Owning a business is filled with ups and downs. There’s always a lot more to running a business than it may seem at first. These things aren’t always negative or bad, being busy and having a lot to handle is a good problem to have. But with so many things on your plate, receiving bad news of any kind can feel like a devastating blow. When you get your first negative review, there are a few things to keep in mind.
It’s not the end of the world
It feels like the end of the world, we know. Having a bad review reflects negatively on your business, but the good news is that you can never please everyone. Once you realize that not everyone will like you and your business, it’s a lot easier to come to terms with the negative review. To put things into perspective, just think about this; not everyone like Beyonce. With this perspective, it should be a little bit easier to accept the negative review you received and move forward. Let the negative review set a fire in you and let yourself use the review to improve and make your business better.
Reach out to apologize
“The customer is always right” isn’t technically true, the customers often aren’t right. Despite that, you should strive to make them feel like they’re right. If they had a bad enough experience with your business, reply to their review expressing that you’re sorry. Don’t try to make excuses, simply apologize and let them know you’re making efforts to strive to be better and resolve the problems that they brought to your attention.
It may seem humiliating to reach out and admit wrong when it’s very possible that you weren’t actually in the wrong. But by accepting responsibility publically, you invalidate their complaint. When someone comes to read your reviews, they’ll see that you responded positively and kindly to a negative review, and will therefore give you the benefit of the doubt. It will never hurt you or your business to be nice.
Make efforts to be better
Even though you can’t please everyone, try to read the bad review from an objective stance. Obviously they were dissatisfied with your services. Try to address what happened, and then strive to mend these issues to eliminate the possibility of a future negative review. These bad reviews help you and your business become better, so make sure you learn from it!