Turn the tables on online reviews by reviewing your customers
For a number of years, online review sites have provided consumers a forum to rate and share reviews of contractors they’ve hired—the good, the bad, and the ‘they played their music too loud.’
While you probably don’t want to share your honest thoughts about a customer on a public site, there is one place contractors can talk in confidence: ContractorsCustomers.com
The brainchild of landscape contractor Scott Carzo, ContractorsCustomers.com reduces the uncertainty business owners often feel when trying to decide to engage with a potential customer.
“As experienced pros know, a well-matched new customer can be a profitable and enjoyable experience but a bad match can cost you significant time, money and undue stress,” Carzo notes. “In a sense, ContractorsCustomers.com works as a reverse Angie’s List where pros can write reviews on past customers and search for reviews on prospective ones. It provides great insight into how a customer is to work with—are they prone to change orders? Do they pay on time? Are they particular about how and where you leave your tools? etc.”
Carzo emphasized that the site is not intended to be a blacklist, but rather a ‘rainbow list’ with reviews on good customers and potential customers that may not be a good match for your business.
Launched in January 2016, the growing and currently fee-free site invites contractors to evaluate customers on everything from whether or not they appreciated the quality of the work to the all-important detail of whether they paid on time, or even, in full.
It’s a great resource to help determine if you want to engage with a potential customer or simply let other contractors know who to avoid and whose calls to take.
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