Get By with a Little Yelp from Your Friends
July 1st, 2009 by Jeb Foster
Most agents have no qualms about asking a client for a referral, but what about asking for a friendly Yelp? Depending on where you do business, the latter might be more lucrative.
Yelp.com is web site where people can post and read reviews of local businesses, from unruly dive bars to starched CPAs. Since starting in San Francisco and few years ago, the site has grown exponentially, gathering adherents in every major city in the country, and even one across the pond.
For whatever reason, Yelp emerged from the thicket of local-review web sites as the clear winner, and every day people invest millions of hours writing helpful, funny and cool reviews. Businesses, in turn, spend an increasing amount of time monitoring what people are saying, for both PR purposes and market research.
Because of the site’s popularity and the strong influence of social proof, a positive review from a credible Yelper can generate a tsunami of new business, and while the majority of reviews are of food and retail establishments, more and more people are writing about their experiences in the insurance and financial services realm.
So I recommend registering your agency with Yelp and encouraging your favorite clients to write a review.
Think about the possibility of being able to say this to a prospect: “I pride myself on my dedication to my clients; check out what people have said about my customer service on Yelp.”
That would be persuasive!
