If you are just starting out in your new business keep in mind one of the most important aspects that will see your business through in the long run: managing and maintaining a good reputation.  I have known many business owners who at the turn of the internet age and furious online reviews did not realize the impact those reviews could make to their livelihoods.  Some business owners at first did not even know that reviews existed.  

With all of that in mind, and ever since the dawn of massive reviews, I have made it one of my priorities in every consultation to inform business owners about the importance of monitoring their online reputations.

One of the best approaches is to utilize programs that pull all your reviews from over 70+ search engines into one easy to manage portal. With this method, you can literally have a bird’s eye view of everything being said online about your business.

For instance, we offer a program called: Bella Media Services Digital Knowledge Manager. The program can allow you to receive alerts to your email or text when a new review has come in and at that time you can reply to the review from the portal with a quick, easy click of a button.  Replying to every review is highly recommended so that people know that you care about their opinions whether positive or negative. 

Although, replying to negative reviews is much more sensitive in nature, and if you find that the customer has irritated you with their review take 24-48 hours to cool down before replying or calling the customer to try to mend fences. We offer consultation and assist our customers with review replies to help alleviate any further damage to their review scores. 

Today, it is always better to please every customer before they escape your door or leave your online store. A proactive approach is most preferable to keep bad reviews from piling up.  Offline resolution is better than getting into an argument in the world of online review replies.  They can spiral out of control.  Some aggressive customers/clients can get their friends involved to make your life even more difficult.  A gracious reply and an apology are often all that is needed and show the customer and the online world that you took responsibility for the mistake.

As human beings, we will make mistakes. Many people are commonly objective by most standards and will view a business with a 4-5-star rating as exemplary.  Restaurants and other businesses that serve the public more closely on a regular basis may need more help in reputation management to keep the star score as high as possible.

Lastly, reviews can make or break your business so please make it a top priority. Wishing everyone reading this blog the best of success with every customer/client and a boatload of positive reviews!