I think it’s important for any business owner from time to time to look themselves up on the internet to see what comes up in the search. Some of these reviews can catch you off guard. And I agree with Jason – once a review is on the web, it’s there to stay and the only way is to get enough good reviews through the continued quality service to eventually balance out any negativity. Also, how about reaching out to those individuals to left poor reviews or encouraging them to come forward and start a dialogue to see how things can be improved to change the initial perception.

Good for you Lida! Great that you have surrounded yourself with customers that are the promoters of your business

Completely agree with you Melissa.

I’m sorry to hear about your experiences K. I hope you made your voice heard and took your concern to the management of the organization. Don’t know all the details but it’s such a shame to leave customers is situation like yours.

Yes Vanessa, an unfortunate circumstance but once that review is out there, whether it’s true or completely false it can be very damaging nonetheless. This is one of the challenges that the instant upload of information from any device, anywhere has caused. The hope is that with the continuation of your high quality service some recent good reviews will bury those bad ones further down the page or at the very least, turn them into an anomaly rather than a trend.

This is so true. The power of controlling the future success of our businesses is with the customers. I would add to it, even with the public at large. A Google search of our company has recently revealed two completely unexpected reviews – both strikingly negative. The nature of those reviews led us to believe that they may have been written by a disgruntled employee. We did respond to them as a part of damage control. But regardless of the response you can come up with on behalf of your business, the damage is done and all of those reviews are a permanent part of your company’s online profile.