snippet of the BEST THING an IDEAL CLIENT has written about you and use it as part of your email signature.
This one should definitely be on the short and sweet side.
🍪 For extra Brownie points.
After the snippet you could always include a link… ‘Read more from our clients here’ and send folk to the testimonial page on your website.
Nice little way to help upsell your services and get people visiting your website.
5 WAYS TO USE YOUR TRADE AND CONSTRUCTION REVIEWS TO GET YOU MORE BUSINESS RUNDOWN:
1. Use your reviews in print – such as your leaflet and brochure design.
2. Create graphics for Social Media using snippets of your reviews.
3. Take the best bits from your client reviews and use extracts on your website.
4. Use screenshots of your reviews on your Social Media stories.
5. Use part of the best ideal client review you have in your Email Signature.
Need a little more help nailing reviews for your Trades business?
Course you do.
Want bite-size tip videos on how to get more reviews? Yes.
What about knowing where to put them, time-saving tricks to get them and ideas on how to they can do much of the hard selling for you? Let me at it.
How about done-for-you COPY & PASTE templates to get MONEY-MAKING reviews from your current and past clients? (Because ‘Great job. Highly recommend’ is dull and NOT a game-changing review for your Trades business). You read my mind!
You need our TRADES REVIEW TOOLKIT… your COMPLETE guide to managing reviews.
Ready to 2X, 5X or even 10X the number of reviews in your Trades business?
Get your toolkit now.
