GOOGLE RANKING

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Just curious, does a business's Google ranking come into play at all when you are looking for a product or service? I (kinda) get it for restaurants / hotels and the like. But I'm talking about anyplace else. You know.... building supplies, auto parts, farm an fleet. I was talking about it with another business owner today and we concluded that a good ranking does not seem to affect sales. This was prompted by a recent call I had from GODADDY wanting to handle all of our social media accounts for only too damn much money a month. Yes we do have a FB page for the shop (which is usually people asking stupid questions about something posted 2 years ago). We don't do snapchat or any other such nonsense. Maybe I'm just old......       

[Dakota]

Bigs - the Google rating doesn't matter much to me.   I'll look more at written comments about parts or companies.  I pay more attention to the comments that are specific about something that happened since they are a little harder to fake.   We'll rely on Consumer Reports for information ahead of major purchases.  Overall,  I mostly rely on word of mouth.

[RUNCHARGER]

Sometimes: Mostly I like to buy local. I like to go into the business and get a feel for employees attitudes, that makes my mind up pretty quick. Online ordering doesn't support local people so I refrain from it.
We have a local tool place (they have expanded to about 7 stores now) that advertises like crazy, you get their flyer and you go down to the store and you have a heck of a time getting anyone to help you. I only buy there when I can't find it somewhere else, price doesn't matter. Ha, ha. I just checked their google ranking and it was 4.1 so that wouldn't be accurate for me. These guys have missed out on a $1000 tool box sale and a $1500 compressor sale by me. Employee attitude is everything to a business.

[Shane Kelley]

I can tell for my business in collision repairs it makes a huge difference. People don't think about body repair until it happens so then they have no clue where to go and who does the best repairs. You also have people traveling through on the interstate and hit deer all the time. I'm always hearing how they came to us because they saw our reviews on Google. People actually travel further than you think for repairs based solely on reviews. I will also tell you that customer service better be top notch or people will kill your reputation. You also want to engage your customers to leave you 5 star reviews to help drown out the nut jobs that think you should have restored their whole car because you replaced a fender. You can read all the reviews and the whack jobs always stand out for what they are. We get hit with crappy reviews on vehicles we never even repaired because they leave reviews for the wrong shop. Nothing you can do about it either except leave a reply. That's the pros and cons. Just remember anyone can leave you a review and most will only leave nasty ones if they're not happy. You will look like you suck if you don't have any good ones. 

[headejm]

For me, these "types" of ratings matter only if they are bad. First look at how many reviews there are. Needs to be 10 or more at least. Shane's business has over 200 reviews with a very good Average rating so that matters in a positive way. If a company has a significant number of reviews with a bad average rating, I will avoid that company. 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Thanks for your honest reply's guys!

Shane - we are currently ranked 4.5 on Google. Better than others in my area. Yes I agree - many customers are absolutely clueless. Reading the guys comments that left you 1 star proves it. None of the major shops here would deal with it either. I can sell a hatch here with a few dings in it, but corrosion....forgetaboutit   

[72 Challenger]

As someone who used to work in marketing before I went to work for the borders, business owners do not properly understand the importance of interacting with people who leave comments online. I am glad people like Shane take time to interact. As someone who would be looking for a shop I like that you took the time out of your day to run your business. Yes it's important to do a good job, but just as important of doing a good job, using quality materials, or balancing your books is taking time to deal with the people who are interacting with your business.