There’s much shouting about how ‘unfair’ Trip Advisor are and how annoying it is to get bad reviews, so I feel compelled to put the record straight.
He goes..
It’s not ‘unfair’ everyone has the same issues!
If you get it right it’s free worldwide advertising for a little bit of effort, what on earth is anyone moaning about?
Customer feedback is a FACT: this is the new age of the empowered customer: Trip Advisor is just the tip of the iceberg: get used to it,
it’s only going to get more and more!
Trying to fight it is like copying King Cnut … C’nuts!
Accept it, learn how to use it well and you can cut out all your other advertising and watch the money roll in. Fight it and go out of business … it’s that simple, you make the choice.
If people don’t tell you they were upset, but tell Trip Advisor instead, then what they’re telling you actually is: ‘I didn’t trust you enough to tell you: you didn’t encourage me to let you know about any issues, but I’m going to tell someone’: in the old days they’d just tell their mates: today they can tell the world in an instant: you HAVE TO ENCOURAGE feedback to you passionately and effectively.
Some people are crooks (but VERY few): don’t play their game, and don’t let them make you miss the HUGE opportunity here.
If you get a good review: say thanks privately and give them an offer to return at a great rate.
If you get a bad review, say sorry and tell the world what you’ve done about it: we can all understand that you can make mistakes, what we’ll NEVER forgive is you being grumpy and difficult about it.
If you get an unfair review: tell it how it is with courage and courtesy, and inform Trip Advisor.
The more reviews you get, the higher up the rankings you will go.
The more you welcome feedback the more loyal and returning customers you’ll get.
The more you value feedback, the more motivated your staff will be.
It’s not rocket science!
Please note: I don’t work for TA, I don’t get paid by them: this is just my knowledge from extensive research in this area.
About the Author
Guy Arnold is the developer of the “Sales Through Service” system.
