By Catherine Lang-Cline
Valentine’s Day gets a pretty bad wrap as being a commercial holiday and simply made up to make some money. While there may be a stem of truth to that, the rest of the bouquet does not need to be thrown away. Valentine’s Day may be for lovers, but it also is for love and this year, we all can’t get enough of it. So rather than starting with heartbreak, let’s think about EVERYONE that we love. Let’s think about the businesses that we love.
Rating and reviewing may be the simplest way to show some love this year. You can, of course, do this sort of rating with loved ones, but I would not advise it. Besides, I am sure that you tell them that they have high ratings every day. In this case, I am talking about businesses, organizations, and all of those other things that you love daily.
The pandemic has left many, many businesses and organizations struggling, so what better time to go back and write a few words of love in a Google review or simply send an email, to tell them how much you enjoyed their product or service. There are so many times we visit or even frequent an organization and not give a review a second thought. It matters, it really does.
What business owners know as well as people on the front lines of service, is that every person complaining always takes the time to write a bad review even if it is simply something that they found mildly disappointing. Those are typically such a small number of customers but if they are the only ones writing reviews, their message is the only thing people have to go on. Meanwhile, 99% of the other customers leave completely satisfied. Here’s where you come in.
If you love a company, let them know! Start by going to Google Maps. On Google Maps, you find the business and can write reviews for all of the places you’ve visited. You can also leave info about a place, like if it’s friendly, helpful, or amazing. Tell them about your wonderful experience, talk about specific people that stood out, or why you would use them again. Not only can a few nice words make someone’s day, but it also encourages other potential customers to check them out based on your referral. This is pretty powerful stuff!
There are other ways to give some appreciation, maybe it’s a note to the owner, maybe you post something on your social media, maybe you find a very specific review site, whatever you choose, you are sending good thoughts and love at a time when people need to hear from you the most. It is not only very simple, but it doesn’t cost you anything but a few moments and it just may be exactly what someone needed to hear today.
