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How to Handle Negative Customer Reviews

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Whether you’ve found the negative customer review by luck or by setting up a Google alert – you are horrified to  discover that SOMEONE is bitching about YOUR business on the web.

Unfortunately human beings seem to be wired to bitch rather than praise, so you’re more likely to find negative customer reviews than positive ones.  It’s just the way it goes.

There’s an old saying in marketing and advertising circles that goes, “A satisfied customer will tell 3 people – a dissatisfied customer will tell 16.”  There have been studies on this to verify those numbers – but those were done in the days BEFORE the current social media explosion.   Now – a disgruntled customer doesn’t have to purchase ink by the barrel to share their opinion with the world – they simply need to create a blog post which can tell thousands – even tens or hundreds of thousands of people about their experience with your company.

If you’re like most business owners –  when you see someone write a bad customer review of your business, your emotions kick into overdrive.

Perhaps you’re angry – and feeling more than a bit defensive.

  • Why didn’t this person call the toll free customer service number?
  • Why didn’t he/she read the directions first?
  • Why air this dirty laundry for everyone to see on the web?

It’s important before you respond to get control over those thoughts and emotions.

The first step to handling a negative customer review is to get into the right frame of mind.

A great place to start is to try to frame this as a positive: this disgruntled customer just saved your company a BUNCH of money.

Sure it’s on public display – but you’re going to turn these lemons into lemonade and this negative is going to become a huge positive.  You’re going to handle this negative customer review with such skill and aplomb that you might actually begin to ENJOY the process.

If the complaint is legitimate – you’re about to fix a HUGE hole in your business boat – a hole which is probably costing your business money.  You’re about to diagnose and fix a problem which you might otherwise have to hire a consultant to find for you. Instead of paying a consultant tens of thousands of dollars to study the problem and then deliver a written diagnosis – you’ve had delivered unto you for free an outside view of what it’s really like to do business with your company.

Repeat to yourself: THIS IS A GOOD THING.

Really – it is.  It’s a GREAT thing.

Really.

You may wish for the bliss of ignorance now – but by the time we’re through – you’ll be glad to have diagnosed this cancerous growth within your business and beaten it.

If you’re still seething – try practicing diaphragmatic breathing.  Simply breath in through your nose and allow your chest and abdomen to expand as you breath in.  Then, after you’ve held that breath until the count of 6 – exhale through your mouth.  As you exhale, contract your abdomen to fully expel the air from your lungs.  When you repeat this procedure, medical studies have shown that your stress level will drop.

Step One in handling negative customer reviews is to get into the right frame of mind.  The old cliche “problems are simply opportunities in disguise” applies.  This is your opportunity to shine.

While a single negative customer review will not destroy your business… they way you handle that negative review just might.  Be sure to get into the right frame of mind first – before you begin the real work of handling negative customer reviews.

When a Pest Control Company tries to Exterminate Negative Customer Reviews

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Truly Nolen couldn’t kill the bugs in my house – and they can’t kill my negative review of their service either.

Quite a while ago – I created a post where I shared my experience with my pest control company – Truly Nolen.  I was HORRIFIED by the service I received and shared the experience here in, “When the Pest Control Company is your most Annoying Pest.”  It generated a LOT of response at the time.  Even years later, new comment show up on that post quite frequently – and some appear to be clumsy, pathetic attempts at online reputation management by Truly Nolen.

Last week, I got what at first glance, appeared to be a comment from a satisfied customer of Truly Nolen.  They’re rare -so I quickly approved the comment.  After all – I wanted to be fair to the company and by nature – satisfied customers don’t usually go “trolling” to find blog posts of negative reviews and leave comments.  While Truly Nolen’s treated me with contempt and disrespect while I was a customer – they did make things right with me quite promptly after the blog post appeared so in the spirit of fair play – if a satisfied customer had really found the blog post and wanted to add their voice to the conversation – I was more than willing to share it with the world.

Later in the day, I started really reading the comment – instead of “scanning” it.   When I got to this part of the long comment …. “Maybe you should have read it before you agreed to it. Truly N. does have a corporate number that you can call and make a compalint to. Maybe they can do something about the tech issue. Sounds like you might have gotten one that really doesn’t like his job.” I started to wonder… is this comment legit?

Truly N.?  Maybe I should have read the fine print?  I should have called corporate?

Those “clues” set off alarms inside my head.  They kind of fall into the category of:

Maybe I should have worked harder to be a “good” customer…

Hint for business owners reading this post – your customers aren’t going to work harder to make your life easier.

The comment just didn’t ring true… so I unapproved it (easily done) and sent an email to [email protected] to confirm the comment.  (After all – if Stacy really was a satisfied Truly Nolen customer – I wanted to allow her comments to appear on the post.)  The email sent to the email address provided promptly bounced which caused me to take a look at the IP address which was registered as part of the comment.

A search for other comments from that same IP address – found comments made by Truly Nolen staff early on in defense of their company’s practices.

So it appears that one of the RARE comments claiming to be from a  truly satisfied customer of Truly Nolen was simply a shill.

There have been many shill comments made on that blog post since it was posted.  Most I’ve “caught” quite easily.  I will give them this – they are getting smarter. This latest began earnestly – but it didn’t take long to determine that it was a shill.

There’s something about “authentic” comments that is – well – authentic.  Even though the comment above had a typo – a typo still didn’t make it feel “authentic”.

I remember a while back when a blog post from this blog was scraped and posted on another blog.  By the time I got to the post, it already had a few comments.  I was surprised to see those comments.  They were along the lines of “this is a real change in direction for you… good job.”  and “I like the way you’ve changed your writing – keep up the good work.”

I’ve got to admit – I was surprised that readers of that character’s blog could pick up so quickly the “change” in voice.

You’ve got a voice – even when your vocal chords are not engaged.  It comes through in your blog posts – your tweets – even your updates on Face Book.  Recently one of my friends’ FB account got hacked.  She sent out emails warning her FB friends not to respond to her most recent “updates”… because they weren’t coming from her.  The thing is – almost everyone responded with “I knew that didn’t come from you.”  The spam program wasn’t speaking in her “voice” – and because she had spoken frequently on FB – it was easy to see it wasn’t her.

As for the pest control company Truly Nolen trying to exterminate a negative customer review – on the one hand – I give them a big hand.  They’re concerned about their online reputation and are trying to protect it.  However, the MANNER in which they are doing it is sad and clumsy.  Is it really so difficult to find a satisfied customer willing to speak up?

The old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is more true today than ever.  Treat customers with respect – and you don’t HAVE to worry about trying to put out the fire of a blog post after the fact.

Overcome Business Fear of Sharing

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It’s not uncommon for people who sell their knowledge and expertise to  fear that if they give too much information away – that they’ll eliminate their potential client’s need for their services.

When it comes to sharing your knowledge and expertise – the more you give, the more you get.  The more you share knowledge and expertise – the more recognition and authority you accumulate.

Many knowledge professionals are engaged in making what Neil Rackham defines as “The Major Sale“.  Major sales require a large investment of either time, energy or money.   Major sales are more than simple transactions – they’re full blown relationships and relationships are the foundation of social media.

Relationships begin by building a foundation of trust.  Build enough trust with your audience and you’ll eventually find you’re creating authority.

Authority =  trust + power… the power to motivate people to take action.

Building authority does not happen overnight. It happens gradually – as you reveal and share your expertise via the many opportunities made possible thanks to social media.

I don’t have much time these days to bake- but over the years I have learned the hard way how important a tiny ingredient like baking powder can be in a recipe.  It’s such a tiny amount of a seemingly inert powder that surely it won’t be missed if the box in the pantry is empty- right?  WRONG!  That tiny bit of baking powder makes a HUGE difference in any recipe.  Without going into the science behind it – baking powder causes the bubbles in the batter to expand.  This “fizz” helps to make baked goods tasty treats which when combined with long periods of inactivity – cause one’s ass to grow to a mind blowing size.  Thus my retirement from baking as a hobby.

Dietary issues aside, when it comes to marketing your business – your knowledge and expertise are the “fizz” that makes your business rise and grow.  Sure, people can get a plethora of information “for free” on the internet – but there comes a time when general free advice isn’t enough.  It’s at the time when the rubber meets the road and prospective clients NEED your wisdom and hard won insight into solving their most pressing problems.

For example, if you think the self serve legal document service Legal Zoom replaces the need for a good attorney – then you’ve obviously never NEEDED a good attorney.  A good attorney has the education, the experience and the critical thinking skills to either avoid trouble ahead or get you out of trouble.

If you think one of the $25 tax preparation software programs replaces the need for a good CPA – then you’ve never worked with a good CPA.  A good CPA has the education, the experience and the critical thinking skills to either help you avoid tax problems in the future or can keep you out of tax trouble.

If you think an electronic back massage pad is an effective substitute for a good chiropractor – then you’ve never experienced a good chiropractor.  A good chiropractor has the education, the experience and the diagnostic skills to treat current back problems and can help you avoid back problems in the future.

If you think a self help book replaces the need for your services as a therapist or a coach – then you’ve never worked with a good therapist or coach…. yada, yada, yada.

You get the idea.

Which is why – if you’re good – you shouldn’t fear sharing too much of the WHY people should work with you.  There’s no way to give too many reasons WHY someone should want to work with you.  There’s no such thing as sharing”too much” information when it comes to making the major sale which is why blogs ROCK as marketing tools for anyone in the business of selling their expertise.

“insert name here” is not a good beginning….

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Social media is about authenticity, transparency and making a real connection.   While we have a multitude of ways to connect and interact today, including Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn – the “original” internet tool for social networking was actually email.  In Social Media is Consumer Controlled Conversations I wrote:

About a decade ago, there was another bright shiny techno-bauble being lauded as the magic marketing technology anyone could use to effortlessly build their business – an online email newsletter.  Just because the hype has moved on doesn’t mean that any of these “past” beauty queens are not still lovely when viewed through the lens of creating marketing magic.  As a matter of fact, none of these technological tools ever officially ended their reign as valuable online marketing tools.   Smart business owners didn’t drop their email newsletter when social media came knocking – they used social media to build their list.

Ah – the email newsletter is still one of the most powerful “social media” tools you can use to build your business.    With that said – an email newsletter that arrives addressed to “insert_name_here” is a shining example of how NOT to run ANY social media marketing campaign.

What makes this even more amusing or sad – depending upon your point of view – is the fact that the email that arrived with that greeting went on to lament how poorly this particular organization’s social networking efforts were performing.

“I wrote a blog post today that expresses my frustration with the recent lack of involvement from our members. I encourage you all to read it as it is very important this message gets across.”

By the way, there was no LINK to the blog post in question within the email – only that we were all supposed to FLOCK to the organization’s blog.

I’m posting my reply here so that perhaps someone can learn from this social media marketer’s mistakes.

Dear Social Media Marketing Wannabe,

It’s sad to see that you are blaming the failure of your half- assed attempts at social media marketing on the members of your organization’s community.

Let’s limit this conversation to the most recent email sent by your organization. I have to tell you that “insert name here” is a terrible way to start a conversation – and that’s what social media is all about – conversation!

I can’t say I was surprised that the email message whichwas addressed to “insert name here” contained a message of frustration because of a lack of involvement from your organization’s community.

Community is more than subscriber numbers – whether it’s email newsletter subscriber numbers, RSS subscriber numbers or the number of Twitter followers you have.

Community means connectivity and conversation.   I know I speak on behalf of other members of the oranization when I say that we’re a busy group.  We need to be reminded that we’re part of your community.  While email communication via a newsletter is by nature one way – it can be a very effective way to remind us of the conversation going on over at the blog.  That’s why email newsletters and blogs go together like peanut butter and jelly – they compliment each other perfectly.

The salutation in this  email tells me everything I need to know about how you view  the members of your “community.”  We are obviously sheep to be herded, shorn and eventually slaughtered.  You’re obviously disappointed that we haven’t been “fruitful and multiplied” – doing the heavy lifting of marketing the organization without so much as an acknowledgment of our first name.

The problem lies in the fact that marketing is not a mindless task – and we’re not mindless sheep.   We’re people.  In your organization’s case, I have ignored your repeated attemtpts to “befriend” me via various social networks.  If you were paying attention – this should have been your first clue that your social media strategy wasn’t making a connection.  I have no idea what your “numbers” are like for the various social media sites – but I’m confident that even if they are impressive – that you’re only building the ILLUSION of community.

Your lack of ability accept responsibility for your obvious social media marketing mistakes is a sign that this blog post will be here long after your organization has closed it’s doors.  I won’t name your organization because I don”t want this blog post to serve as a lightning rod of discontent for your organization.

There’s no way I’d encourage anyone to join your organization.  I wish I hadn’t.

In the end, I’m sure you will blame your “stupid, inept, uninvolved” members for your organization’s eventual demise.   I’ll happily accept full blame.  It is my fault. You entrusted me to market your organization for you and I refused to do so.  I refused to put my reputation on the line for you and I can see my fears were well justified.

Sincerely,

Not just a mindless sheep or a faceless number

Are you a young bull or an old bull?

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business parable story of two bullsThere’s a popular parable which illustrates the importance of planning and patience called Two Bulls.

The story goes that there are two bulls standing side by side in a field.  One is a young bull, full of energy and what Austin Powers calls “MoJo.” The other bull is older with less energy but he still has his MoJo.

The young bull catches the scent of a herd of cows on a distant hill.  As he sniffs the air, he announces, “I’m going to run over there and have my way with one of those cows!”

The older bull demonstrates his wisdom by replying, “You do that.  I’m going to walk up that hill and have my way with all of those cows.”

Measuring SuccessYoung bulls charge ahead, full of energy.  They aren’t trying to conserve energy because they have plenty to spare.  However, because they don’t try to conserve that energy, much of it is wasted.  They run when they should walk.  Young bulls tend to think in the here and now, and not worry about tomorrow.

Meanwhile, old bulls recognize that their energy is limited – and they focus upon making the most of it.  Old bulls stop, think and plan.  They recognize the need to think about not only tomorrow, but next year as well. Because they recognize that they don’t have the energy of their youth, they are willing to take the time to map out a strategy that makes the most of all of their resources.

In the story of the two bulls, once the old bull shares his wisdom with the young bull, he creates a formidable competitor when they reach the herd of cows.  If instead he had keeps his strategy under wraps – the old bull gains a considerable advantage.

social media marketing strategyThis parable is used a lot in business.  It not only illustrated the importance of planning and patience, but it also demonstrates the advantages gained with you keep your strategy under wraps.

When I look back on my earlier entrepreneurial efforts, I can see where I acted like the young bull. When I saw an opportunity, I moved quickly so I could seized it.  I didn’t spend nearly enough time creating a strategic plan, just like the young bull in the story of two bulls.

Experience is what you get when you make mistakes.  Wisdom is learning from other people’s mistakes.