You might have the most honest, sincere, genuine team on the planet, rooted in family values and always willing to go the extra mile, but at the end of the day, what do your customers trust, above all else? Reviews. More and more, customers turn to consumer reviews on Amazon, Google, Facebook, or Yelp for the unfiltered story of your company.

Sadly, most customers won’t take the time to write a review unless they’ve had a terrible experience with your company. This can mean you’ll wind up with a whole slew of horror stories in your reviews – detailing the rare occasions that your team falls below the mark of exceptional service – rather than the stories of the superior product or service you provide 99% of the time.

So how can you avoid ending up with a “1 Star” rating overall, and show that these poor service experiences are not the norm? Ask for reviews from happy customers! Here’s how:

Ask Via Email: Send an email shortly after a purchase or visit so the experience is fresh in the customer’s mind. Be sure to provide a direct link to leave a review on your desired platform to make the process easy.

Encourage Check-Ins: Encourage people to check-in at your business. Facebook will automatically send them a reminder to write a review for your business. In all likelihood, only people who like your business will want to check in, so you’ll get positive reviews. Pro tip: Be sure you have free wifi to make check-ins simple!

Add Physical Signs: Post signage at your location asking for reviews or Facebook check-ins.

Work the Ask into Your Sales Process: When your sales or customer service team talks to clients, this can be a very natural time to ask for a review. The team member can explain that reviews help other customers who are researching them, and give a genuine look at their products and services.

Begin to organically work these review requests into your processes, and you’ll see your “star” ranking increase over time.