Reputation management has become more and more important as the years progress. In the old days businesses relied solely on word of mouth for their reputation – if you did a good job then your business boomed as it was recommended by people to other people – simple. However, these days things have got a lot more complex when it comes to reputation management. You have the internet and social media to contend with and armies of people willing to complain and gripe about the slightest perception of “bad service”. With that in mind we look at some of the ways we can improve reputation management for businesses.
Improving Customer Service
There are a variety of things you can do to quickly and easily improve your customer service at your business. Firstly, make sure that staff are instructed in how to address customers, how to deal with complaints and how to make friendly small chat. Anyone in a customer facing role – whether it is as a receptionist, a dentist or a salesperson should have a clear understanding of polite etiquette. Simple courtesies like asking for feedback, offering help, smiling and asking “how are you today” greatly improve the customer experience.
Go The Extra Mile
People who have an average customer experience aren’t going to sing your praises to anyone – we all expect a minimum level of customer service these days. The trick really is to go the extra mile with customers so that they become advocates for your business. People who feel extra taken care of, have received special attention or freel like they have got a great deal or service are much more likely to give positive reviews to other people and online.
Secure Your Social Platforms
Not just Facebook and Twitter etc. In order to succeed with online reputation management you need to be actively engaged on all major platforms. Complaints and negative reviews should be responded to courteously and sensibly – do not let your emotions dictate your response. It is a good idea to secure all review and social platforms and monitor them. Also remember to solicit reviews from your customers – you can simply ask them to review you on a particularly platform. Only asking the happy customers increases the likelihood you will have more positive than negative reviews.
Dominate the Search Engines
If you make sure that your social profiles are all complete and active and you have reputable business listings online it is likely that any negative comments about your business won’t actually appear high enough in the search engines for you to need to worry about them. You should still respond politely to criticism and take an active involvement but if you have proper marketing in place people won’t see them anyway. Getting negative reviews removed can be a painful process and can cause you new problems – as happened here. Try to be courteous and kind and only use legal action as a very last resort.
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