As you keep the above in mind, here are some tips on how to address and respond to these reviews:

• First, make sure you respond. Many business owners just flat out stay silent. They leave the thousands of people who come across this review wondering why the company didn’t respond. Maybe the complaint is true and said company refuses to respond to complaints. This does not work how a company intends, and will seriously impact your business and the public’s perception. Always respond.
• Remember the response is to the person who wrote it, but it is also for the public who reads it. The priority with a negative review is to address it with your customer; but remember as you address it, the public will be reading it. They will take in how you respond to, treat, speak to, and handle conflict with a customer. This will be a driving factor in if they decide to eventually work with you.
• Call your customer first. I have had a couple of bad reviews where I was not aware of my customer’s dissatisfaction, and first found out online. I immediately called my customer to speak to them about it. Once we spoke and the issue was resolved, they changed and updated their review. Many times people are not willing to vent their frustration directly to you, and they will go online.
• Take ultimate ownership. If you dropped the ball, be honest and let your customer know that you dropped the ball. If there is something that needs correcting, correct it. Make this known in your response so others can see this. When you make things right, go above and beyond with your solution.
• Don’t fear a negative review. Embrace it! If your company has 100 reviews and 2 of them are negative, human nature will draw most people to read your negative review. As they do this, they will be evaluating how you responded to that review; did you own the issue, did you make it right? Is the person writing the review just a complainer who will never be happy? They will then most likely go read the 98 amazing reviews and your responses to those. Whether positive or negative, embrace these reviews and turn them into something that serves you!
• Don’t hide from negative reviews or try to bury them. I was recently in a meeting with a potential client. I know he found us on Google, and I know my company has some negative reviews on Google. When I was sharing with him why he should work with us, I pulled up these reviews and pointed them out. I shared what happened in each scenario, and what we did to correct things. He was impressed that I owned our imperfections and let him know how we showed our best even when the worst happened. He ended up hiring us.
  • By the way, when this customer hired us he also let us know that he knew one of the negative reviews was from a person who was always unhappy. He actually began to laugh about how unreasonable, unkind and unable to be pleased this customer was. He had looked into other reviews she had written about other companies, all of them had been 1-star. In each review, the company had responded very kindly yet directly that they did all they could to serve her and she would never be happy.
• Many times, the way a trolling and “never going to be happy” kind of customer writes their review speaks for itself. Their tone, approach, and explanation of their complaint is obviously a perfect representation of the fact that no one can ever do right in their eyes. Remember that the people reading this will see it! Your positive, kind, and direct response will only reconfirm to others the great company you are.
• Call people out! There will be times when somebody is writing about your company and things are just not true. Call that person out. Do it directly, kindly, and professionally, but call them out. It is important that you stand up for yourself, and to let the general public know that you stand up for yourself as well.

Remember as you venture into business, you will face negative reviews. Use them to show people who you are, what you stand for,  and how you handle situations when you screw up. Let your company’s values and personality shine through.

Remember three things:

I love you.

I believe in you.

You got this.

Now, go get it!

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