The Journey of 100 Google Business Reviews

When I opened my business, I tried many ways to attract clients. After spending money on advertising that didn’t lead to business, I focused on delivering a great customer experience and then let my business grow organically through word of mouth and referrals. This is a slower path, but it fits my principles of how I want to conduct my business.

I set up my website, LinkedIn business page, and Google Business page, with the hope of acquiring clients through these (mostly) free resources. I noticed most businesses that had a Google Business page had reviews posted by their customers. I wanted reviews too. How would I ever get someone to share their thoughts, I wondered? After all, I was asked many times to leave a review for other businesses, but I rarely did.

The first thing I did was ask members of my Kaizen teams for Google Business reviews. Most people don’t naturally leave reviews of businesses. When I got my first one, I was excited to see it. Now, I wanted more.

For a while, I asked people to leave reviews. I wasn’t receiving many. Eventually, I got an idea. After I completed a Kaizen event, I sent an email to team members with a link to my Google Business page. Using this strategy, I’d get one or two reviews per event. My numbers were slowly creeping up. Eventually, I crossed the “10 review” threshold. Then 20. I wanted more!

It took over three years to get to fifty reviews. Next, I set a goal to get to 100. I needed a more compelling way to ask for reviews, without being too “salesy.” One day, at a happy hour following our Kaizen report-out, I was discussing my goal of receiving 100 Google Business reviews, when one team member suggested I get a QR code for reviews and post it on the screen at the end of the next Kaizen event. Team members could scan the code with their phones and be directed to my Google business page and the review section. I did some research and found a service that generated a QR code for free.

During the next few Kaizen events, I posted my QR code on the screen. I was able to get 2 or 3 reviews using that approach. It was progress, but still very slow. Then, I got an inspiration. I printed out a slide with the QR code on it and handed it to team members, so that they could scan it from their seat. By handing it to them, it put a little unspoken pressure on them to leave and immediate review. By waiting, most people forgot to leave a review. But, if they could do it in the moment, and I was there to see it, most team members would leave a review.

I was now getting 5 to 7 reviews at each Kaizen event. I broke through the 100-review goal earlier this year. It’s gratifying to see what all of those people have to say and that they believe I have positively impacted their work lives.

The next challenge? I need to reset my goals for this year. I’m very competitive and want to see how I can improve my process even more!