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The company I work for has been in business for over 8 years, does great work and has exactly 0 reviews in Yahoo and another 0 in google. Not that surprised are you? I know.

But I find this surprising… having signed up with Service Magic only a few months ago, this garage door business has already been reviewed 5 separate times. I started asking why.

I found there are 2 things a small business can copy from Service Magic to get more reviews. The first ask multiple times… or at least once. The second is to make it smoother. You see when a person goes to review a business on Service Magic they are already signed up, so they don’t need to make up a password or download anything or stand on their head. Their in… it’s smooth.

Small businesses often know/ask for their customer’s email addresses, now use it to make it easier for the customer to review you. If they have a yahoo email, they already belong to Yahoo; if they have gmail they already have a Google account. Send them a link to the review site of which you know they already belong – Smooooth.

On the lighter side: I spent my vacation in part reading Seth Godin books, which is why I’m using the term smooth. And I couldn’t help but think his cover photo resembled an athletic african-american.

Now, those of you who know what Mr. Godin looks like think I’m crazy… so I’m going to prove it to you. Here is Seth Godin side by side with David Justice – retired baseball player.

David Justice and Seth Godin Side by Side

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30 years ago people lined up outside Studio 54 to buy expensive drinks and snort coke with famous people, today they are lined up outside the Apple Store at the Garden State plaza in Paramus to get the latest in technological wizardry: The iPhone. Outside both venues is the rope, which was made legendary buy the NY club, but I was shocked to see it outside the Apple store.

I arrived at the mall at about 10:30am, it had just recently opened and the Saturday mall crowd had not yet arrived. But as I approached the Apple Store, I saw the line that started behind a small velvet rope and snaked out of sight.

I talked to the guy who was next online and asked him what was going on. He told me he was on line for the iPhone. He explained the system to me, which seemed to be the low-tech method used by bakeries and deli counter for years, except the numbers were dispensed by an attractive girl with a headset instead of a machine inviting you to “take a number.” He told me he got there at 9:00 and seemed pleased that he was on the verge of iPhone possession. When I told him I was interested in purchasing an iPhone too, he looked over his shoulder, assessed the line and estimated the wait time at 4 hours. “Thanks”, I told him “I don’t need one that bad.”

Not being able to buy one online and certainly not willing to line up for the priviledge, I don’t know if I will buy one now. I was sure I would when I left the house this morning but now I’m not so sure. It’s interesting how Apple is using distribution (or the lack of it) to create buzz. The big question for me is whether my patience will survive this marketing tactic.

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