No small business owner wants to hear a customer haughtily say, “I’m going to leave a Yelp Review!”A few bad customer reviews can mean disaster for a small business owner. Reputation Desk lends a hand to small business owners by enabling them to manage customer reviews from various sites and social media channels in a centralized platform. Reputation Desk’s service can help small businesses generate new positive reviews and strengthen customer relations.
AlleyWatch spoke with Haroon Bhutta to learn how Reputation Desk empowers small business owners and the company’s future growth plans.
Tell us about the product or service that Reputation Desk offers.
Reputation Desk is an all-in-one, affordable & automated software that manages your online business reputation & review entities. Our proprietary and easy-to-use platform monitors multiple review sites, helps generate new positive reviews, and enables businesses to interact with and attract new customers. By keeping all their reviews in one place, we help them spend more time managing their business by offering everything in one easy to use dashboard.
How is Reputation Desk different?
As a small business owner, I understand the importance of getting positive reviews and their effects on growing your business. Millennials look up reviews on businesses before purchasing services, whether it’s going to the dentist, the barber, or a pizza shop for a quick bite. Reviews matter now more than ever, and there hasn’t been a better time to increase reviews whether it’s to boost SEO or local search rankings.
What market does Reputation Desk target and how big is it?
Reputation Desk targets any and all local businesses that have an online profile on Google, Facebook, or Yelp. Our target market is upwards of 20M businesses. Our goal is to educate business owners to use their customer experience to drive more new business.
What is the business model?
No Contract, No Set-up Fees, Month-to-Month.
What inspired the start of Reputation Desk?
As a small-business owner myself, I was looking for an affordable, all-in-one platform to help manage my online reviews. I couldn’t find a software that was affordable and easy to use, so I had the vision to create Reputation Desk. My first place to check for reviews is Google and with the amount of search volume for local services and providers, you can stand out from your local competitors by having the most reviews. Anyone providing exceptional service as a business owner should have it showcased online to potential consumers.
My first place to check for reviews is Google and with the amount of search volume for local services and providers, you can stand out from your local competitors by having the most reviews. Anyone providing exceptional service as a business owner should have it showcased online to potential consumers.
Who do you consider to be your primary competitors?
Most of my competitors like BirdEye, ReputationLoop, ReviewWave, focus on servicing large enterprises. They often overlook small businesses.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Achieve $500K ARR.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
Learning about the importance of raising equity while giving out shares to investors and when to draw a line between self-funding and raising equity. The key to growth is knowing when to scale your startup and constantly keep the user experience up to date.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
It would be Reza Chowdhury due to his endless connections with investors and mentors for startups.
Why did you launch in New York?
New York City is the small business capital of the world and my office is based here in Times Square.
What’s your favorite restaurant in the city?
Tao Downtown; love their Wagyu sushi rolls!