Responding to a bad review about your construction company can be difficult. It’s natural that criticism of you, your business and/or your employees can sting. However, bad reviews aren’t always bad for your business. There is value in the candid feedback of customers, and even though it may bruise an ego or two, business owners who take and learn from the feedback in reviews can better their business overall.
First and foremost, you must publicly respond to bad reviews. Silence is not golden when it comes to negative feedback, and you must respond to the review to either:
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Remedy the situation — in the case that the reviewer’s comments are true
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Explain the situation to other reviewers — in the case that the reviewer’s comments are false
Here’s a checklist to help you respond to your company’s next bad review:
1. Take a day or two to cool off and figure out how true the reviewer’s story actually is.
During this time you should:
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Ask any involved employees their side of the story
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Evaluate whether your company has heard similar complaints in the past
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Consider asking someone more impartial to respond to the review (pick someone who is strong in written communication)
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Familiarize yourself with the reviewer’s relationship with your company, the cost of the affected job, etc.
2. After you’ve cooled off, it’s time to draft your review response.
Your response should include:
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An acknowledgment of the reviewer’s issue/comments
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If applicable, a quick recap of the research you’ve already done (though keep any personal details like job costs confidential given the public forum), to show you’ve taken the complaint seriously
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An explanation of what happened from your company’s perspective
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An apology, if necessary, and your plan to rectify the situation
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Your contact information so the reviewer can reach out to you personally
3. Get at least one other person to look at your draft before you post the response.
4. Check back in a few days to see if the reviewer responded to your comments and answer any follow-up questions and/or comments.
5. If the issues raised in the review were legitimate, consider sharing the review with your company’s employees so the same issue can be prevented in the future.
To see the whole thing in action, check out this example review and response:
Janice (reviewer):
★★
We recently received some pretty disappointing service from A&B Remodeling. The foreman guaranteed us that our bathroom remodel would be done by June 5, but the project was delayed twice, and the whole thing wasn’t even wrapped up until June 18. There was very little communication about these delays along the way, and we ended up having to share our master bath with some out of town guests in mid-June because of the hold-up. Not cool!
Billy (company owner):
Thank you for your comments, Janice. First and foremost, let me apologize for the poor communication on our behalf over the course of your bathroom remodel. I spoke with the foreman assigned to your account, and he explained the delays were due to an unexpected shortage of the tile you requested. Regardless, all issues should have been more adequately communicated to you along the way.
As a result of yours and other’s comments, we have decided as a management team that we will be pulling in all of our employees in the next month for training on client communication, and you can be sure we will use your story as an example of where we need to do better.
I know it won’t change the inconvenience you experienced, but I’ve asked our accounts receivable department to discount your final invoice by 10% in the hopes you do business with us again. Please contact me at 555.555.5555 with any questions.
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