How to Manage Reviews ... and Your Response

With more consumers shopping online today than ever before, your company’s plumbing marketing plan better include a strategy for managing online reviews. Your online reputation depends on it, says Travis Ringe.

Ringe co-owns ProSkill Services, a full-service air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, water heater, and water treatment home services company in Arizona. It’s a $14-million operation with more than 3,000 5-star Google reviews.

Ringe says he focused ProSkill’s marketing on getting more 5-star Google reviews by using ServiceTitan’s built-in survey tool to customize a personal message and ask customers specifically to leave a Google review. The plumbing software automates the process for better results.

» WATCH NOW: Travis Ringe's webinar on 5-Star Google reviews

But that’s useless, Ringe says, if your company isn’t providing excellent service. “If you want to drive reviews,” Ringe says, “you have to deliver a full experience worthy of writing a review.”

That starts with the CSRs, who are often the first contact point for customers. 

“Are they empathetic, calm, kind and knowledgeable?” Ringe asks. “It’s really nice to talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about.” 

How fast is the phone answered? Do callers get placed on hold?

“Customers don’t like to navigate a call tree, they don’t like to go to voicemail,” Ringe says. “I think many people (who encounter obstacles) just hang up.” 

When contractors provide awesome service and make it easy for customers to leave a review, they usually do, Ringe says. 

“We get between 5 and 15 Google reviews per day, on average,” he says. 

Those reviews are the lifeblood of most contracting businesses today.  ServiceTitan provides a review tool inside of Marketing Pro that allows you to use templates and easily get reviews for your company.  

Ringe has generated more than 3,000 reviews utilizing ServiceTitan — even before ServiceTitan’s review management was released.  

How contractors respond to good reviews — and even to poor ones — can push their business forward. Here are some tips for handling feedback on reviews: