If you are a small business owner then you know the value of a customer. It takes a lot of work to win the trust of your clients and when the day is through it’s good to know that you are providing people with a quality product. As a local business you have a direct advantage over the big companies. You are in a unique position to make a personal connection with your clients since you are so close to them.

Use that personal customer interaction advantage to gather testimonies about your product. Create profiles for your clients to leave their reviews and help promote your services. Here’s a list from searchenginejournal of well trafficked websites & local business reviews:

AskCity
City Guides
Google Maps
Insider Pages
Judy’s Book
Kaboodle
Live Search Maps
Merchant Circle
MojoPages.com
SuperPages
Yahoo Local
YellowBot
Yellow Pages
Yelp

After you’ve submitted your business to some review websites you’re now ready to engage your customers and start harvesting customer testimonies.

#1. Spread the word
Tell your loyal customers, business partners, friends, and family about your business profiles. Anyone that has had any experience with your company ask them get involved and put up a review.

#2. Make it part of your business cycle
If you follow up with the client in anyway, let them know that their feedback is valued. Put a link in an invoice, on your website, add it to your salesman follow up speech, or add it to your email signatures.

#3. Offer coupons for giving reviews
Offering your clients incentives for sharing their thoughts on your service is not a new idea at all. Everyone’s heard the waiter give the speech about free appetizers if you would just call this 800 number and tell them how their service rated.

#4. Connect with your reviewers
This refers to both good and bad reviews. Specifically concerning negative reviews, by contacting your reviewer and establishing a genuine human relationship, you have a chance to help the situation and maybe even change this customer’s perspective for the better.

#5. Broadcast special offers and announcements
You can create offers & announcements to tell potential customers about upcoming events, special offers and more. Promote events, new menus, seasonal specials, or a new location.

Take advantage of your locally owned business and give the big boys a run for their money. Your small business is built for customer interaction.

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