Negative Reviews Are Great

Trust me when I say that negative reviews are GREAT, as long as they come in moderation. We have all been told that negative reviews can absolutely kill a business’ reputation, but maybe, just maybe, they can help! Sometimes a negative review is just what a business owner needs. Negative reviews are a way of gaining or seeing things from the customer’s point of view. They can help you gain beneficial information that may have been off of your radar when it comes to your product or service. Because the case has been made so heavily, that bad reviews mean bad everything else, we have learned to embrace them as negative all the way across the board. But why? Are we so blind and naïve as business owners to think that our business is perfect? Have we forgotten that our businesses are ran by other human beings that, contrary to some people’s beliefs, make mistakes? It seems as if so. If we stopped just for a moment and reflected on the situation and accepted the negative review as an actual critique from that customer, couldn’t we only get better? And if we stopped and took on the accountability of the mistake to make it right, wouldn’t that actually show that we care?

See, we have been told by so many media outlets and marketing experts that we cannot afford to have even 1 bad review. We put so much emphasis on this point, that when a mistake is made, we are ready to pounce on our employees like a cheetah on an antelope, causing our employees to work in fear of that one complaining customer. But really, WHO CARES?  If that customer who is out to condemn every business that they frequent, wants to complain about your business to the whole world via internet, let them. You aren’t going to change who they are. No matter what you do, odds are, they will find something else to complain about. So let them!  Just be sure to address the situation in a professional manner and make sure that the majority gets to hear your version. The majority of customers understand that mistakes will be made. And as long as it is fixed, they are ok with it. They also understand that there are miserable people in the world looking to bring down anyone that they can. So let’s focus on the positives that we bring to the table rather than the rare and occasional negatives that we receive. We need to stop giving these negative people so much power!