Talkin' Paint Podcast #11 - Google Reviews Still Matter in 2023

(00:00) Welcome to the Talkin’ Paint podcast serving the auto detailing ceramic coating window film and paint protection film industry join our host Gabe Fletcher founder of Detailing Growth and Ceramic Pro Pottstown as he brings you the latest industry trends valuable business advice and effective marketing strategies to propel your business to new heights this podcast is proudly sponsored by Detailing Growth the industry’s leading provider of nobs website design SEO and

(00:30) pay-per-click AD Management Services for businesses of all sizes thanks for tuning in now sit down and have a nice glass of shut up and learn hey everybody it’s Gabe Fletcher from detailing growth and we’re back for another episode of talking paint today I wanted to take some time and talk to you about something you might not be thinking about and that’s Google reviews I know what you’re thinking reviews really that’s the oldest thing in the book and and it’s really about just building your

(01:05) reputation and making sure that clients can find you and they can read something about you reviews these days are like quite literally a license to print money think of them as currency just extra free money in your pocket and it’s about understanding how the reviews work for you and your business they’re going to give you trust and authority and they’re going to drive SEO for your business as well that didn’t used to be the case SEO wasn’t really a factor in Google reviews at all things have

(01:47) changed since then so I’m going to break down why these reviews are gold how to ask for them without stepping on any Toes or appearing disingenuine Google reviews are essentially the front line for your business they’re what potential customers see before they interact with you before they even think about stepping foot into your shop or even calling you and let’s just be super honest in our line of work first impressions are everything the stats speak for themselves 93% of customers and consumers I should

(02:26) say 93% of consumers say online review impact their purchasing decisions that’s nearly everybody who’s looking you up online and here’s another kicker businesses with one to 1.5 star reviews which by the way if your business has a 1.5 star review rating operating in this sector you’ve got way bigger problems than asking for more reviews but those businesses that don’t focus on capturing reviews and make them a priority typically can earn 33% Less in a fiscal year so what does that tell us that tells us that Google reviews are

(03:09) not just some like P on the back they’re actual real powerful tools that can drive business to your door there the difference between somebody choosing you and somebody two blocks down the road that could probably take advantage of them think about it when you go out to eat you look at place to go and do a fun thing with your family you’re looking at reviews and those reviews either sell you or they send you somewhere else and it is the same for your customers they’re looking for trust quality reliability Google reviews are your word

(03:51) of mouth online they are to be handled with the utmost of seriousness and it’s not just about getting reviews either it’s about getting the right kind of reviews and knowing how to use them to your advantage and that’s where the skill comes in knowing the difference between a DA and a rary polisher they’re both tools but you got to know which to use and where asking for reviews the right way is really important timing is everything and the first thing you’re going to ask me is Gabe when’s the best

(04:26) time to ask for a review and that’s right when the customer is picking up their vehicle and you’ve delivered a top-notch service customer’s happy their car looks glossy they’re happy with it that’s your golden moment you strike while the iron is hot and you ask them then but here’s the deal you don’t Ambush them it just needs to come off as gentle and genuine and you’re handing them the keys and they’re getting in the car hey if you loved our work we’d appreciate a review on Google it helps

(05:00) folks like you find us that’s just me breezing over that topic and this is the part that a lot of people don’t quite understand and that’s keeping it simple and sincere you don’t need to give a Shakespeare speech just a straightforward ask maybe follow up with a thank you and a text message or email that links them directly to your Google review page more on this later I’m going to give you some important information regarding this the goal is to make it easy for them and here’s a pro tip

(05:34) personalize something about your message to them relating to their service it could be something along the lines of I loved working on your classic Mustang hopefully you enjoyed the ceramic coating and then you give them the link to leave you a review like it’s just something simple like that to remember for them to remember that you remember them now them to take notice of that and you want reviews that are honest and earned not bought genuine reviews resonate with more potential customers and they can smell a fake or

(06:17) forced review from a mile away I myself from my shop have never paid for a review I have only asked for one from people who I knew had a stellar exper erience and that’s why my shop has more than 200 you got to make it a habit and that means making sure that if you’re not there your team knows how to ask for them you train your team to recognize those moments it needs to be a part of your process just like it is opening and closing the shop every day do it right and it’s just like somebody handing you

(06:51) a tool while you’re working on a car it’s it becomes that ingrained into your processes so let’s talk about the SEO SE segment of Google reviews and how they work for your business the SEO is quite possibly one of the most important factors of how Google reviews affect local businesses so Google loves fresh relevant content and reviews are exactly that and every time a customer leaves a review they’re fueling that Google business profile to be in that upper part of the map p and that’s what we call review velocity

(07:34) so the more reviews you get the faster you get them the higher you’re going to be shown in your search rankings and that’s why it’s so important to get them from as many of the right people as possible and in addition to that Google reads the content that’s inside of those reviews meaning if somebody is searching for window tint near me and a client that’s left a very recent review mentions the words window tint in that review Google shows that like it shows it clear as day like it’ll show

(08:11) you a snippet of the review it’ll say reviews mention so and so window tinning it’s super important that you focus on these and I’ve even coached clients to say listen if you leave us a review be sure to mention the type of service that you had or what product you had installed and that’s really important for us so when a customer Rant and Raves about the ceramic coding or full body ppf that they gave you it’s more than just what the service was for them the experience they had they’re literally fueling your

(08:46) online digital presence so most people don’t most people don’t really understand how to respond to reviews and they generally just say thanks or we appreciate your business and before that used to be all that you needed to do nowadays that’s not enough now your replies first off before you even get to that don’t ever respond to negative reviews in a negative or Petty manner always keep it professional because people see that and they want to know how you treat customers that have a negative experience if they’ve had one

(09:27) you want to know they want to know how you’re going to handle yourself that’s a really important piece to remember when you’re responding to reviews when it comes to responding to reviews that are positive that’s another opportunity for you to drop in keywords now that’s not a license for you to cart blunch just start keyword stuffing your responses as much as it is just an opportunity to say if somebody says that they came to you with their Tesla Model Y and they had a full front paint protection film package

(09:56) installed and they love it that it’s protected from Rock chips now they don’t have to worry now you can jump in and say hello so and thanks for bringing your Tesla Model y to Joe’s detail shop we appreciate the opportunity to install a full front paint protection film package on your model y please enjoy having your Tesla protected from Rock chips and scratches we hope to see you in Pottstown or wherever again soon I did a few things by responding that with way I mentioned I thank them by name and I mentioned the car I mentioned

(10:35) the service and I mentioned the location and where we’re located and that’s another really important part the goal is not for you to stuff up a jillion keywords in your response but just make it clear and concise and professional that is another SEO tactic and Google reads your responses it knows whether or not they’re relevant or if it’s just the generic response please take the time to respond to reviews properly now look we’re covering a lot of things here related to Google reviews but this is real nuts and bolts stuff

(11:12) that you need to know and you need to put into practice if you don’t have software that automates the ask for Google reviews after service is complete something like our software grit Suite or something like you’re able or tint whz they all will send a message after the service is complete to ask them to leave a Google review and it’s one of the most important things that your business could have this is what I’m going to do to help I’m going to put a link to download a worksheet from detailing growth.com in
(11:46) the description of this video so if you’re listening on Spotify or Amazon or Google you’re going to have to go over to detailing growth.com and click on the podcast link and that’ll get you to the uh episode list that has blogs written but you’ll be able to download this worksheet and in this worksheet I’m going to give you my personal word for word ask in how I approach Google reviews in person and how I send the automated messages to them after the fact so let’s take a second and review

(12:23) really quick one you’re going to identify the perfect moment you’re going to pay attention to customers re actions and the moment they express satisfaction that’s your ceed hit them with the ask you’re going to make it step two is you’re going to make it easy for them you’re going to send them a link and a text message after the fact with the follow-up included in that worksheet I’m going to show you how you can send them a preconfigured link for your business that has all five stars selected and the

(12:51) review prompt box already open when they click it respond to every review every time do not skip them even the ones that don’t have anything written in them and they’re just star ratings respond every time the biggest takeaway from this is share these reviews you can take the text from a review and put them into a canva doc or create a graphic and put that out on social media make it a part of your lead follow-up campaign send it to the people via email you can put it on your website you can put use it in

(13:28) any way shape or form can send it via text message utilize these reviews as more than just text on Google you can copy paste these reviews and as long as it’s genuine and you’re not making it up and somebody can go and verify what the text looks like then you should be using these reviews to the maximum potential that they offer you so hopefully this podcast was helpful for you hopefully you’ll give us a like here on Spotify or Amazon or one of the other areas where you’re list listening you’ll like And

(14:00) subscribe on our YouTube channel and you’ll jump over to DetailingGrowth.com and read through some of our blogs and educational information that we have so I appreciate you guys hanging out and listening today we’ll have more educational information coming up for you soon so thanks for listening to Talking Paint my name is Gabe