BILL'S SMALL BUSINESS BLOG
Mar 9
A friend of mine recently wrote an online review for a restaurant that just opened in the city where I live. It wasn’t a bad review. He simply mentioned, in a gracious way, some good things about the restaurant and some areas for improvement. I read the review. It was thoughtful, accurate, and even-handed.
Then a firestorm erupted.
My friend, a fairly well-known person in our college town, was blasted for his review and informed by his company’s representatives that such behavior would not be tolerated. He withdrew the post and paused to reflect.
We should pause, too. We all welcome access the internet has given us to thousands and thousands of people ready to buy our products and services. It’s a total game-changer for small businesses. But it has also changed the rules of engagement with those people.
In the past if someone critiqued your business, no one knew about it. Sure, there was the Better Business Bureau, but even then the critique may never see the light of day. Today, however, everyone knows about it. And, trust me on this, that is a very, very good thing.
Why?
When a potential customer observes you interacting with people who comment on your blog or post an unfavorable review in a genuine, authentic (and dare I say humble?) way, trust and respect actually grows. That’s because transparency is attractive. The way up is down.
Everyone knows that businesses aren’t perfect, and when you address your imperfections with honesty and grace, others are drawn too you. They’ll become convinced that’s how you’ll treat them.
A new skill, then, for business use of social media is actually an old skill we learned as children: saying sorry. Here’s how to do that from Chris Brogan’s new book, Trust Agents:
- Acknowledge. Start by telling the person that you accept that something happened.
- Apologize. Make sure you clearly and simply say that you’re sorry, with no excuses added on.
- Act. Explain what you’ll do to improve and rectify the situation.
Simple, powerful, effective. And essential for using social media where everything about your business is out there for the whole world to see.
Here’s a great example of how to do that: My First “Bad” Review by Chris Nordyke.
What do you think?
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