How do you react to negative opinions on the Internet of our workshop?

Once your workshop is on the Internet, it is a fact that you are exposed to receiving good and bad opinions, constructive advice and derogatory remarks, which may be real or not.

There are good and bad practices relating to this very direct and free communication that exists on the network, in this article I will try and explain how to differentiate between them and how to deal with them.

Studies show that  5% of these opinions are false, it is the competition itself that writes on our social networks or pages with the sole intention of losing us customers.

We know that a poor opinion, in spite of it being false can generate mistrust among future customers of the workshop and, therefore, reduce sales.

Nowadays, more than half the population when searching the internet for goods and services consults opinions before making a purchase or going to a shop, or workshop in our case.

But, in the same way as there are false negative comments, which are recognisable by their derogatory tone, or by a brief and scant description on the reasons for the complaint, there are false positive comments, also with a brief description and much praise.



BEFORE STARTING

We must understand that:

• Customers will always talk about you

• We all make mistakes

And it is also essential to investigate the complaint to distinguish between an unhappy customer and a false complaint, from the competition, former partner, etc

     We must investigate:

• The reason for the problem, is it the service, or a fault in the part or spare (if so, was it bought in our workshop? what model was it? etc.)

• The place

• The date

• Who dealt with this customer

With the information and description we find, we can conclude if it is a false complaint or not.
Most negative comments with derogatory or insulting comments are false complaints or opinions in order to create a poor image of the business and reduce its clientele. For this reason, it is essential to know how to manage them.

  

How do you react to a negative opinion? How do you resolve this conflict?

1. Do you ever remove a negative comment? This can generate more negative comments, they should only be removed if they are inappropriate comments, with pornographic, racist or sexist content or verbal abuse, etc.
2. First and foremost, respond, not responding looks like we are not interested or that we are ignoring the problem.
3. Respond publicly, to reinforce the feeling of a clear, transparent brand that supports and defends its work.
4. Use simple words and phrases: Thank you for your opinion, we are sorry... Admit an error and apologise, this helps to change the tone of the conversation from negative to positive. It also makes the customer feel important and taken into consideration.
5. In cases of justified complaint: unhappiness with the service or treatment received, problems with employees, negative opinions, etc., always give a specific solution, so that they can see that their unhappiness or problem can be solved, thus we show our interest in them.
6. If a longer discussion is required, it can be an option to contact them by private message (inbox) or email.
7. If you believe that you are dealing with abusive content or a false complaint, you can try to respond by formally apologising and thanking them for the comment and investigating the reason, so that this person is forced to acknowledge that the reason is not real, or does not make sense and this opinion is then nullified. Finally, if the tone does not change, the apologies have not worked, you can say that you will contact them personally or ask them to give you a contact telephone number or email so that you can continue the conversation and find a solution. Although if the content is false, it will not get to this point.

Finally and in conclusion, we have to use these situations to learn from our errors, rectify them and improve daily.