Additional Commission for Reviews

WHY ARE REVIEWS VITAL TO OUR SUCCESS?

Reviews are vital to the success of our business, and now is the time to understand the importance. It is important to each and every one of us. I want to be respectful of your time but I want you to know the background of why this is so important.

This is about reviews – specifically on Google and Yelp, and any others that come into being in the future.

I did a quick search regarding reviews and these two results came up on the first page.

Bigcommerce.com says:

Who is Reading Online Reviews?

In today’s web-based world, virtually everyone is reading online reviews. In fact, 91% of people read them and 84% trust them as much as they would a personal recommendation. The effects of reviews are measurable, too.

Negative reviews can carry as much weight as positive ones. One study found that 82% of those who read online reviews specifically seek out negative reviews.

“…it’s a safe assumption that virtually everyone considering your products, no matter your target demographic, industry, or market, is reading online reviews before making a purchase.”

Invespcro.com says:

For nearly 9 in 10 consumers, an online review is as important as a personal recommendation.

Customers are likely to spend 31% more on a business with “excellent” reviews.

72% say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.

92% of users will use a local business if it has at least a 4-star rating.

86% of people will hesitate to purchase from a business that has negative online reviews.

And this final point from the above article:

“On average, a one-star increase on Yelp leads to a 5 to 9% increase in a business’s revenue. At the same time, a single negative review can cost a business about 30 customers.”

The above is HUGE. For the retail store that equates to $500,000 to $1,000,000 more sales for doing nothing more than asking for reviews. For the estate side it means $435,000 to $783,000 in additional buys. So if the jewelry store or your buy office has a 4 star rather than 5, we are all losing a lot of money. If we are at 4.5 instead of 5 stars we are still losing money. And the above number is an average. What if that one special customer who was going sell $50,000 worth of jewelry or wanted to buy a $250,000 diamond sees our 4 star review average and decides that our 5-star competitors might be better choice for them? Not only do we lose that buy, or sale, but ALL the referrals they would send as well as their repeat business.

Remember, more than 50% of our business is repeat and referral.

We simply cannot afford to be the second-place jewelry store, or jewelry buyer, any more. Factually, based on number of reviews we have compared to other jewelers who have 5 star Yelp reviews, we ARE absolutely Second Place. Or not even second, as you will see below.

Reviews not only make people view us more favorably but reviews drive people into our stores by placing us higher on Google. When a person does an organic search such as “jeweler San Diego” or “jewelry buyer near me,” Google puts stores with more reviews higher in the search results. Obviously being in the first, second or third position on the first page is best. Being on the second page is almost worthless. Reviews are a form of advertising and they help to get us on the first page of an organic search.

I just did a search on YELP for “Engagement Rings San Diego.” Where would you guess Leo Hamels’s come up in the rankings? I was sure we would be in the top 5. But no, not even top 10, or 20. We are listed as the number 28th jeweler on YELP for engagement rings. When I typed in “watch stores” we were 25th. I guarantee you that nobody goes down the list to number 25 when looking for a watch store.

For “Gold Buyers” we were number 18.

Now let’s look at Google.

For “Gold Buyers San Diego” we come up 4th for the SD office, 5th for RB, 13th for LM, 21st for SB, etc. Coming up number 4 is an insult and I can’t quite explain it. We know YELP is a criminal organization but Google seems far better. But we cannot come up 4th.

When I type “Gold Buyers La Mesa” in Google we do come in first but for “Gold Buyers Oceanside” we are 3rd.

The only solution for us getting to first place in all areas is to have not hundreds, but thousands of reviews.

In case our buyers don’t know, there is a tiny jewelry store just two buildings south of the SD store. He advertises to both buy and sell jewelry. It is called Diamond Connection. (We often refer to him as the Diamond Closet.)

He has 478 reviews and a full Five Star Rating. Why? Because the majority are fake. I am 99% sure of this because he has at least one a week and many are from out of town and out of state. Such as, “We flew to SD from Illinois to upgrade our diamond…” Who does that? Any of you that work in SD can attest that in all the years he has been there most of us have NEVER seen a customer in there.

Obviously he is faking reviews but we can’t and won’t do that because eventually we would get caught. If we were caught faking reviews, it would be disastrous for our reputation and YELP would penalize us. More lost sales. The only way to compete with fake reviews is to get lots of real ones. LOTS.

Based on the data above, each of you should be able to see that getting reviews is IN YOUR OWN INTEREST. You all, as salespeople and buyers, MUST take reviews seriously.

HOW DO YOU GET REVIEWS?

It is actually quite easy.

A. You EARN them by doing what you are already doing which is making people happy.

B. And you GET them by simply asking.

This is worth repeating. You GET them by simply asking.

One of our buyers, Analiza, consistently gets more reviews than anyone else does, and I have asked her many times how she does it. She said, “I ask every customer. I just ask!”

In light of the facts laid out above and that I have been asking you all to get reviews for years now, it is time that we give you an incentive to get reviews.

ADDITIONAL COMMISSION PERCENTAGES

Estate buyers = 0.85% on the difference between the buy and sell price to the Estate Buyer when the sales invoices are submitted.

Salespeople = the usual commission on all items invoiced that week will be supplemented by an additional 6% of any amount over minimum and 1.4% of the amount from adjusted cost to minimum, or 0.6% if the sale was under minimum.

As of May 10, 2021, you will only earn additional commission as long as you get 1 review a week, on average, on Yelp or Google or Facebook. There is no longer a minimum percentage of reviews that must be on Yelp. Your reviews can be all on Google, all on Yelp, all on Facebook, or any mixture of the three.

You cannot write fake ones for yourself but you can have customers, friends, family, etc. do them for you if they have been to any location, received a gift, repair etc., from any location. It must be real in some way.

HOW TO GET CREDIT FOR YOUR REVIEWS

You must provide Accounting with the proof of verification. It’s not their job to look for it for you. Proof usually consists of a screenshot of a review with your name in it. Send your screenshot to Accounting by close of business on Thursday to get credit for it. 11:00 AM Friday is the cutoff for submissions for the previous week.

The review must mention your name so we know you got it, or we must be able to verify the review. If it mentions your name, that is verification. If it doesn’t mention your name, but you noted in the Contact Log that you asked the customer for a review and then they made one, that is verification. Send a screenshot of the Contact Log to accounting. If it doesn’t mention your name, but the customer was just in the store in the past week, that is verification that you asked for the review. Again send a screenshot of the Contact Log showing the customer was in the store.

If it mentions your assistant’s name only, then your assistant gets credit for that review. If it mentions a jeweler only, then that jeweler get the credit. We can’t give credit for every review just because that’s “your customer.”

If a review mentions multiple names, each person mentioned gets credit for that review, but the review is only counted once in the stats.

If circumstances arise that are not covered in this policy, send your inquiry with FULL details to Accounting, and it will be forwarded to the CFO, who will determine who gets the credit for the review.

STEPS TO GET REVIEWS

Step one should simply be to ASK EVERY CUSTOMER while they are in the store. This would come right after the close. This is when they are the happiest. You will each have to work out your own system, but it would seem that right after the close would be the best time.

Google reviews are the most valuable, and you should ask for Google reviews first. Here are some recommended guidelines:

1. Right after the close, you could ask, “Do you ever do reviews on Google (aka have a Gmail or Google account)?” If they say, “Yes,” simply ask, “Would you please leave me one now while I finish my paperwork?” Hand them your card so they have your name. You should have already asked them if they would like a soft drink, coffee, or water, but ask them again if they would like something to drink while they write it. It has been proven that people will feel obliged for even the smallest of “gifts.”
2. They should also post a photo of ANYTHING. A piece of jewelry, a photo of you, of the store, just anything. Google loves photos. Photos definitely give the review more “weight.”
3. I would recommend that you take a look at the review when you are handing them the package or whenever they are done. If they forget to put your name in it, they can edit right then. If, for some reason, they don’t want to edit, you could snap a picture of the review on their device, in the store, to prove you got it. But if your name is in it, it will drive more people to come in and ask for you.
4. If they say no, they don’t do Google, then immediately ask if they have a Yelp or a Facebook account. Then ask them the same, “Would you please leave a review while I am doing the paperwork, wrapping the package, etc.?” They can also check in on Yelp or Facebook, which alerts their friends that they were here (but a check-in does not count as a review).
5. If they’ve already done a review, they can do another one! If they’ve already done Google, they can do Yelp or Facebook. Or they can update the review they already left, which gives it more weight.
6. For those who don’t leave a review using the above, write your Thank You note to the customer as usual, and then a few days later, send a separate note just after the thank you note reminding them to leave you a review. Fill out an envelope to send to them the same day of the sale, so you don’t forget. (But the chances of someone doing it after leaving the store are a lot lower than getting them to do it while they’re here.)

Each of you must find some way that works for you. If you find something that works well, share it with me so I can incorporate it into this policy.

The company can only spend so much money on advertising, and we spend as much as we can to bring you new customers. We could not survive without new customers.

But we have to depend on each of YOU to ask for reviews.

YOU JUST HAVE TO ASK.

I have been bugging you all for more than a year to get reviews, and it is obvious to me that most of you are not asking EVERY customer to leave reviews.

WHY IS THIS A GOOD IDEA FOR US?

Here are the good parts to all of this.

• Reviews go up, so you all make more sales and buys because more people come in.
• Our ratings will go up, and you also will make more sales and buys more easily because the customer is “pre-sold” on our company.
• The average will be on a 4-week look back. So if in the week of June 10, you didn’t get a review, but you got 5 in the previous three weeks your average would be 1 per week. It will pay to get as many as you can every week to keep your average up as well as for the reasons mentioned in A and B above.

If you are going to be out on PTO and wish to earn your additional commission, you can get extra reviews the week before you leave or extra reviews after you return.

We already have a list of important parts of what makes a buy, or a sale, like getting their name, filling out the invoice correctly, etc., and getting reviews is now a part of the process.

We need to come into the 21st century, and reviews are part of that puzzle.

I have asked you and asked you since 2011, and most of you get some, but not very consistently. This will drive consistency.

I don’t believe you all realize how important reviews have become. If you still don’t believe me go back to the top and re-read the pieces from Google.

Reviews are vital for the growth of any company today. This will bring us to the cutting edge of marketing.

I apologize for not making this a vital part of your job sooner. I’m sure I’ve cost you all money by not ensuring that you get these reviews. But it’s really up to you.

I am looking forward to your success stories on what you find works.