Reviews, Recommendations, and Referrals

It’s no secret that positive feedback from my previous clients is a key factor in the buying decisions of my new clients. Most of my clients are eager to give their recommendation, but gone are the days when a binder of recommendation letters was the best way to collect stories from happy customers. I love having that letter to remind me of a great project and a great result, but if that story exists only on paper in my office, or even as text on my web site, then it is only having a fraction of the impact that it could have. That’s why I ask my clients to channel those valuable positive responses into online reviews, recommendations, and referrals. By contributing their input to some key online repositories, they can multiply the effect that their great feedback will have. The down side of this, of course, is that they have to take the time to do it. The purpose of this post is to make it easy to leave a great review online in just a few easy steps… with links included! Step One: Don’t panic! Keep it short and appropriate for the primary target market. Sometimes people are intimidated by a perceived need for volume. Relax! You don’t have to write a New York Times theater or book review. You can write one short review and post it in multiple places. In fact, it’s better to keep your review short and enthusiastic – it’s more likely to be read! Despite being short, though, it’s also important to give some thought to how best to communicate value to the future prospect. My primary target market, for example, consists of meetings, conventions, and corporate events where I can be booked as a keynote speaker, after-dinner entertainer, trade show booth presenter, or hospitality entertainer. Sometimes my work takes me into other venues or settings, but it is my primary corporate audience that needs to know my value to them. If my work for you was in a different setting, it’s helpful to focus on the components of my presentation that are of most interest to my corporate clients. Comments relating to professionalism, reliability, superior experience, higher value, my ability to deliver high-quality entertainment, build practical skills, engage people, get good audience feedback, and integrate client messages into my performances are all of interest to my main clients. Step Two: Share your review, prioritizing key sites first but sharing as widely as possible. Google and LinkedIn are two key sites where my clients do research on speakers and entertainers. Having your review posted there makes a big difference in my online visibility. In order to post reviews on Google and LinkedIn, you’ll have to have an account at both places. Fortunately, they are free and most people already have them. How To Leave a Google Review  If you don’t have a Google account, then click here to create one for free. Once you’re signed in, click here to leave a review. If that doesn’t take you directly to a text box, click here and look for the “Write a Review” button. How To Leave a LinkedIn Recommendation  If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, then click here to create one for free. Once you’re signed in, click here to view my profile. At the top right of the screen you’ll see the link to “Recommend Joe M.” – just click on that and you can post your recommendation there. You may wish to target your recommendation either to my entertainment offerings or my professional speaking. Taking It To The Next Level  If you have time, you can follow a similar process to leave your review on as many other pages as you can. Klout is growing in importance – please visit my Klout page and leave me “+1” on topics of change, speaking, networking, and magic. Some additional options include Bing, Yelp, Yahoo, and Merchant Circle. Step Three: Share your review on your social media sites and mine! Once you’ve created your review, don’t forget to share a link on your Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media pages. If you have a blog, post a link there. And as always, please feel free to join me on my Facebook page and share your feedback and even upload photos you may have taken at your event! Your participation on my page makes a big difference in its visibility.