A Class in Crisis Management – Coping with Bad Reviews
A feedback is very important for any business. Getting a feedback determines how you have been managing your clients, and where you stand. It also shows the worth of your services or products and if the customers are being pleased with what you are offering or not. Moreover, in a restaurant business, you need to make sure that you get a feedback about your food, to add or subtract anything needed.
Alas! A bad review is part of life. You have been serving the best food in your area for a long time. One day, a customer finds a hair in their favorite dish, or your waitress mixed orders and the customer got cranky. This is when the bad review makes its entry. On top of that, a review on a user-review platform, such as Yelp can make or break you.
So, what do you need to do? Start the firing and hiring process or worse, close the shop and head home? No! You need to make a crisis management strategy. Here is a sketch of what you need to do to deal with a bad review.
Learn the Nature of the Criticism:
First of all, you need to make sure you understand how intense the issue is. Read the review carefully, go through each and every incident described by the customer and make sure to read all the comments below the review. You need to make sure that you understand how offended the customer is. Pick up any tips you can see in the comments and try to solve the issue there and then.
Make Use of the Chance and Interact with Your Client:
Do your research. Make sure to find the background of the customer. If they are someone who are visiting your city or if they are from your city, deal with them differently. You need to make the most of every opportunity you get to interact with the customer. Call them back at the restaurant for a discounted meal or anything you can offer as an incentive.
Be Apologetic and Provide a Sensible Explanation:
Regardless that the complaint is sensible or not, make sure to acknowledge your mistake and apologize. It is your job to compensate the customer, no matter how outrageous they sound. Your success basically depends on how you are willing to improve. Hence, make sure to agree that you have made a mistake, apologize and learn from the experience.
Come Up with a Solution:
Once you are done with all the explanation, come up with a solution to the interest of both you, and the customer. Yelp maybe a huge platform for customers to leave their reviews, but there are other platforms customers may use. Keep all your social media platforms updated with anything new you are offering or whatever you have added to your inventory of food.
The Final Verdict:
The above mentioned list of crisis management technique is what you need to follow every time you get a bad review. Remember, you do not need to pack up and go home or fire anyone. You just need to calm down, understand the situation and come up with a smart solution.