Are You Ignoring Bad Online Reviews?

The other day I was doing my normal reading of blogs, etc. and notice a statistic that I found quite interesting, but a little disturbing.

72% of Bad Reviews Online Are Left Unanswered.

I don't know whether this number is correct or not, but the point is that many negative reviews are left unanswered. I know this first hand because I have left some that have become ignored.

So, should you ever ignore a bad online review?  I am sure some people will say yes, but I am not one of them.  These are my tips for online reviews:

1) Find Customer: First, find out who the customer is that posted the review.  Reach out to them offline and attempt to solve the issue.  If it is resolved, ask them to remove or modify the review.  Even if it is not completely resolved, just the act of reaching out may cause the person to modify their review to be a little more positive.

2) Fake Review: If the review is flat out wrong, or obviously posted by a competitor, etc. make a simple statement that you would like to understand the problem this customer has. If you have no idea who the customer is and cannot determine when the problem occurred, add that you would be willing to discuss this if they would come forward. This puts the reviewer on the hook to further clarify the problem, or look as if it was fake.  Most people reading the review will figure it out that this is a fake or untrue review.

3) Post Response: If there are circumstances surrounding the incident, or issues, then let others know.  Maybe it was right after a fire and you were out of chicken, or if you had half of your staff out because of a funeral. Maybe the customer was drunk and you had to call the police? Just make sure you provide only facts, not your subjective comments.

4) Be Positive:  No matter what, try to stay as positive as possible and keep from the urge of telling the person off.  The last thing you want to do is start fighting with a reviewer online, as this will be a back and forth brawl and you will certainly come out the loser.  Thank the customer for their comments and apologize that they were not satisfied with whatever it was.

5) Answer Positive Reviews:  I don't understand why more businesses don't post comments to positive reviews. If a customer posts a good review about your company why not post a response such as "Thanks for your nice comments, really glad you stopped by and we appreciate your business, please stop by again"

6) Solicit Reviews: Of course the best thing you can do to offset a bad review is to have many many good reviews.  Do you have systems setup in your business whereby customers know how to leave a review on Google, Yelp, YP, etc?  Why not make up a little card that explains how and ask customers if they like what you did if they would leave a review?

Small Businesses have a unique and really inexpensive marketing tool.  Using Reviews to your advantage by not only answering negative ones, but commenting on positive ones and also asking for reviews.  Take the time to follow these rules and you will see results.  Remember, people like to hear what other people have to say about your business much more than they want to hear what you have to say.

Is Customer Satisfaction Enough for Your Small Business???

I was recently working on a presentation about customer service and while doing my normal research  I found some very interesting information. Probably the most profound statistic I found was about customer satisfaction:

"86% of customers who go with a competitor express total satisfaction with the previous company"

This got me thinking. If great customer service is what we are always talking about in small business,  yet 86% of our customers are willing to try someone else, is customer satisfaction what we are really looking for?

Lets take a look at really good companies such as Southwest Airlines, Amazon.com, Nordstrom, Zappos and even Starbucks. Do they have satisfied customers?  Yes, but their customers are not only satisfied, they are "Devoted Customers".  The customers only shop at their stores unless they really can not get what they want, another business is always a second choice.  They are also the "Brand Advocates", who talk up your brand to other people.  These are the customers you want.

In my research I also discovered 44% of customers state their buying experience as Bland, Boring and Impersonal.  And we wonder why 86% will try someone else.

These are 8 steps you need to take to get these "Devoted Customers"!!

1) Create Excitement! Not only about your products but your brand, your people, etc.

2) Listen to your customers! Really be sure you are giving your customers exactly what they want and asking them for their input. Make them feel part of the "Team"

3) WOW them! You have to WOW people so when a customer shops at your business, they go "WOW, that was an awesome experience!"  How many times have you been WOW'd by a business??  I know it is rare for me to be WOW'd by a business, but when I am, I am committed to them.

4) Go Beyond Expectations! Many businesses talk about their great customers service, but the ones that really stand out are the ones that deliver to their customers much more than they ever expected.  Give the customers something they did not expect.

5) Build Relationships! Customers really like doing business with friends, or people they like.  You and your employees need to get to know your customers.  Know your customers by name, know where they work, their families, and make note of when something exciting happens. This isn't just about sending a birthday card, it is about telling customers you heard their child just made the honor roll, or just came in first place, or they just got a promotion, etc.

6) Make sure every experience a customer has is positive! Don't every let  a customer have a negative experience about your company.  This applies not only when they are buying, but also your accounting department, your website, your marketing and even your delivery person.  Make sure every touch point is a positive one.

7) Reward Your Best Customers! Don't you just hate it when you see a great special being offered to new customers for the company you have been loyal to for years.  Nothing wrong with giving enticements to new customers for signing up, but don't forget about the loyal customers who help you get where you are at. Award them from time to time something special and unexpected, these gifts will pay you back in more loyal customers.

8) Hire, Train and Keep Motivated Employees! A book I read many years ago was 'The Customer Comes Second."  This is a great book about in order to treat customers right, you have to have a good motivated staff who wants to provide and knows the importance of providing great service.  To accomplish this you should setup systems that allow customers to easily comment about employees, and then have reward systems in place for great service.

As a small business owner, or new entrepreneur, you have a big advantage over larger competitors.  You can really get to know your customers, you are a member of the community, you can really listen to your customers and thus respond quicker to what they want.  Be sure you use this to your advantage as a small business owner.

In the next post I will discuss the importance of really understanding your customers.  Stay tuned!

Small Business Now and Five Years Ago - Different?

Constant Contact recently conducted a survey of about 1000 small business throughout the United States to ask about doing business now compared to five years ago.  59% of small business owners say it is much tougher running a business now than five years ago.  Some of the reasons, include rapid change in technology and trying to keep up with it, there is more competition for almost every type of business and there is still a major uncertainy about the economy which means many are still reluctant to hire.

Hard to imagine it is only five years, but look how much just marketing has changed in the last five years.  Moving much more towards online and away from traditional.  For many really small businesses the change has been hard to keep up with, but is also a great opportunity to get your message out to 1000s of people for little money. 

Click here to see the entire survey results, really interesting.

This Social Media Thing Might Catch On!

Over the last two days Leslie Coty of Coty Connections (www.cotyconnections.com) has been doing a class on using Facebook in your small business.  This whole social media thing is so confusing to many small businesses, even me,  and is why we do these classes.

Leslie started off with a cool video about social media in general and the affect it has on our lives.  If you get a chance click on this link and watch http://youtu.be/QUCfFcchw1w 

Even more importantly as a small business owner you need to be aware of the impact social media has, or will have on your business.  Take the necessary time to learn how to use these tools (they are tools just like QuickBooks is for your accounting) to grow your business.  The business owner who fails to recognize the impact social media does and will have on their business, will be sitting on the sidelines as your competitors fly by.

Tom

www.RoanokeSmallBusiness.org 

Health care law and small business

There is a lot of information flying around as to the effect the new Health care law (otherwise known as Obamacare, or Affordable Care Act) will have on small business.  

I hear from small businesses everyday and many of them complain about the inability to obtain decent health insurance for themselves and their employees.  Of course the majority of my clients fall in under the threshold of either 25, or 50 employees so my perspective may be different than those of the small businesses that have more than 50 employees.

For the most part, the new health care law (at least in appearance as that is all we can judge at this time) seems to be good for small businesses.  It will allow them to get coverage through what is called SHOP or Small Business Health Options (I guess SBHOP didn't make sense), and there are tax credits (these are credits, not deductions) which allows small businesses to get some credit back for the premiums paid.

If you want more information you can go to www.sba.gov/healthcare, or click here for a nice summary of the healthcare law on small businesses.

Tom
www.RoanokeSmallBusiness.org 

WOW, The IRS Makes Something Simpler

The IRS has just published a new option for business owners who operate out of their homes.  In the past it was formula based and had to include totals for electricity, insurance, mortgage interest and even depreciation.

For 2013, an individual who operates their business out of their home, and thus is where their office is located, can now use a figure of $5 a square foot, with a maximum 300 square feet ($1,500 max deduction).  No other record keeping is necessary, but you also can't claim any other expenses.  If you file a Schedule A (itemized deductions) you can also claim mortgage interest and taxes on your personal return.

Of course you still have to abide by the general rules of home office deduction which means it has to be a dedicated area (not your dining room table on Fridays) and must be your principal place of business.  There are a few other requirements.  You can also continue to use the old system for claiming deduction if you wish.

Be sure if you are working out of your home and allowed to take this deduction that you do so. It is always nice when the IRS actually makes our life easier.

Tom

Year End is approaching - Tax time to think about

As a small business owner hopefully it has been a good year for you.  If so, you should be thinking about how to reduce your tax liability for the year.  This might be by purchasing new equipment and taking advantage of the generous IRS 179 deduction for this year ($139,000 for 2012 vs only $25,000 for 2013). 

All small business owners should be thinking about their retirement.  If you are not contributing to a personal IRA or Roth, you should be.  Other options available to you include Simple IRA, SEP IRA and now even a solo 401K.  Many of these have very high contribution limits that you can save for retirement and at the same time, reduce your income tax liability.  Talked to your accountant for more information on how to setup these programs.

There are also a bunch of new tax law changes for 2013, especially if the fiscal cliff discussions don't get resolved.  The biggest tax change to affect everyone working is the increase of 2% in the payroll tax.  This will go into affect no matter what so expect at least 2% more tax being taken out for social security (or self employment tax) than there was in 2012 (up to the social security limit).  If you have employees, let them know so they are no shocked.

Follow this link for a great article on the changes in taxes for 2013.

http://taxes.about.com/od/deductionscredits/tp/Tax-Provisions-Expiring-At-The-End-Of-2012.htm?nl=1

I hope everyone has a profitable Christmas shopping season.

Tom

www.RoanokeSmallBusiness.org