Triple your Reviews by Going 360

Gathering reviews is a continuous process — building the foundation takes time. Roughly 85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, so there's real value in taking review generation a step further: going 360.

Once a system for asking clients is in place, the next step is expanding beyond them. Facebook and Google are the two platforms driving the most SEO value, and winning at local search compounds the value of every closed deal — each one is a chance to go 360.

How to Go 360

Every service provider connected to a transaction can give — and receive — a review: listing agent, buyer's agent, mortgage planner, escrow officer, pest company, contractor, home warranty provider, insurance agent, and so on.

Think through who you work with regularly and what you could genuinely say about their service. Every industry has an established network ready to support each other — everyone benefits from going 360.

Give before you receive. Take the opportunity to support the professionals you trust — neither Google nor Facebook requires a review to come from a direct client relationship. Write a review for your partners, then follow up with a message asking them to do the same for you. More often than not, they will.

Going 360 adds real value with the partners already in your network, builds credibility, and lays the foundation for stronger relationships across the industry — while everyone works toward the same goal of a stronger reputation.

Putting It Together

Next time a deal is about to close, reach out to your colleagues, let them know you left them a review, and ask if they'd do the same. In practice, this can double your review count in a short window and meaningfully improve your local search ranking (see BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey for the data on why this matters).

Reviews don't come to you passively — building them is an active process that takes follow-up and consistency. It's worth the effort: public rankings are often the deciding factor between a potential client calling you or moving on to someone else.