Help Local Business – Leave A Review

This a crazy time for everyone and there are indeed many heroes. Not to take away from the heroes that are our first responders and health care workers, there’s another segment of our community that are also heroes – those small business people that are doing everything they can to stay open and provide customers with services and products. Some of these business people have gone to great lengths and have worked very hard to figure out how they can continue to serve and do business in the community. They want to pay their bills, their rent, and would rather earn their living than take handouts from the government.

For many small businesses, there are and will be degradation in service resulting in some disappointed customers. When either being forced to or voluntarily closing your doors, while trying to figure out how to carry on, it’s not easy.

Write A Review

For those businesses that are doing all they can, one of the best ways you can help them is to write a review of their services (and be nice and considerate during these extraordinary times).

When the COVID-19 pandemic started to really “take off” throughout the world, Google suspended some of the features on their Google My Business (GMB) platform, including the ability for customers to leave reviews. It’s possible that Google was concerned about businesses receiving poor reviews from disgruntled customers as businesses were not able to provide the same level of services as pre-COVID19. We also know that Google announced that they would be working with a skeleton support staff themselves, and so were reducing the features of their GMB platform with that taken into consideration.

However, in recent days, Google has turned back on the ability to leave reviews for businesses.

Many people are motivated to leave a bad review after they receive service or attention that they feel was sub-standard – but now is a great time to start thinking about the fantastic businesses that have gone out of their way and really stepped up to the plate to help provide you with the services and products you want while you’re self-isolating. Did they make special arrangements to deliver to your door? Did they make special arrangements for curbside delivery?

While many businesses are trying their best to provide such options for the delivery of products, there are also service-based businesses that are doing what they can as well. Orangeville’s Johanis Karate comes to mind here, as they try to keep their students involved with daily lessons using Zoom and/or video.

Think Of Local Businesses That Have Been Great To You!

What are examples you know of where businesses have done much to try to adjust to these times that we are in right now?

While most business people don’t even want a thank you, but rather are thankful to their customers, there is much discussion about supporting local businesses at this time, and one of the ways you can do that is to write up a thoughtful review of the businesses that have helped you.

There are a number of platforms where you can leave a review. Perhaps one of the best places for most businesses is right on Google, on the GMB Maps platform. Simply google the business name and location, and you should see a business listing. Scroll down to where you can leave a review.

You can also leave reviews for businesses that are active on Facebook. You might also find your favourite businesses on Yelp – another platform that you can leave reviews.

What are you waiting for? Think about how a business has gone the extra mile for you during this time, and go write them a great review. Do it now!