Ep 365. Did you get a Negative Review? Here's What to Do!

I got another negative review.

Not another, like it's probably my second out of 175 or third out of 175 ever.

And I always, they're not preventable, okay? And I think that you can try for perfection, but it never totally always happens.

And really, you know, it stemmed into a complaint recently.

And then, you know, them yelling at the staff on the phone and then them going, leaving a negative review and then disputing the charge with their credit card company.

And I ask you, like, has this ever happened to you? You complete the job.

They seem satisfied or you don't really hear from them at all.

And then you receive a complaint, a dispute charge, and maybe they leave a one-star review.

You want to initially defend yourself really right away.

You know, the initial instinct is to defend yourself online.

But I think...

How you respond in that moment can protect your reputation, make the situation worse, especially if you start going back at them.

So I think getting a negative review, let's talk about that.

Don't respond angry when you're angry because, again, it feels personal.

Especially when you don't believe it, it's true, it's unfair.

I would say write your initial response, but don't post it.

Come back to it, sleep on it.

Things always appear differently the following day.

And come back later and take out any emotion from it.

Take back anything sarcastic, argumentative.

And I think a calm response from a business makes a business look professional.

An angry response or sarcastic makes that you don't really take... their initial review seriously, and it could make them look more believable.

But make sure you do your investigation into what happened, what the customer purchased, what was gathered together, any text messages or emails before and after, service records, notes on the job, and whether the customer previously complained about You know, sometimes the customer misunderstands what is included or what was discussed, any disclaimers in your quote.

And sometimes, again, sometimes employees do make mistakes.

Sometimes the complaint is valid.