Let’s say your roof starts to leak. You wake up one morning after a terrible storm and there a noticeable water stain on the ceiling in your kitchen/dining room/bedroom/wherever. You think, “$@#%” then search your brain for anyone you know who could come repair the leak and treat the stain.

Your spouse’s brother knows ‘a guy’ that does this kind of thing.
But he doesn’t even have an LLC and I don’t even know if he has any clients other than family members…

Your colleague’s kid has their certification and has done a handful of jobs like this.
But they’re just a few months into this kind of work, and I don’t really want to do some of the work, too…

You find yourself going to Google to begin your search for a solution. After loading pages of results, you comb through the reviews.

The client/customer review is one of the most powerful tools of marketing and yet it is so often overlooked. According to Nielsen, 92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising. WOMMA and the American Marketing Association (AMA) decided to find out exactly what brands were doing about that fact. In a recent study, 64% of marketing executives indicated that they believe word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing. However, only 6% say they have mastered it.

The problem is marketers have been focused on “collecting” instead of “connecting.” Brands are too caught up in collecting social media fans that they are forgetting to actually connect with them. Having 100 really passionate fans that love your brand or product is exponentially more effective than having 10,000 “fans” who signed up just to win a free iPad from you.

Just like in life—if you have to buy your friends, are they really your friends?

So, how does one master the art of the client/customer review?

1. Stop viewing your clients/customers as just pawns in the game of growing your business. They are real people— they have problems to be solved, families to care for, busy schedules, food to buy, worries to tame, etc. Talk to them like they are humans, because they are.

2. Make sure your brand experience is one that solves their problems, or at the very least, doesn’t add to them. Browsing your website, signing up for an introductory call, or getting ahold of someone on your team should not add to the list of problems/stressors a client/customer has. Intuitive design is critical— from the website to the phone call engagement to finding your place of business.

3. Clients/customers are actually pretty understanding people (they are human, after all). If you do not know something, or do not have protocol in place to handle something unforeseen (ahem, a global pandemic), authenticity is the soothing balm for almost anything. Practice humility, apologize if needed, and assure your client/customer you’re working through the problem, reiterating your utmost commitment to providing the best service you can, even if something goes hairy. I’ve been to restaurants, spas, coffeeshops, boutiques, etc where sh*t hit the fan and they were ready for it. But the staff was polite, calm, and did their very best with what was in front of them, owning up to any potential hiccups in service. I return to those businesses over and over and over again for that reason.

We’re operating our businesses during a time where any cracks in service and brand experience are unbelievably obvious to your potential clients/customers. Get real with yourself and your team(s) about the areas needing improvement. This time investment will more than pay for itself when your clients/customers are tagging you on social media, taking pictures with your product, sharing your page(s) with their network(s), signing up for your newsletters, etc.

Word of mouth travels fast—
even faster on the Internet.