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Online Reputation Management -- Reacting to a Bad Review

Part of managing your online reputation is learning how to react to reviews, both good and bad. One can hope that they will never get a bad review, but the truth is, if you're well-known and popular, a bad review will eventually happen. Sometimes the reviews are deserved, other times not, and worse, sometimes they're bought. That's right, if you're really threatening the competition and if they lack ethics they may hire someone to generate negative buzz about you. The important thing to do is to learn how to manage your online reputation, and how to answer (or not answer) a bad review.

Be Proactive -- Have a way to pay attention to the buzz on the net about you and your business. Set up Google Alerts, and occasionally check the search results manually. It even helps to check search results from public computers instead of just your own due to the way the algorithms give a person personalized search results today.

Be Honest -- If you mess up, own up to it and admit it. There is no point in hiding it. On the Internet everything you say or do is there forever, either in the form of an actual searchable area, or in the form of a screen shot taken by someone and shared with the world. People remember when you are honest too.

Correct Mistakes -- If you made a mistake, correct it. If a client gives you a bad review and you realize it really is your fault, say so. A public apology in answer to the negative review will go far in garnering support of clients, and maybe even turn around the client who was upset.

Make it Right -- Do what you have to in order to make it right. Even if you have to eat the cost, refund money, offer more services, do it. Even in a situation where you're not at fault it's best to just refund the money and call it a day. Say so publically on the bad review that you're refunding the money. People will appreciate that.

Take a Breath -- Before responding to any reviews always take a deep breath, and even a day or two if needed, before responding. Our businesses are like our babies, and if someone attacks it, we turn into protective parents ready to go for the kill. Best to take a time out before responding to particularly bad reviews. Remember it's business, it's not personal.

Consider the Source -- Is the person who complained really a client? Are they saying something that really matters, or are they just trolls for hire, or someone that matters in the scheme of things. If they are simply a trouble maker, sometimes it's best to completely ignore what they are saying and not feed the beast. Some people can't be pleased, let it go, and move on.

Delegate -- Hire a virtual assistant to handle customer service issues. This person can monitor online review sites, customer service email without the emotion that you will have for your business (baby). You need not ever deal with these issues if you empower the people you work with and who work for you to take care of these situations in a way that makes the clients happy and satisfied.

 To discover how to increase your online presence and protect it the same time... Visit us at Hudson Solutions LLC

What's your top New Year's resolution this year?

Let's make 2011 the best year of our lifes

TypePad Conversations » Answer this question!

What is Creativity?

 

When anyone is looking to make any kind of change in their life, often the approach they take needs to become attractive or appealing in order for them to maintain it and often it may not remain attractive or appealing for as long as we like. I get lots of people that tell me that they find it difficult to maintain enthusiasm or keep on investing the required levels of energy in order to make a real success of a project or a goal.

So, for that reason, I want to talk about enhancing creativity today. When you become more creative, you can begin to make more out of your every day experiences and perceptions of what it is that you are doing, you can make life more colourful and have more fun and joy when you are more creative.

So what actually is Creativity?

Good question. We can all be creative; creativity is about making new connections - and that is literally physiologically true within our neurology. Creativity is the mind's growing edge. It often involves a lot of discovery. By creating new connections you build your brain power and develop mental and interpersonal flexibility which can begin to heighten your ability to do a huge array of things with more and more ease.

Imagine this; every time you link two things together, you create a third entity. That new connection can itself then connect with other ideas, additional possibilities. Imagine the impact this can have throughout a system like your brain!

Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon in 1965. That event changed our beliefs and thoughts about the universe. It also altered thoughts and beliefs about human inventiveness and skill: this event helped us to recognise that if we want something enough, we can find ways to do something that we may have believed to be impossible before. I reckon this gave may people some powerful and liberating thoughts and beliefs about human capability. I heard on the radio recently that there are also plans to land on Mars now! I always fancied being an astronaut.

Being creative on an individual level has the same potential: when you connect things together, you go beyond both of them; and you have the possibility of forming new beliefs about yourself and your potential. I remember when I was first learning about NLP, hypnosis and my other beloved subjects, I was so excited, I would read so much material that I felt like my brain was literally growing and stretching. That's not too scary is it?

I love working with children. They have such a vivid imagination, I can remember when I used to play football for hours and days on end as a youngster, I was not just imagining scoring in the World Cup final, I really was actually

there at Wembley Stadium scoring that goal, I am telling you I was there! Children are amazingly creative, each of us has been a child (some still are!). Children show their creativity in the way they discover their environment and make their own meanings of it. Many children create new worlds while playing with toys, they don't need elaborate or sophisticated toys, equipment or props, the meaning comes from within them; the meaning comes from out of themselves.

You need to give yourself permission and time (and energy) to make new connections and links which is what creativity is all about. It is about the process rather than the outcome or the final product. You can be creative at home or at work, when changing habits, updating behaviours, resolving issues, or just making life happier in any way you can. You can be creative with words, ideas, thoughts, materials, food and the kind of fun you have. You can be creative with your surroundings or with your internal world.

In addition to this, creativity creates something new. That's right, even if every ingredient is already known to you or is familiar. An insight for example, is creative because the new conclusion is gleaned from information you already had; it is the new perspective that makes the difference.

Above all, being creative returns us to that state where we are scoring goals in World Cup finals. It is about being absorbed and enjoying doing what you are doing, paying attention to detail, having a grand vision, being excited and playful, wondering what would happen if...

 
Darryl Hudson
http://www.darrylhudson.com