Insight From the CEO: Mountaintop Experience

Posted on June 16, 2015

Tampa Social Media Management | Clearwater Online Marketing

I just had a mountaintop experience.  In all my years of talking to people about their businesses and how we can help them grow and prosper, I found someone today who said he really had all the business he can handle – doesn’t want any more.

All his business comes from personal referrals.  He doesn’t promote his business in any way – and doesn’t want to.

How many business today can make that same statement?

Personal referrals are indeed the best way to capture new business.  No one can argue with that.  But in most cases, personal referrals may not be enough to sustain a business without some help along the way.

In today’s online world, the personal referrals can be found on such review sites as Yelp and Google+.  About half of consumers today report that they check a company’s online reviews before making a purchase decision.

In this brave new world, your customers can tell your story – good or bad – to a universe of people who are looking for products or services.  It’s the new backyard fence – people you may or may not know providing personal experiences about a business.

So, for those of you who run a business and DO need more customers, you must pay attention to online reviews.

You should be encouraging your customers to post their reviews on Yelp, Google+, Facebook, etc. for the whole world to see.  And you should be responding to every review, positive or negative.

What you don’t know can hurt you.  Unless you don’t need any more customers.