A good reputation is a competitive advantage

By Shelley Polansky, President/CEO 

A business’s reputation can be an asset or a hinderance to growth. A positive reputation attracts customers and employees, generates loyalty and repeat business, and differentiates a company from the competition. On the other hand, a negative reputation makes people leery of doing business with an organization – which could lead to the death of the company. 

Customers want to make smart purchasing decisions, and they regularly search for new ways to evaluate the companies with which they do business. They ask friends, family, and colleagues; rely on search results and online reviews; and pose questions on social media sites. How your organization comes across in these sources can go a long way in building trust and winning business. 

With so much riding on what people think about your organization, building, maintaining, and leveraging your reputation should receive continuous attention and effort. 

Monitor and respond to online reviews

While you cannot control what’s said about your company online, you can make sure your voice is included in the conversation. Keep a close eye on any review sites that list your business – Google, Yelp, BBB.org, and others. Promptly respond to all reviews and comments – positive and negative ones – with a professional, friendly, honest, and well-thought-out response. When replying, don’t hide behind company policies or offer vague solutions to issues.

Engaging with comments and reviews enables you to directly address complaints, identify areas for improvement, and thank customers for their business and feedback. And this kind of interaction doesn’t go unnoticed. According to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey, 88% of consumers are likely to use a business that responds to all reviews, more than twice the number of consumers who will use a business that doesn’t respond to any online reviews. 

Address customer complaints

Mistakes and missteps happen, but by resolving customer complaints, you can start to restore customer trust and protect your reputation. What’s the best way to go about resolving a complaint?

First and foremost, the ultimate goal is to solve the problem. Once you receive a complaint, respond in a timely, professional, and non-defensive manner. Be sympathetic and listen. Apologize for the inconvenience and reassure the customer that you will work to solve the issue. Then gather the facts. Be sure to ask questions, listen without interruption or argument, and paraphrase what you heard to avoid any misunderstandings. 

If you find that your company is at fault, admit it quickly and demonstrate the willingness to rectify the issue. If the error is the customer’s, explain the company policy and find ways to allow them to save face. Regardless of who was right or wrong, always thank the customer for their business and their constructive criticism. 

Resolve disputes 

Unfortunately, there may be a time when you and a customer are unable to come to an agreement regarding a complaint. This is where BBB can help. Through our dispute handing and resolution services, we work with customers and businesses to reach a solution to the problem using various dispute resolution processes. A lower-cost alternative to going to court, these processes are informal and convenient. Working with BBB is also faster; generally, complaints are closed in 30 days. 

Either party may request BBB to assist with the dispute. A business may wish to involve BBB before an issue escalates. If this is the case, they can contact our office, and we’ll work with them to identify the next step to help them get to a resolution. Customers can file a complaint by calling our office or through our online complaint system at bbb.org/file-a-complaint. Once submitted, a member of our team will be in touch regarding next steps. 

BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming offers several dispute resolution methods to help parties reach an appropriate resolution. Through conciliation, our staff collects factual information from both sides and works to encourage open communication between the parties. If conciliation does not solve the problem, we will provide a professionally trained mediator to help everyone arrive at a win-win solution. 

If these efforts are unsuccessful, conditionally-binding or binding arbitration may be the next step. Arbitration hearings usually take a couple of hours and are less formal than a courtroom session. 

The right thing to do

Responding to complaints is a good business practice. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it also helps protect your reputation and build customers’ confidence in your company. 

As an impartial third party, BBB helps businesses and buyers find fair solutions, while avoiding costly litigation. Just last year, BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming handled more than 3,600 complaints with a 70% resolution rate. We have 40 years’ experience in dispute resolution and are committed to dealing fairly with all businesses in the manner in which we handle, close, and report customer complaints. Complaints and their outcomes are published in our online business profiles – providing one more way that BBB helps create a community where businesses and people trust each other.

Shelley Polansky is president/CEO of BBB Serving Northern Colorado and Wyoming.