Years ago I took a sales training course to emotionally entrap clients into the program I worked for (how evil, I know!). One good statistic stuck in my mind though. For every good experience a customer has, they might go out and tell 7 people about it, but for every bad experience, they might go tell 10. Right there it showed how a negative reputation can do so much more damage than a good one can fix!

In a culture hooked on fear, chaos, and bad news (just look at our media!) - bet on people being more inclined to complain about your business and services than praise them. Word-of-mouth still trumps most forms of marketing, people trust their friends and associates more than anyone else, and a poor review can erase whatever positive image a potential customer held before. If the client holds enough bitterness and resentment, these complaints can go on for years whenever your business or products come up in conversation. That's a lot of bad karma.

The Dangers of Social Networking

On the Internet, businesses need to be wearier. You need to be cautious and start to protect your online reputation now. On social networking sites, people welcomed into your circle who then get rubbed the wrong way can immediately begin giving you and your name negative rep. They can start posting harmful comments to your updates, groups, and fan pages. While you can kick them out of your lists and try to delete and fight off their messages spreading like a wild-fire, you cannot fully erase the damage. Even future positive comments will take some time to re-establish client confidence.

The Dangers of Online Business Listings

Business listings present even a bigger threat. Sites like YellowPages.com, Yahoo! Local, City Search, and other directories allow people to rate and review businesses. Most of the time, these reviews cannot be removed by you and can remain for years resulting in thousands, possibly millions of bad exposure. People usually only bother writing a review if they loved your services or hated them. A few bad reviews can cut a five star rating into a three, plunging your perceived greatness into mediocrity. Without any positive reviews to counter the good ones, your business will look like a shady one star money-trap hell-hole to potentials online.

How to Protect Your Online Reputation

So, what can you do to protect yourself and your company from the reviews of death?

1. Practice “The customer is always right.” Even if they will no longer be a client of yours, even if they wasted your money, treat them as well as possible and make every effort to correct the wrong they see. At the very least, they’ll complain less, and they might even look like a jerk in front of your other clients.

2. Make sure your customers always feel like they’re benefiting from your services. Whether you’re giving them monthly deals or ensuring that you’re producing a high quality product, if you cannot create something of value, you won’t be able to stay in business for long anyway.

3. The price needs to be right. Customers don’t like being ripped off and if they think you’ve been pulling a fast one on them with their money, it won’t take much to push their already disgruntled attitude over the edge. You won’t be making much money if swarms of unsatisfied customers put you out of business.

4. Let your clients know you care and appreciate them! Reward them for making referrals, find common ground to relate to, and let them know if it weren’t for them, you wouldn’t be in business in the first place. Show you are grateful for the opportunity to serve them.

5. Encourage positive feedback. While it’s best to gain good reviews organically, by your customer’s own will, it does not hurt to ask for a review here and there when you know you got 1-4 already down. People want to share good services with their friends and family and you can even reward them for doing it!

6. Start protecting your name in search engines by using this guide on how to protect your online reputation in Google Listings.

7. You'll want to use the following list of Internet services to really boost your online business reputation management.

8. Read these additional business practices that will further organize and manage your online business reputation.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting you just roll over at every client’s whim. There are plenty of people out there just looking to waste your time, money, and cause you and your business grief. You need to watch out for these people. At the same time though, your customers and clients provide your livelihood. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Some dog’s barks are worse than their bite.

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