misunderstanding before responding, so the reviewer (and other readers) will know you took the charges seriously and were determined to find answers.
If you determine an employee was at fault, don’t hang them out to dry in public. It is better to take responsibility for the problem yourself before apologizing and assuring the reviewer that you’ve taken steps to address their concerns and prevent future trouble. Even if the complainant has no plans to do business with you again, others who read your response will be impressed with your proactive attitude.
If the complaints of your customers seem similar, it could mean you have a systematic issue that must be acknowledged and addressed.
Remember, managing bad reviews doesn’t mean crafting a diplomatic or marketing-savvy response alone. You want to adjust your practices and the behavior of your employees to decrease the incidence of bad reviews in the future. As your business matures your frequency of bad reviews should decline, and if it doesn’t, it means the lessons you should be learning aren’t being absorbed.
Everyone knows things happen in business, and in life, which is beyond your control. Deliveries may be delayed, someone may quit or go AWOL unexpectedly, water pipes may burst, or HVAC systems may break down, noisy street repairs out front may wreck your employees’ concentration, you might be worried about or distracted by something going on at home … The list of possibilities is endless.
But regardless of the mitigating circumstances you cannot and should not make excuses.
In case you’ve forgotten, the Golden Rule says “treat others as you’d like to be treated.” With kindness, respect, and empathy. This is a great motto for living and exactly how you should train your employees to respond to customers, even if they’re unreasonable or difficult.
Handling negative reviews with this attitude will prevent you from responding with sarcasm, defensiveness, hostility or any other reactive emotion that might stain your reputation and cost you even more customers.
