[Webinar Transcript from June 2022]

Hi, everybody. Welcome to the webinar today. We're excited you're here. We're going to talk today about how not to deal with negative Google reviews at your event venue. We've talked a lot about how to get more Google reviews. We'll now discuss how to not deal with negative Google reviews specifically.

Who is Kenect?

So, first thing we want to do though, is tell you who we are. So we're based outside of Salt Lake City. We're a text messaging platform built for the event industry. More than 5,000 businesses use Kenect. Basically we help you communicate more efficiently, generate new leads, conduct video consultations, and drive online reviews. We were also listed recently as one of the fastest growing companies in America. Number 216 on the Inc 5,000 list. We have over 5,000 customers on our platform and 50,000 users. We are integrated also with the leading software systems in the industry.

Why text messaging? How do we do it? So two-way text messaging for your business. So you don't need to give out your personal cell number. They text your main business number and you can text them back. You have web leads straight from your website and video chat with virtual consultations and updates. Also online review generation and reputation management.

89% of customers would prefer to interact with the business via text messaging rather than a phone call. 98% of all text messages are open. Bottom line is your clients want to text you. All your texts go in and out of the Kenect text messaging inbox. It looks and functions like an email inbox, but it's for texting. Additionally, you have the Kenect mobile app that will allow you to send and receive text messages to and from the Kenect mobile app as well. You can request reviews. You can send replies, you can request payments. You can schedule messages, you can invite to video chat. We also have the ability for you to do live video chats using Kenect video as well.

How to manage Google reviews

All right, let's talk Google reviews briefly. And then we'll talk about how to deal with negative reviews. First of all, why do reviews matter? They matter because they matter to your customers. 93% of customers use reviews as the first step in choosing a venue. 91% trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations. Second is because they matter to Google. 97% of people go to Google when they want to find a wedding venue. Google determines the order in which these businesses are listed based on ratings and reviews.

Dealing with negative Google reviews

All right, let's talk about how not to deal with bad reviews. This is vital. What not to do when you get a bad review. First is ignore it. You should always pay attention to the negative review, get to the bottom of it, and figure out how it happened and how the interaction went wrong. It's vital to understand what happened and how you can avoid it in the future. It could be that your business made a mistake. It could be that there was a problem that you could have addressed, or it could be the person's crazy. You never know till you get to the bottom of it. So always, always get to the bottom of it. Never ignore it.

Never fail to reply. You should always reply. Silence is consent. So if you don't say anything, you're letting this angry client have the last word. So always reply. Just plan on Google removing it. They won't. Google will almost never take down a bad review.

And then never start an online argument. And when you reply, don't reply defensively, with frustration. Nothing good comes from an online argument. Do not do these four things. Ignore it. Fail to reply. Plan on Google removing it or start an online argument.

Will Google take it down? Usually no is the answer to that question. If you have solid evidence that a review is fake, you can flag it to Google. This will alert Google to the review in order for review to be flagged that should meet Google's guidelines. So again, Google will generally not take these down. It considers the following review characteristics to be inappropriate. So things like language profanity. If someone wrote it who has a conflict of interest, if it's written by someone who's never experienced the service or the good provided. So think about it this way. If someone gets on and says, "This venue is terrible and they're dumb and they have bad food," Google's not going to take that down. If they say "They're terrible, they're dumb. They have bad food and I'm going to burn their business down," they'll take that down. That's the difference.

So, what should you do when you get bad reviews is this. First of all, you can't really avoid bad reviews, but you can mitigate them. You can communicate better. So the reason that reviews, that negative reviews occur, the reason they happen is because of poor communication or at least the perception of poor communication. That's why negative reviews occur.

What not to do when you get a bad review are the things that you probably want to do the very most, which is put them in their place, tell them why they're wrong. You should not do that. Doing that will put you in a bad situation, in a bad scenario, where you find yourself arguing with them. Remember this, the audience, your audience, when you get a bad review is not the people who left you the bad review. When you reply, your audience suddenly becomes the people who are going to read that reply in the next several days. That's your new audience.

The key really is to bury bad reviews with good ones. The only real way to deal with negative reviews in a positive way is to get more good reviews. So how do you do that? You build a process. You determine who you ask. You determine how you ask. I would strongly suggest asking via texting. When do you ask? Who's in charge of asking? Determine an owner for the process. So you send the text, it's got your logo, it's got your business name. They select the review side. They post the review. It's that simple. If you do that, you will get reviews far more often than if you email and ask for reviews. It's that simple.

All right. If you're interested in learning more after this quick webinar, you can text us at (888) 972-7422 or call us at the same number. We'd love to speak with you. We'd love to work with you. Thanks so much.

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