Responding to Negative Criticisms
May 13th, 2012
If you own a business or plan to start your own business, one of the traits you may want to cultivate is a thick skin.If you want to make it far and be successful, you will surely have to face negative criticisms along the road especially in today’s business landscape.
With the rise of social media platforms like FaceBook ,Twitter and online review sites like Yelp and CitySearch, it is just so easy to say negative comments, because people have the convenience and the anonymity that Internet gives.
These negative criticisms can be about your product or service, or it can be directly about your company. In some instances, the criticism will be directed at you personally. The source can also vary. There will be professional critics who may write scathing reviews about your product or company. There are those from competitors who want to ruin your company’s image and reputation. And then there are criticisms directly from consumers who were not happy about your product or service.
If you have a couple of “yes” men around you who just agree with what you say and think that you can’t do no wrong, they will probably advise you to ignore these negative criticisms. However, that is the wrong approach. You have to look at this as an opportunity to improve your business. After all, however hurtful a comment may be, it may still lend a helpful outside perspective that you might have missed being the owner.
What you should do
For starters, you have to filter useful comments from those that aren’t. People who just leave comments like “your place sucks,” or “this is the worst place I’ve been in my entire life” offer you nothing helpful, so you can discard their comments.
On the other hand, there are those who provide constructive criticisms by pointing out areas you can improve on. From the simple comments about your place of operation to the product or service itself, there are many things that you can easily improve on just by going though these criticisms.
What you should not do
What you should not do is lash out against those that are giving negative comments, even those who are not saying anything constructive. In fact, it is highly advisable to not respond to people who are not giving useful criticisms as they are probably just trying to get a rise out of you. In other words, they are probably “trolling” you.
Another thing you should not do is be defensive. Remember that people are entitled to their opinion and it may be different from yours. What you can do is try to see their side of things and find out if it really does have some merit so that you can address their concern. If the negative criticism is just about difference of preference, well you just have to remember that you cannot please everybody.
How to respond
You can also use social media sites to connect with your critics. You can say “we are happy to hear your comments and rest assured, we will do what we can to improve our product/service.” Or if you do not agree with the comments, you can probably say something like “We have not realized that our product/service is perceived that way so thank you for raising it to our attention, however, from our perspective, ______ (Fill blank with your polite defense).”
You can also improve your customer service so that people will have an avenue where they can air their concerns privately and not in a public forum. A good way to do this is to get a toll-free number, so that you can give customers a free line of communication. Most VoIP service providers usually have packages that include toll free numbers with their phone systems just like RingCentral phone systems.
Just remember, the road to success is filled with challenges. Negative criticisms are not even the worst of it. If y