BINDER #012 - Marketing - Why Customers Choose LOWER Rated Contractors on Google.

When a business owner gets a one-star review, they often do one of the following:

• Write an immediate response to the customer in a state of unbridled rage, demanding they get kicked out of the country.

• Fall into an emotional pit of despair, assuming the business must now shut its doors from this embarrassment

• Immediately Google "How to remove reviews from Google" and spend unholy amounts of time trying to scrub this thing from the internet.

• Call the customer and begin negotiations. (Sometimes an OK tactic.)

• A combination of multiple options above.

However, all hope is not lost.

In fact, I want to show you that it can actually be a good thing, as some customers will still choose a contractor with a lower rating on Google.

A Case Study in Chattanooga

I was recently in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the 2025 PAVEX Show.

My hotel room had an electrical outlet that didn't work.

I thought that would be a great basis to show you why lower ratings might not be the worst thing after all.

I googled "Electrical Contractors Chattanooga" and picked a couple of options ranked on page 1: CLICK HERE TO VIEW IMAGE

On the outside, that looks pretty solid. A 5-star rating and confirmation that they have been in business for over 10 years.

Do you see what is missing, though?

Have a look at a competitor: CLICK HERE TO VIEW IMAGE

Which one would you choose?

You'd likely pick Mr. Electric of Chattanooga, despite a lower rating.

Mountain City Electric is missing volume of reviews.

I think we would all agree that we would gladly choose the contractor who has the volume of 1,064 customers who decided to leave a review - even though they are not perfect.

In fact, Mr. Electric of Chattanooga has a whopping 42 one-star reviews.

Yes, you read that right. 42. Puts yours into perspective a bit, right?

You may notice that their business has not been shut down. In fact, they appear to be thriving.

Why do they have 42 one-star reviews?

• No company is perfect.

• Many customers are stupid, which can be difficult to detect during the sales cycle. (Fun fact: Some of the reviews are from people who didn't even end up hiring Mr. Electric.)

How does Mr. Electric of Chattanooga handle their one-star reviews?

• They write clear, concise, and intelligent responses

• They respond to every review.

• They let the balance of the remaining 1,022 positive reviews do the talking for new prospective customers.

The lesson for you and I should be obvious:

Volume of opinion, even if it is not unanimously perfect, will trump a tiny amount of 5-star reviews, every time.

Prioritize acquiring 5-star reviews in 2025 and build up public opinion of your company:

• Send our thank you emails after jobs with a clickable link to leave you a review. (You can find this link on your Google Business Profile.)

• Use software to automate this process. (Birdeye.com is a starting point.)

• Incentivize your customers to give you a 5-star review. We'll be rolling this out ourselves in 2025 by letting them know if they feel they got a 5-star service, every technician on the job will get a bonus if they leave a 5-star review.