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Running a business is a multifaceted investment. One must be cognizant of the business environment, cash flow system, other resources, and the customers’ attitude. Customers give their reviews about a business from time to time, and it’s no news that their opinions are varied. Some reviews reek of positivity and good appraisal, while others are negative and could be demeaning to the business owner. Whatever the business owner does, both types of reviews will always surface since you can never satisfy all the people all the time. But there’s no need to beat yourself up over bad reviews. Here are the reasons why.
Table of Contents
1.The Negative Reviews Will Always Come
Despite what you do as a business owner, you can prevent the bad reviews from streaming in. Just like you can’t stop others from competing with your business, there’s absolutely nothing you can do that will prevent customers from speaking their minds about your business. Some customers will have gold and perfume to say about the business, while others will see nothing but the negative side and besmirch your outlook. The faster you accept this reality, the easier the situation will be for you. It’s something that every business has had to deal with since customer complaints are as old as trade itself.
2.The Reviews Carry Some Importance
It’s even better to realize that not all bad or negative reviews carry a storm with them. In fact, the majority of negative reviews have a silver lining, which will be clear if you take a deep hard look into the criticism. The customers airing the negative reviews have a genuine concern that if your business is serious with, should address promptly. Of course, not all the negative reviews will have good intentions or will comprise fair criticism. Some want to wear you down for the sake of it. And you better note them and not waste time on such.
3.There’s Some Positivity in the Negativity
The fact that some people can turn lemons into lemonade is a worthy lesson for any business person. The negative criticism and the bad reviews spewed on your way can turn into a goldmine. With the right attitude, you can isolate the positivity in the negative reviews and correct your customer service approach to appease the enraged customers. Holding back and refusing to accept criticism will only deny you the chance to grow as your competitors are doing. To be on the safe side, you better learn how to draw the life out of the bad reviews.
4.Circumstances Could Have Led to the Bad Reviews
It’s wrong to assume that the customers who are giving the negative reviews are doing so out of jealousy or malice. If the bad reviews keep coming in, or if a negative review is coming from a loyal and established customer, it’s imperative to dissect it and get to the root cause. The truth is that the majority of the negative reviews stem from the business’s own undoing. The customer interactions that our businesses offer may not suffice the demands or expectations of our customers, and thus, the negative reviews keep coming in.
5.Your Final Valuation is Key
There’s no better review than your evaluation of the business performance. Once the business’s financial year is coming to a close, the business owners evaluate the performance of the business, either in terms of profits, the scope of the operation, or even customer base. These three parameters are vital in telling whether the business is doing well or needs a drastic change, of course. There’s no need to get beat up because of untrustworthy bad reviews, especially if the naysayers are anonymous, as most malicious people prefer. Remember that you’ll always have your records to tell whether the comments are genuine or not.
6. You Can Always Come Back
Bad reviews don’t necessarily mean the closure of a business. There’s more to business performance than negative comments. Training yourself to overcome the negative reviews is a crucial step to realizing your actual business potential. When customers leave negative reviews for your business, there are many ways to counter them. One of the most popular ways is to answer their criticism with positivity in your response and a promise to do better. Another common way is to appreciate the customer for their feedback. Whereas most business people choose to ignore the negative reviews, there can be no telling how much damage this can inflict on the business outlook.
7.It May Not Be What It Looks Like; the Customer may have Meant Well
It is human nature to miscalculate words, especially among people we hold dear or are comfortable with. The same analogy applies to business-customer interactions. Some customers will give out negative criticism in its most raw form, which may seem like a smack or a verbal attack on the business in the wrong interpretation. The truth is that these customers are already endeared to the business, and their response is out of care and admiration of better standards for the business. The business owner needs to analyze the responses and ascertain which ones are genuine and malicious.
8.The Fear May Be from Within
The least that a business owner will agree to is that the fear of interacting with the customers’ negative remarks may stem from within. Almost all of us act in a way that treats ourselves to a superiority complex over the rest. The same applies in the business world. No one will agree that they are afraid to face their ‘bullies.’ But in reality, the fear that keeps us from opening those chats and customer reviews stems from within. It may be satisfying to know that, on average, there are only about a drop of negative comments in a bowl full of positive appraisal.
9.It’s a Chance to Bring Your Team Together
Negative reviews are usually a chance to bring your team together. The loyal customers and those with good intentions will point out exactly what was unsatisfactory about the customer service or the quality of products. With such a quality of feedback, one can marshal the teams in the business and reiterate the fact that customer service is an unquestionable and unchallengeable front in business operations. The faster that the dents are rectified, the quicker the business grows. If, as a business owner, you overlook the customers’ negative reviews, you may be missing an opportunity to amplify the business performance.
10.The Loyal Customers Carry the Day
In every business, there’s a number of loyal customers that hold the business close to their hearts. These customers will be willing to tell when the business’ performance is dismal and whether the reviews are true or daft. These are the customers that will help alleviate your fears if you think the reviews have ill intentions. Of course, you can always call on them at the time of need. As long as you have such customers supporting your business, there’s little to be afraid of in customer reviews.
Conclusion
Business operations have a lot of factors that could weigh a person down. Customer reviews are one facet that some business owners do not want to interact with. The fear could be real or just a fallacy. However, there’s so much to borrow from customer reviews that could help the business sprout. The bulk of the fear is self-made and unrealistic, but there’s so much that one can comfortably do for the real worry.
Author Bio
Christine James believes that every customer has a voice. She is the Community Manager at HissingKitty.com (a customer complaints website) and loves talking to customers on social media about their challenges with Fortune 500 companies. Her work has been published on Huffington Post, Inc., SocialMediaToday, and Thought Catalog. Follow her on Twitter @hissingkittycom.
