Are reviews more useful than a marketing agency?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. A good marketing agency can absolutely help a business. They can help with creative, targeting, campaigns, landing pages, reporting, and getting ads in front of the right people. But before you pay someone to write your message, it’s probably worth asking: Have you actually studied what your customers already said about you? Because your reviews may be one of the most useful marketing assets in your business. A lot of owners look at reviews as proof. 5 stars. Good testimonial. Nice thing to put on the website. That’s useful, but it’s only the surface. The better part is the language. Customers will tell you exactly why they hired you, what they were afraid of, what they noticed, what made them trust you, what almost stopped them from buying, and what made them stay. For us, reading through our reviews changed how I thought about our marketing. Customers kept repeating things like: “worth every penny” “one less thing to worry about” “like clockwork” “they text before they come” “they send a picture of the closed gate” “they take the waste with them” “I was embarrassed” “my last company left the gate open” “there aren’t enough hours in the day” That language is better than anything I could have guessed from sitting at my desk. It showed me the real buying triggers. Some people hired us because the yard got away from them over winter or they're busy families who didn’t have time. Others had health issues, pregnancy, injuries, or physical limitations. A small handful switched from cheaper competitors because they were tired of missed visits, poor communication, or gates being left open. Those details matter. If I only market the task, I sound like every other company. “We scoop dog poop.” That’s true, but it doesn’t explain why someone is willing to pay a premium. The reviews showed us what people actually valued: Communication. Reliability. Thoroughness. Gate safety. Waste hauled away. Professional scheduling. No judgment when the yard is bad. A clean yard without having to think about it. That becomes ad copy, website copy, quote follow-up language, sales training, social proof and also helps with pricing objections. When customers repeatedly say “worth every penny,” “more than fair,” or “I’d pay twice as much,” that tells me price is not the full story for the right buyer. It tells me I need to explain the value better, not panic and discount the service every time someone asks about price. A marketing agency can miss that if they don’t understand the business deeply enough. They may write clean copy, but clean copy doesn’t always match the customer’s internal conversation. Your reviews give you that conversation. They tell you what people were already thinking before they bought or what made them feel safe enough to hire you. They show you which parts of the experience matter more than you realized. For us, gate photos became a bigger marketing point because customers kept mentioning them. Hauling waste away became a bigger marketing point because customers kept comparing that to companies that leave it in their trash can. Communication became one of our strongest selling points because people brought it up over and over again. That’s the kind of information every business owner should be paying attention to. Before you rewrite your ads, rebuild your website or hire someone to "fix your marketing", read your reviews. Print them out. Tag the repeated phrases. Look for patterns. Group them by pain point, objection, trust factor, and reason they stayed. Then use the customer’s language in your marketing. Your best customers are often telling you exactly how to sell to more people like them. Have you ever gone through your reviews and pulled out the exact phrases customers keep repeating?Why Is It So Hard to Get Your Business Verified on Google Business Profile?
So....I have been trying to get "validated" by Google for about 2.5 years now and I dont understand why I need to and why it isn't easier. I own a Junk Removal company and Google is sending me through the ringer! PLEASE TELL ME IM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS? Does anyone have insight on what to do? Thanks in advance, Hannah, DriveBy Junk Removal, Ltd.
How To Handle Negative Google Reviews from People Who Were Never Actually Customers?
I am really trying to ramp up our Google reviews this year. I am feeling defeated because we had two back to back 1-2 star reviews from two different people that we didn't even do work for. One was from a disgruntled neighbor who had inaccurate information on his review and I responded to it and was very professional, but he keeps editing it to say that we haven't responded. Also, the other one was from a potential customer who I had scheduled for a job in mid-July and I reached out last week to provide an update to the schedule because there was a shift due to weather delays we have been experiencing. She was very upset because she had a party that she was planning this patio replacement around and got quite rude with me, but in the concrete industry we are so heavily dependent on weather and delays are just out of my control. So neither of these customers actually had work done by us and it is just so defeating that we do such good work and these you have these people to bring your ratings down. Just feeling disappointed today...
Do handwritten thank you notes still make a difference?
Random thought: Have handwritten thank you notes become a thing of the past? In a world of emails, texts, and automated follow ups, I wonder if a simple handwritten note stands out more today than it did 20 years ago. Do any of you send them to customers, employees, referral partners, or vendors? If so, have you seen an impact? Curious to hear what others are doing and whether personal touches like this still move the needle.
Cleaning Company Marketing Strategies
I'm curious to hear from other cleaning company owners and operators. What has been the most effective marketing strategy for your business? Has your growth come primarily from referrals, Google reviews, SEO, social media, paid advertising, networking, door hangers, community involvement, or something else entirely? We're always looking for ways to improve and grow, and I'd love to hear what's working in different markets and what hasn't been worth the investment. If you could only choose one marketing channel for your cleaning company, which would it be and why?Is anyone else using Homestars? What has your experience been like?
I have been using Homestars and I must say, it has generated me a lot of calls. I would say it's bringing in about 80% of my business right now. I took a lot of time to perfect my profile and always ask for reviews and that has really paid off. A lot of people have said the reason they requested or hired me was because of my profile and reviews. My only issue with them is tire kickers and dead leads. People who post a job then shortlist you and don't respond, shortlist multiple pros or people who are "just looking". I wish they had more of a guarantee or verification system. Also getting a refund used to be a lot easier, but they changed their system to make it harder. Is anyone else using Homestars? Any tips or tricks on how to succeed better on there? If anyone is interested in it but has questions, feel free to DM me or reply here for my advise also!Stop What Your Doing and Order Tap Cards for Google Reviews
I want to share something that's genuinely moved the needle for us: tap cards for reviews. Here's how it works. After a client's thrilled with their job, our technicians say something like, 'It'd be amazing if you could leave us a five star review—it's super important to our business. And if you mention my name and add a photo of the project, I get a bonus.' Most people say yes right away. Then the technician pulls out their phone and says, 'Actually, can you pull yours out too? I can connect you to our Google page right now.' What's been incredible is we've gotten reviews across all our service types—big jobs, small jobs, property management inspections—literally every interaction. The key is timing and genuine satisfaction. If a client's already raving about the work, that's your moment to ask. Obviously there's nuance; you need to make sure they actually loved what you did. But when they're excited, the barrier to leaving a review disappears when you make it that easy, right then and there. I'll link the tap cards below—not something I profit from, just genuinely recommend them. Tap Tag Review Card with QR | Google, Trustpilot, TripAdvisor ReviewsWhat information did you get from you Google Profile review?
First off thank you Jobber and Phil for doing this. What an amazing thing for you guys to do for us. For those of you who got a review, what did you learn about your profile to strengthen it? I hope we can all compile here and we can all read through and make our GBP that much stronger! I learned that I for sure need more photos on there and I need to link my social media pages.
