Read this and join!

Last week we were contacted by a 'client of a client'. It happens more often than you might think, simply because we always engage in online conversations with reviewers when there are issues with their reviews.  These - the issues - may be simply a case of grammar being corrected or more important errors of fact or potentially misleading statements. Anyhow, this one turned out to be more interesting than the general run. This is what the reviewer had to say (in this case a vendor of a property in South London):

 

"I was visited by seven agents, including Winkworth who happened to quote the highest percentage commission (the spread between lowest and highest was 0.8%); when I asked her how she justified this she responded by handing me her iPad and asked me to read the reviews of their service on their own website and on Google.

After I instructed Winkworth - who then fulfilled all their promises relating to the sale of my home - she explained that all her instructions and a great many of her office's enquiries, especially through their website, were gained thanks to their reviews. 

She went on to stress just how important it would be, once my sale was finalised, for me to write a review to their website and then copy that review to Google, which I am pleased to say I have done more than willingly."

That 0.8% adds up to £3,933 extra revenue on the average London house price; multiply that by the number of properties sold by the agent in question in a year and you begin to realise just how valuable professional review management can be - bearing in mind that estate agents are competing over a finite sales and lettings pool and the only way to improve results is by first maximising instructions and then commission per deal.

Consider this: HelpHound's full service costs the business concerned less than two percent of that uplift. Are we worth it? You bet we are!

Further reading:

• Winkworth investors set for special dividend after exceptionally strong performance - could we humbly suggest reading this and then asking 'who has been responsible for Winkworth's review management for the past five years'?

 

Three reasons to Join

We could simply ask you to speak to a client (and we will be happy to put you in touch), but before you do, just check out these three simple reasons to join HelpHound...

1. You will attract more business
2. You won't be breaking the law
3. You will find that staff morale soars

In more detail (you want more detail?!)...

Doing more business

  

This is a screengrab from a HelpHound client's Google My Business report, taken within weeks of joining

Other reviews solutions make a big song and dance about numbers - every kind of number except the one that counts: more business. Having lots of reviews is great, having stars in search is great, having lots of reviews on a site that doesn't show up as well as Google, maybe not so great. But, at the beginning and the end of the day there's only one number that matters: cash. The amount of cash that flows towards your business. And that is what we expect to be judged on.


Obeying the law

  We still meet people who don't realise that the CMA means business - its rules have the force of law (and if it's so easy to comply with them, why go to the effort of breaking them?)

Obeying the law is straightforward: you need to be enabling all your customers to write a review whenever they want. Simple, no? You would think so, but you might be surprised just how many solutions don't comply - and what do the words 'don't comply' mean? It's straightforward: if your business 'doesn't comply' it is breaking the law.


Staff morale

 How do you think this search feels when you work for Winkworth in Blackheath - or, just as importantly, if you work for a competitor?

As any sales director will confirm, staff morale is everything. If staff feel valued then sales performance is enhanced, it's as simple as that. And, with record high rates of employment in the UK today, how powerful a recruiter are great reviews?


The punch line:

One business* we were speaking to recently commented 'HelpHound is X% more expensive than [an independent site]. That X% added up to £10s a month - for ticking all three of these boxes (and more). HelpHound membership doesn't cost the earth, and there's no contract period for new members, so the message is loud and clear...

"Try us and see for your business"

*they joined, by the way.


How about joining - NOW?

1. You will notice the uplift from day one
2. You will be compliant with the CMA regulations from day one
3. Your staff will thank you from day one