The homeowner who called you the best contractor they'd ever hired probably meant every word of it, and they still didn't leave a review. Almost nobody does without being asked.
Homeowners read your reviews before they ever pick up the phone, and Google leans on them when it decides how high you rank for someone searching nearby. So it's worth your time and energy to learn how to get more of them. Thankfully, it boils down to asking each client while they're still thrilled with your work, and making it easy for them to do.
Reviews decide whether your company gets found and whether a prospect picks you:
Recency counts too. Forty reviews from the past year reads as dependable. Eight reviews, the newest from three years ago, reads as a question mark.
Claim and complete your Google Business Profile, since Google reviews carry the most weight in local search. Then create your Google review link (the short link that opens straight to the review form) and save it where the whole team can grab it. Keep your platforms focused on Google, plus maybe one secondary site like Facebook.
The best moment to ask for the review is when the client is happiest, which for landscaping is usually the day an install wraps and the homeowner sees the finished yard, or the walkthrough after a cleanup when the curb appeal jumps. For maintenance clients, it is after a season of reliable service. Ask then, in the moment, while the fresh mulch and clean edges are right in front of them. If you wait too long, the excitement they're feeling might have already faded.
A request from the crew leader who ran the job or the landscape designer who sold it will always beat an anonymous marketing email from "the company." The team on site every day has the relationship, so give them one line to use: "We really enjoyed working on your property. If you have a minute, a quick Google review would mean a lot." That ask, from the right person at the right moment, will lead to more engagement.
You don't want to make people jump through hoops, so try and make the process easy for
Plenty of people mean to leave a review and forget. A single follow-up, where you ask if they're still happy with the work, goes a long way. A day or two after the job, send a short thank-you note and let them know you enjoyed working with them and hope to work with them again soon! Include the link for review and let them know you would be grateful for the feedback if they have the time. Reference the specific work, keep it warm, and stop after one or two reminders. A genuine thank-you works and shows people you care about your work and their happiness with it.
Throughout the sales and operational processes with a client, you should be checking in with them, learning about them, and understanding the reasons behind why they hired you for a job. Maybe they wanted a new patio to have more hosting space for their friends and family. You might ask, "Are you already planning your first get-together? I know you were looking forward to it!" Connecting to them personally and letting them know you're invested in their goals helps them feel invested in yours.
Maintenance work has no dramatic "finished" moment, so the ask might not happen as often. Or maybe your client left you a review 3 years ago when you first started working together, but hasn't since. Regardless, maintenance clients are some of your most loyal clients, and they should be the largest percentage of people leaving your positive reviews. Ask them by tying it to the end of the season or a contract renewal, and have the account manager reach out personally. These clients have the longest track record with the company, which makes their reviews some of the most credible you can get. If they left a review years ago, but haven't updated it, ask them if they would. This goes a long way!
Replying signals to prospects that the company is attentive and to Google that the profile is active. Thank positive reviewers by name and mention something specific. It takes a minute and encourages others to leave reviews too. Negative reviews matter even more: a calm reply that owns the issue and offers to make it right does more for the company's reputation than the complaint does to hurt it. Prospects expect an occasional bad review. What they are really judging is how you handle it.
What gets measured and tracked matters to your team. Set a target for new reviews each month, post the running count where the team sees it, and review it the way the company reviews sales or job costs. Recognize the crew that generates the most, or run a friendly competition for a season. Keep the reward on the company's side (the team earns it for asking, never the customer for reviewing) and asking becomes as routine as loading the truck.
Paying for reviews, trading discounts for them, or screening so only happy clients get asked (a practice known as review gating) all violate Google's terms and can get reviews removed or a profile penalized. You do not need them. Do good work, ask well, and ask consistently, and the honest reviews will outpace anything you could manufacture. Quality work speaks for itself in these cases.
The companies with the best online reputations are not doing better work than everyone else. They are asking every single time. Pick the moments, hand the team the link, follow up once, respond to what comes in, and do it on every job. Keep that up and reviews become a dependable source of new work.
Led by Marty Grunder, The Grow Group is a premier coaching and education firm for landscape professionals. We provide innovative events like our annual GROW! Conference, peer groups, and real-world resources to help landscaping business owners and their teams succeed. Everything we teach is based on what we know works because we test it ourselves at our "living laboratory," Grunder Landscaping Company, the business Marty began as a teenager and still leads today.
We don't just share theories and ideas. We share tactics we used at our own landscaping company this week that we know still work. Our team brings more than 95 years of combined field experience to everything we do. Whether you're trying to grow your landscaping business or get better control over it, we can help get you where you want to go.
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