I Need Advice About a Poor Google Review

As you likely already know, anything you do is fraught with potential negative effects on your business.

Leave the review up with no response and people think this may be true. Respond too forcefully, and people might think you are a bully to boot.

You seem - and this is to be expected - to want to make an emotional response. That would be ill-advised.

You have to make smart business decision, including how you respond to social media. In this day and age especially how you respond to social media.

My advice: Respond like a businessman.

Apologize for any misunderstanding but state your belief that no one would tell your patients (established or prospective) these things and that you and your staff, who have been in business for five years, strive to offer the highest quality services from before the first appt is made. Explain how Mitzi has 40 years of experience in the same location. State that you would appreciate the opportunity to earn Mr Wilson's business.

Bottom line: He probably doesn't want you and you probably don't want him but this is an opportunity to show that you are level-headed and care about people.

This is your opportunity to advertise that for free.

I would also advise that you pay extra attention to Mitzi's dealings with the public to make sure she is behaving appropriately unless you are already 100% sure that she would never say anything that could be misinterpreted or misunderstood in this way by any reasonable person.

Good people are very difficult to find for that type of position. It can be very demanding and takes a particular set of skills that seem more and more difficult to find and keep, so doing the above with some stealth and only if you have a doubt is in order.

Running a business is hard. Building a reputation is difficult. 5 years is long enough to build a pretty good base and those who know you and your staff will know the truth, but you want to continue to build so responding with finesse and grace will help in that endeavor.

To sum it up:

Divorce your emotions from your response and use this as an opportunity to grow your business.

FWIW, we've been through about 3 Mitzi's in less than 2 years, but each had issues that could not be overcome. I've been here three years and building our base has taken a long time and we still have a ways to go. Two things have stood in the way: Poor decision making by former "leaders" and poor decisions by staff (that was too often directly or indirectly caused or made worse by poor leadership decisions). We've had to delay expanding services so we can get the right pieces in the right places. That's how vital getting and keeping the right people is.

Good luck, keep a level head, be a businessman, and provide leadership and all will be well.

Go Bama said:

That’s an amazingly well thought out response, NT. I owe you a bottle of wine. Sincerely, thank you for taking the time to help me.

Click to expand...

I'll PM you my consultation fee, but wave it.

I wonder if there is a market for such consultations (my mind is always going).

On a serious note, you are welcome. I've been around the block a time or two and still make plenty of mistakes. That and observation are how I learned most of the little I know.

The trick in your position is to think before you act (and speak) and consider other points of view in that process. By Considering "appearances" (really, just how things might appear to others) you can avoid many missteps and do things in such a way that proves you care more than just about appearances.

I've had to deal with problem people and sometimes you have to kick established people to the curb or avoid forming a lasting relationship with someone you know will be a problem, disruption, and/or liability. So you may even want to decline the advice about a declaration that you want to earn his business because there's a good chance you don't. That has to also be considered.

Respond to the review if you can, using calming words, maybe even apologizing for the misunderstanding (I'm sure you can work around actually apologizing for an event you say didn't happen, but you get the idea). Then give the number to the office out and tell them you'd like a chance to earn her business. If you get a legitimate female call you can address the situation, if nobody ever calls you've at least shown you're customer oriented.

I personally would find the guy and leave his dog's head in his bed beside him, but that's why I'm not in a public related field of employment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

NationalTitles17 said:

As you likely already know, anything you do is fraught with potential negative effects on your business.

Leave the review up with no response and people think this may be true. Respond too forcefully, and people might think you are a bully to boot.

You seem - and this is to be expected - to want to make an emotional response. That would be ill-advised.

You have to make smart business decision, including how you respond to social media. In this day and age especially how you respond to social media.

My advice: Respond like a businessman.

Apologize for any misunderstanding but state your belief that no one would tell your patients (established or prospective) these things and that you and your staff, who have been in business for five years, strive to offer the highest quality services from before the first appt is made. Explain how Mitzi has 40 years of experience in the same location. State that you would appreciate the opportunity to earn Mr Wilson's business.

Bottom line: He probably doesn't want you and you probably don't want him but this is an opportunity to show that you are level-headed and care about people.

This is your opportunity to advertise that for free.

I would also advise that you pay extra attention to Mitzi's dealings with the public to make sure she is behaving appropriately unless you are already 100% sure that she would never say anything that could be misinterpreted or misunderstood in this way by any reasonable person.

Good people are very difficult to find for that type of position. It can be very demanding and takes a particular set of skills that seem more and more difficult to find and keep, so doing the above with some stealth and only if you have a doubt is in order.

Running a business is hard. Building a reputation is difficult. 5 years is long enough to build a pretty good base and those who know you and your staff will know the truth, but you want to continue to build so responding with finesse and grace will help in that endeavor.

To sum it up:

Divorce your emotions from your response and use this as an opportunity to grow your business.

FWIW, we've been through about 3 Mitzi's in less than 2 years, but each had issues that could not be overcome. I've been here three years and building our base has taken a long time and we still have a ways to go. Two things have stood in the way: Poor decision making by former "leaders" and poor decisions by staff (that was too often directly or indirectly caused or made worse by poor leadership decisions). We've had to delay expanding services so we can get the right pieces in the right places. That's how vital getting and keeping the right people is.

Good luck, keep a level head, be a businessman, and provide leadership and all will be well.

Click to expand...

the bolded text is wonderful advice. i have to remind myself of that weekly.

AlexanderFan said:

---snip---
I personally would find the guy and leave his dog's head in his bed beside him, but that's why I'm not in a public related field of employment.

Click to expand...

Whoa whoa whoa.......why hurt his dog? What did the poor dog do to deserve losing his head?

I know it's a figure of speech you are trying to use but please.....perhaps something like "I would leave a big bag of doo doo." instead of man's best friend.

Great advice so far otherwise.....:wink:

Go Bama - thanks for posting in our community. Stuff like this, as unfortunate as it is, provides educational moments for all.

As I said, great advice given to you so far.

I'm wondering how many positive reviews you have and if another strategy would be to campaign to get as many of those as possible to add to what's currently posted.

My dentist actually sent me an email with a request to post a review after a visit last year. And I followed through for him and his staff as they always do a great job and I thought deserved the appropriate accolades.

As far as the negative post....yes indeed I would respond with something like "We are concerned that you had a negative experience but after considerable discussion with my staff, we think there must be some kind of mix up. As far as we know, we have never turned any prospective client/patient/customer (whichever is appropriate) away and have a track record as you can see per the many positive reviews that we strive to maintain as much satisfaction as possible. Please accept our apologies for the misunderstanding and let us know if we can help to resolve in any way. Thank you!"

I'd also give Mitzi a nice vase of fresh flowers with a small thank you note for all she does to help you day in and day out. I'm sure she deserves it and it's money well spent to provide a good vibe going forward.

Good luck, Doc!

BTW....I also think this review was (as you suspected) generated by that sales person. Bush league and I would let them know it, in some fashion.

Don't know what the rest of your reviews look like but if that is the only negative review you have (or one of only a handful), as one who reads reviews regularly, I would ignore it. It would not keep me from trying you if I was looking for a new dentist. If I see a business/product with a ~four star rating with mostly 3-4-5 star ratings and only a handful of 1-2 star ratings most likely the low reviews are wrong and chronic complainers. Give the readers of your reviews the benefit of the doubt they can see the big picture and not one complainer.

For some humor on the situation. Jimmy Fallon and Asis Ansari read Yelp reviews.

92tide said:

the bolded text is wonderful advice. i have to remind myself of that weekly.

Click to expand...

I just keep a bottle of Jack Daniels in my desk drawer and have a couple of sips of it, get up from my desk, walk around the office for a few minutes before I respond to an email or a post on the non-sports board.

Bazza said:

Whoa whoa whoa.......why hurt his dog? What did the poor dog do to deserve losing his head?

I know it's a figure of speech you are trying to use but please.....perhaps something like "I would leave a big bag of doo doo." instead of man's best friend.

Great advice so far otherwise.....:wink:

Click to expand...

Because you only cross this Dentist once Bazza [emoji57]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Go Bama said:

Here’s my first draft:

[FONT="]Hi Thomas, thank you for taking the time to write a review. I’m very sorry to hear you had a bad experience on the telephone before even getting to our office. I’ve shown your review to Mitzi and I can assure you that my staff and I take our reviews seriously. We would love to have you as a dental patient. If you would like to resolve this issue please contact me at [EMAIL="fotfrocks@gmail.com"]fotfrocks@gmail.com[/EMAIL]. I’m certain we can find a solution amicably.[/FONT]
[FONT="]Very sincerely,[/FONT][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#000000][FONT="]Joe Widner[/FONT]

Click to expand...

Joe, I think this is a well thought out and respectful response. You can only control so much in how people behave, but I believe as NT said, "respond like a businessman" is sound advice.