By Martin Brossman

When responding to negative online reviews, it's a good idea not to:

• Respond when you are very angry or hurt...cool off. Wait a day to respond.
• Flag all negative reviews as fake or delete all negative reviews. A few negative ones validates the rest of the reviews. Your intelligent response on behalf of your company to negative reviews shows that the company is listening and cares.
• Respond with more than a few sentences. It comes across as defensive.
• Use your response to a review as an advertisement, i.e. "You may have missed the green car sale but, wait! There's more! The blue car sale just began. But act quickly! Supplies are limited." Relate to the reviewer as a person.
• Omit an apology to the reviewer. Empathize with them - this shows that you understand and care.
• Ignore negative reviews completely and let them go unanswered.

 What to keep in mind when you respond to negative online reviews:

• Treat reviewers as sane, real people. Even if you know the review is fake - or the person is just crazy - the rest of the world doesn't know that.
• A well thought-out response to a complaint will help your credibility more than any marketing you can do.
• Conditional reviews look and sound conditional. For example, don't give a reviewer an extra cookie for a positive review. Listen for real raving fans and make it easy to review.
• Keep the bigger picture in mind: come from your commitment to service and not your emotional gut reaction.
• Always thank reviewers for their thoughts - their time is precious to them.
• Be personable. Pretend you're having a conversation with the reviewer on the phone or at your business. Use first names to tailor your response. Don't write a generic response to negative or positive reviews.
• Keep in mind you don't want to write something that you will regret later. It will stay up online for many other customers to read. If it is written poorly, your business' response may damage your online reputation further.
• If you can determine who the negative reviewer is, first try to reach out to them privately by phone if possible. Some review sites will allow you to privately message the reviewer, and you can get their information that way in order to call them.

Additional thoughts and resources:

1. Be proactive. Claim all of your online listings and keep a close watch for new reviews.
3. Here is a possible handout to give customers which you can modify with your company information on it: bit.ly/localreview
4. Watch Martin Brossman and Andy Beal's video filled with helpful tips!   5. Check out the guidelines on review sites to help business owners respond to reviews.

- See examples at: http://mysocialmediamastery.com/how-do-i-respond-to-negative-review-online/#sthash.GRg2DWgw.dpuf

Join me in the pledge to review one local owned and operated business a month! Tell your friends on social media you are reviewing local owned business and use the hashtag: #ReviewLocal (not directly in your reviews but when you share on Social Media that you have posted a review).

If you find it useful please: Like it, Share it and your Comments are always welcome too!

Be well,