Here’s why I think signing up for Skipio is the smartest thing you can do right now…

By Brett Lloyd Abbott, Pool Builder Marketing LLC

1StarReviews.jpgBy now, it should be obvious to everyone that “online reviews” are having WAY more influence than we ever thought they would. I stand by my previous comments, that “online reviews are like nitroglycerin”They are extremely powerful. And that can be very good, or very bad.

But I was even more shocked a few weeks ago, when I was conducting some marketing research for a client. I was dialing a list of 100 names, to find out, among other things, “What made you call <my client> in the first place?

I was NOT surprised when a significant number of them said “I saw their positive online reviews.” But I WAS surprised when I asked if the positive reviews caused them to go to the website, several of them said “No, we didn’t go to the website. We saw the good reviews, so we just called them.

Holy moly! After all the time and money and effort I spent making this pool builder’s website absolutely killer-stunning-beautiful, and now people aren’t even looking at the website?

They just see the positive reviews, then pick up the phone and call them???

Yes, we are seeing a real shift here!

Admittedly, it was a relatively small percentage of the people who skipped the website and just picked up the phone, but that’s WAY more than the ZERO people who would have done this three years ago. And I suspect this trend is only going to increase.

That’s why I am telling ALL my clients, now more than ever,
that they need to be aggressively seeking positive online reviews.

That’s also why I recently got a complete and thorough “latest – greatest” demonstration from both Broadly and Skipio, to see who was on the cutting edge of the “reviews collection” business. And while I admire the tenacity and confidence of the Broadly salespeople, and the basic functions of Broadly are good, I find that Survey Local is still the superior choice.

That’s because:

  • Skipio starts as low as $99 a month (vs. ~$225-$250 a month with Broadly)
  • Skipio will also manage your DIRECTORY LISTINGS as part of the $149/month. (This is a very smart thing to do also, as I have explained in the past.)
  • Skipio will ALSO track and manage any “Social Media mentions” of your business, anywhere out on the Internet. (So if someone posts a negative comment or review about you, you will know about it right away.) You can also use this function to track your COMPETITORS, by the way.
  • Skipio also has a comprehensive dashboard, that allows you check the status on all activity, anytime you want.

Otherwise, the two companies are very similar. They both help you get positive reviews on Google, Yelp, HOUZZ and Facebook. They both use a “Are You Happy?” filter to ensure that only good reviews get posted online. And they both default to “five stars”, which is a lot smarter than what most of the other reviews programs do.

They also both charge about $200 as a setup fee.

But if you tell Skipio
Brett Abbott says you will waive the setup fee,
you may save yourself $200.

One other thing I like about Skipio is the method they use to collect reviews. Rather than just “beg” and “pester” for reviews, they set it up as a contest, where your clients have the opportunity to win a $100 gift card for a local restaurant. And let me be honest, as a typical selfish, self-centered American – I find the opportunity to win a gift card a lot more motivating than being begged and cajoled into leaving a review. I suspect a lot of other people feel the same way.

To get started, just go to the Skipio website here: www.skipio.com

EDITOR’S NOTE: As of January 2018, Survey Local has been purchased by Skipio. However, the service remains the same, and the price has gone DOWN! Thus, we still recommend them for this service of getting more 5-star reviews on-line. You can check out Skipio here.

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