A ranter is someone who tells dozens, maybe hundreds, maybe millions, of people rotten things about you. Maybe you deserve the rotten tomatoes. Maybe the ranter has you mixed up with someone else! In any event, the power of word of mouth marketing has exploded.
You can turn a ranter into a raving fan. Go all old school and call him up. Stop by his shop. Bring an olive branch and your refund check book. Listen and apologize, if you should. Do what it takes to make it all better. If you can. If you can find him. In person is best. On the phone is OK. Email is a challenging form of communication for reducing upset. (DO NOT start a posting war on Facebook.) You are going to mess up now and then and it’s important to be able to play defense. That means, be able to skillfully resolve a customer’s upset. You want to play offense really well, so you don’t have to play defense very often.
Offense means you are formally and consistently creating awesome customer experiences. Now, more than ever, a great reputation is gold. A hundred raving fans can out-shout a ranter or two. In the last two weeks, I have learned a lot from two smart fellas about “Reputation Marketing.”
I’ve known Mike Montano forever. I bossed him around about getting his financial house in order. He took my advice AND did me a solid by writing a terrific book about marketing, and specifically about getting your customers to brag on you. On Yelp and Google reviews. Everywhere! Compared to your competitors, the starred reviews can cause a would-be customer to click on YOU.
And, I just saw Andrew Davis speak at the Replacement Contractors convention. He’s a rockstar! Thanks, Jim Cory, for inviting me to speak. What a bonus to get there early enough to hear Andrew’s presentation about Brandscaping. Guess what! It’s all about creating a service experience so compelling that your customers want to – you guessed it – brag on you. On YouTube. On your site. Everywhere! My fav tip: Send your customer a video of job progress at 2 pm every day. Assure them all is well and do a little “show and tell.” Easy and they will want to show and tell their friends. Nice!
Andrew and Mike have lots more to share in their books…
“The way to gain a good reputation is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear.” ~Socrates
