Building a good reputation for your restoration business takes far longer than it takes to ruin your business’s reputation. Fortunately, when you take the time to deal with bad restoration business reviews strategically, you can lessen their harm to your restoration business’s reputation and strengthen customer relationships. Here is how:
Obviously, the easiest way to deal with bad reviews of your restoration business is to avoid getting them in the first place. Usually, you’ll be able to tell during the job when a client is becoming frustrated with your service. With the right de-escalation strategies, you’ll be able to save your relationship and improve customer satisfaction.
For more advice on how to de-escalate with customers, check out our recent blog post.
You can’t mitigate the harm of your bad restoration business reviews if you never see them. Keep an eye on your Google Business Profile and social media accounts so you can stay up to date on any reviews and react promptly.
You should be responding to all of your restoration business’s reviews, including positive reviews. Responding to good reviews builds loyalty with existing customers and shows an investment in customer relationships to prospective customers. If you only respond when reviews are bad, it can come off like you only care when your neck is on the line.
Above all else, do not become defensive when you’re responding to negative reviews of your restoration business. Even if you don’t believe you did anything wrong, and even if they’re saying something factually incorrect. Getting defensive when responding to a bad review only makes matters worse.
Here are some important things to include in your response to a negative restoration business review:
There’s power in numbers. When shopping online, most people would trust a product with a 4.5-star rating and 1000 reviews more than a product with a 5-star rating and two reviews. That’s because we inherently understand that sample size matters. The same principle applies to restoration business reviews.
“It’s important to encourage the good, satisfied customers to also leave positive reviews to balance out anything negative online,” Jake Scorse, Contractor Success Manager at OCS, says. A few negative reviews here and there harm your restoration business’s reputation far less when they’re accompanied by primarily positive customer reviews.
Many bad restoration business reviews can be an important learning opportunity. “Sometimes the most challenging customers can actually help you identify potential areas to improve your business,” Jake points out.
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