Marketing

These tips will help you to fix your company’s bad reputation

If you feel as though your company has a bad reputation, then now is the best time for you to make a change.

If you do it in enough time, there’s a high chance that you can turn your bad reputation around.

bad reputation

Search your business on Google

The first thing that you need to do is search for your company on major search engines. This can include Google or even Bing. This will give you an idea of any negative press regarding your business and it will also help you to make much better decisions in the way that you move forward.

Own your mistakes

It’s so important that you own your mistakes. It doesn’t matter whether they’re your fault or not because you need to be quick to apologise to your customers. If you don’t, they will spread the word that you provide a poor service and they may even make it difficult for you to gain loyalty.

Rank positive reviews on Google

You need to try and rank as many positive messages on Google as you can. This will push the negative reviews further down the page and it will also help you to appear more trustworthy to new customers. Social media profiles are also a great way for you to increase the trust that customers have in your company. Word also spreads like wildfire on there too, so if you are truly ready to turn things around then consider investing in the profiles you do have and also make it known that you mean business.

Reach out to happy customers

Consider reaching out to happy customers, suppliers, influencers and more to try and generate some positive press. This will work wonders for your company image, and it will also help you to get a fresh start. If you want to take things to that next level, it may also be worth generating some positive press releases. This will help you to really gain some traction and it is a fantastic way for you to build a solid profile.

Invest in new talent

If you want to make a change then you need to do it across the board. Invest in some new talent and also consider looking into a training system too. This will help you to really improve the standard of service that you provide, and it will also help you to prove to your customers that you are willing to make a change. It may even encourage customers who have had a bad experience with you in the past to come back.

Set a good example

If you have waste accumulating outside your business, then this won’t be giving your company a good reputation. If this is the case then invest in a trade waste collection service. You might also want to pay attention to the aesthetic appearance of your business because if your exterior is run down and worn out then this can indicate that you don’t care about the way your business presents itself.

Reorganise your business

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes from time to time. This will help you to see things from their point of view and it will also help you to empower your team too.

Reward your loyal customers

If a customer comes back to you time and time again, you need to reward them. You have to let them know that you appreciate their loyalty and that you are also willing to go the extra mile for them too. On the flip side, if a customer has a bad experience with you then you need to give them some reimbursement with absolutely no questions asked. This will help them to trust in you more and it also shows that you care about their satisfaction.

Dress well

It’s so important that you dress well and that you are polite, professional and positive. You never know where you’re going to go or even when you need to represent your company, so it’s always a good idea to dress the part.  First impressions really do count, and the more you focus on making a good one, the more likely you’ll be to create a good company image overall.

Keep your promises

If you say you are going to do something, then make sure that you actually do it. If you go back on your word at the last minute, then this will cause your customers to lose trust in your company and you may even find that you’re unable to recover from that bad reputation. One way for you to get around this would be for you to set a deadline beyond what you realistically think. That way if you deliver beyond what you originally wanted, your customers won’t know any different and if you deliver early then you’ll earn major respect.

Communicate

You should always try and keep people in the loop. It doesn’t matter if you’ve had no recent development in a project or whether you don’t have anything to say in general because it shows that you care about your customers and their individual needs. It also shows that you haven’t forgotten about them too, so take the time to give each customer the attention that they deserve. Proper communication and expectation setting is the best way for you to maintain a good relationship with your customers.

Have a great site

Your clients will usually want to know more about your business. If you want to help them to find out whatever they need to know then you need to set up a site for your company. This will help you to take those first crucial steps towards creating an online reputation and it will also tell everyone who you are and what you have to offer.

Have a live chat

If a customer has had an issue with your company and they want to bring it to your attention, then you need to give them the option to do this. Consider having a live chat option or even think about having email communication too. The more avenues you can offer, the better because there really is no one-size-fits-all option here. By having plenty of open lines of communication, you can then help people to get the support they need, when they need it, and this can go a long way to overhaul a bad reputation. It can also help them to feel as though you are actually there to help them.