How A Negative Reputation Impacts Your Business

How a Negative Reputation Impacts Your Business

Contractors rely heavily on reviews and referrals to get new business. For many contractors, this happens without any issues. Unfortunately, some professionals find that customers have left negative reviews online about their company. This leaves them wondering how to get rid of a bad reputation online. One tool they can count on is the Reputation Manager from CraftJack. Contact us to find out more about this service.

How a Negative Reputation Impacts Your Business 2

Around 93% of customers read reviews for businesses before they decide which contractor they’ll work with. By ensuring your online presence is a positive one that shows you’re a reputable contractor, you can gain loyal customers and grow your business considerably.

How Do Bad Online Reviews Affect Your Business?

Before many people decide to work with a company, they read the reviews previous customers have posted online. Some people have specific things they look for, such as how fast jobs are done or the quality of the work. It’s imperative you ensure the reviews customers post online portray your company accurately.

Bad online reviews can have a negative impact on your company. They might make someone who’s put your company on their shortlist second-guess their decision. This could cost you a client who could be very loyal to your company but never had the chance to see your work because they saw a bad review and decided not to contact you.

Why Would A Client Leave A Negative Review?

Clients leave negative reviews for a variety of reasons. Some might not be happy with the work you did; however, they may not have given you the opportunity to correct the negative aspects of the job. Instead, they just post the bad review.

Sometimes, bad reviews come more out of frustration with one aspect of the job. The client may do this in the heat of the moment and then forget they posted it. This means they won’t take it down because it isn’t on their mind to do so.

Clients who owe you money and aren’t responding well to your collection attempts may do this out of anger. These reviews are hard to deal with because the person might be reacting to their emotions over the collections process.

It’s also possible that the person who posted the review did so because they work for a competitor that’s trying to harm your business. This is the worst kind of negative review for some contractors because the accusations in the review are fraudulent.

How Can You Get Rid of Reviews Claiming Bad Contractor Work?

It isn’t easy to get rid of a negative review that’s posted online. Most review websites won’t allow the contractor to pull down negative reviews because they want to provide unbiased information. When this is the case, all hope might not be lost.

Many online review websites have clear terms of service guidelines stipulating that reviews must be made by an actual client of the business and the information must be factual. In the case of a review that’s done by a fraudulent person or that contains inaccurate information, disputing the review might be the best course of action.

When you learn about a negative review of your business online, try not to react out of anger. You should react swiftly but make sure you think carefully about your response. Even though the review of your company is negative, there’s still a chance you can use it to bring business to your company. Remember these points as you reply to negative reviews online:

  • The reviewer may only want to have the issue fixed. In your public reply to the customer, acknowledge that you understand they aren’t happy and provide a way for them to contact you to come up with a solution. The goal here is to make others see that providing top-notch customer service is your priority.
  • Never say anything mean or degrading to the reviewer. You need to remain professional in your reply so people who read the reviews will notice you’re a respectful company.
  • Only offer solutions you’re willing to do. The reviewer should get what you promise. Not only can this help you win customers despite the negative review, but it may also help you win back the customer who wrote the review when they realize you really do stand behind your work.

One thing many contractors don’t realize is just how much time they can spend trying to manage their online reputation. Instead of trying to do it all yourself and allowing your business to suffer, you can use the online Reputation Manager that’s powered by CraftJack. This enables you to grow your business and ensure your clients are happy moving forward so you don’t have to worry about mitigating the impacts of negative reviews online.