Help! I've Got A Negative Review

A question I often hear is how do I eliminate negative information about my company on the Internet? That's one of those questions that has many answers, but there a few general concepts we can address here.

There are usually 3 types of negative information that appear on the Web about companies.

The first is a legitimate complaint. No one's perfect. No matter how hard you try, sometimes you or your staff mess up. Maybe your product or service didn't work properly. People are more likely to complain online than to you directly. It's human nature - anonymity emboldens us. Road rage is a great example of this.

Legitimate complaints can actually be the most beneficial for your company. These are things you can act on. If someone has a complaint, solve it. Go above and beyond. And make it public. For instance, let's say you own a restaurant. Your staff was having an off day, the service wasn't up to par, and someone wrote a negative review. Instead of letting it go, follow up with this customer through the same online venue they complained through. Give them a gift certificate, or offer to buy their next meal. Take a specific action to rectify the situation. Don't make excuses - make it right. And do it in the public square. Many people now rely exclusively on online reviews to make a buying decision. If they see a complaint and a solution, they'll know you are a business owner who actually cares and listens. You're willing to do the right thing. And don't argue. A free meal to a disgruntled client is going to cost you a lot less than proving your point. The customer, after all, is always right. Especially when they're wrong.

Don't let legitimate complaints fester. The faster you solve them, the better the outcome. Consider posting your Facebook or Twitter address in your business and encouraging customers to share their experience, positive or negative. This can seem counterintuitive to a business owner, but airing your dirty laundry in public can allow you to take situations that would otherwise fester and turn them into positive, customer-building opportunities.

The second type of negative information that appears is the dreaded anonymous complaint. Someone has a bad experience with your company, or has an axe to grind with you personally (or one of your employees) and writes terrible things. The dark side of the Internet is that everything is essentially permanent. There are exceptions, and it's possible to remove derogatory comments, but it's a difficult and lengthy process. It's similar in scope to identity fraud. There are companies that promote reputation fixing services, but there are limits to these processes, and the cost can be quite high.

In these cases, the best defense is a good offense. Most reviews that have any meaning to potential customers are weighted. Negative reviews can be overwhelmed by positive reviews. People are more likely to take action when they're complaining rather than when they've had a positive experience. Anger is a more actionable emotion than happiness. However, many people will write positive reviews if you ask them. Use your social media venues, signs in your physical location(s), printed notes on receipts and invoices, etc. to ask people to create positive reviews. You can incentivize this, as well, by offering something for your customers to do this. Depending on your industry, you will need to be aware of any restrictions that exists (health care, government, etc.), but giving people who write positive reviews a small reward will often motivate them. Keep in mind that people will usually do a great deal for very little - you don't have to give them a car. Something small, something they'll use, will motivate them to take the ten minutes they'll need to write a review. Enough of these will, over time, virtually eliminate negative reviews. It's a time consuming process, but it is effective.

The third type of negative information found on the Web are comments from former and current employees. These can range from ridiculous comments that are essentially blowing off steam, to the divulging of company trade secrets. It's important to weigh the severity of information being shared. If the comments are coming from a disgruntled worker, it might be best to let the comments go. If you've fired this person, they'll likely want to vent. You fired them for a reason, and this will only reinforce why you did. The more dangerous types of former employee comments come when they share private company information online. There are specific laws that govern this type of information and, depending on the data and the implications, you have the option of taking legal action. Keep in mind that the punishment should match the crime - there will often be repercussions beyond the scope of a simple web post if you decide to pursue legal action. Social media postings as they relate to current or former employers is an emerging area of the law and, although several cases have sided with employers recently, you should weigh the fact that you'll be helping set legal precedent, and can receive more negative attention via the news media than you ever would by letting the online comment(s) go. Every situation is unique, and only you as the business owner know what's at stake. Keep in mind it's not personal, it's business.

There isn't a magic bullet for eliminating negative comments online. And this information is the tip of the iceberg. Keep in mind that some people are complainers. That's their nature, that's how they find pleasure in their lives. No matter what you do, you won't make them happy. But if the negative comments are legitimate, act on them. You can use these negatives to grow as a business. They may also give you insight into how your company is perceived in the public. That kind of wake-up call can be a game-changer, if you look at it honestly.

Change Is Good

For many businesses, change can be a four-letter word. If you're a business owner, you had a clear idea of what you wanted to do when you started your business. You had a vision and you expected potential clients would beat down your door as soon as you started. No matter how much preparation went into your business plan, however, there are always factors that don't play nicely. Things like the economic climate, competition, public awareness, outdated technology and even staffing issues can potentially derail the best laid plans. As a business owner or the manager of a business division, you need to be able to turn on a dime. And you need to be able to keep the core values and business focus in mind when you make these turns.

There's a time when sticking to your guns no matter what is effective - and there's a time when it's necessary to throw the whole works up in the air. Embracing change is often the determining factor in the success of any business. So where do you start? Change for change sake is reckless - change that is dictated by quality intel is what will set your business apart. Start with processes. These are things that you control and are designed to make your entire business run smoothly. If your answer to the question, "why do we do this" is "because we've always done it that way", that's the first thing to target. Don't hold on to outdated processes simply because they've always been there. Consequently, don't abandon processes that actually work. The point with the "because we've always done it that way" question is to actively understand why your business does what it does. There can be a perfectly valid reason why process X is done - process Y and Z may depend on it. If so, that's a good process. But if process X exists simply because it seemed like a good idea at the time, try something else. Start by eliminating this process. Does work still get done? Does it get done better?

An important exercise many businesses engage in is what's called a "process walk". If it's done properly, it's a time consuming thing. But the value to your business can be monumental. Start with the beginning of your business process - is it manufacturing? Retail delivery? Client order? Using Post-It notes and a wall, document each step of your business process. For complex areas, break it down into simple, single line descriptions. If you can't describe the process in a single line, that means it's a complex process and has steps you'll need to document. Color code like items - is there a decision point? A client interaction point? A vendor contact point? Walk through your entire business process. Involve as many members of your team as is necessary. The more robust the organization, the more compartmentalized it can become. The process walk can serve also to illuminate and educate your staff on what actually goes on. Remember that you hired the staff you did because you wanted their input. The more brains you have involved, the more likely you are to start thinking outside the box. And that's what the process walk is all about.

When you stand back and look at your wall of Post-It notes, take a look for duplication. That's the low-hanging fruit you can eliminate. Then look for other ways to streamline. Does the physical location of staff isolate them from each other? Can different departments merge? Can functions from one department migrate to another?

Look at the Post-It notes in another way. Where does your product or service get bogged down? Is it slow vendors? Are you waiting on customer approvals? External sources of delay are harder to address, but not impossible. Consider incentivizing early approvals. Offering a small discount if a project is moved forward more quickly may initially cut into your bottom line, but the idea is you'll be able to move more projects forward faster. A minimal discount can allow you to produce and invoice more within a shorter period of time.

The process walk is a commitment. It will take time and it will take staff away from their specific duties. The impact of this, however, can be a game changer. By simply knowing each step of your business process, you can clearly see opportunities to tighten and, in some cases, eliminate processes altogether. A week of your staff's time could save your company a ridiculous amount of money, and can eliminate huge amounts of waste.

Change is good. Smart change is the difference between growth and stagnation.