Negative reviews and feedback for a small business can have a greater impact today than ever before due to the increased use and accessibility of the Internet. Unfortunately, one negative review can turn consumers away, but with the right proactive approach, negative reviews don’t need to have a huge impact on your business and can even be viewed in a positive light by incorporating the following into your reputation management campaign.
- Confirm the legitimacy of the claim. Unfortunately, some do attempt to make other businesses look bad for personal gain, so first confirm the legitimacy of any negative feedback you receive.
For a new small business owner who is seeking to grow his or her business, brand reputation is an important consideration to keep in mind, which is why any negative press about the business can be detrimental to its success. All it takes is one unhappy client or associate, the lightning-fast pace of the internet, and a negative blog post to derail even the best laid plans.
Each of us has different experiences with customer service; some are good while most that we hear about are just horrible. Businesses, no matter how big or small, need to evaluate how well they are serving their customers.
Some people you just can’t please. At least, that’s the truism my grandpa used to say to me. Clearly, grandpa didn’t run a small business. While some people are harder to make happy than others, as a CEO of a small business you can’t just write off difficult clients, unless of course you don’t mind taking a hit in your business.
Technology companies are, unfortunately, almost as well known for having poor customer service as they are for their actual products. Why is that?
So you benchmark your company against others in your industry. Maybe you look at maximizing revenue per full-time employee, increasing first call resolution in your contact center or IT expense as a percent of revenue. How do you compare to your competitors? Is that the right comparison?
Small businesses are famously agile and attuned to the wants and needs of their customers. But as they begin to grow, or as market conditions begin to change, staying on top of customer requirements can be a tricky feat. If relationships become too tenuous, an aggressive competitor will prey on those weaknesses and poach “at risk” customers.
