Expert Advice on How to Prevent a Business Reputation Crisis

photo of man with 5-star rating showing how to prevent a business reputation crisis

Does your business have a great online reputation? If so, it will work wonders for your company.

These days, almost 100% of people read online reviews for businesses before buying anything from them. So by working to improve your business reputation, you should be able to give your bottom line a big boost.

But here’s the thing about your company’s online reputation: It can change at the drop of a hat. All it’ll take is a single business reputation crisis, and your company will suddenly get thrown into a constant state of limbo. You’ll wonder what hit you as you scramble to try to recover from this crisis.

With this in mind, it would be a good idea to learn how to prevent a business reputation crisis at all costs. There are certain steps you can take to reduce the chances of a crisis affecting your online reputation.

Get expert advice on preventing a business reputation crisis below.

Keep a Close Eye on Your Company's Online Reputation

photo of man holding phone and leaving a review that could cause a business reputation crisis

How often do you check to see what kind of online reputation your company has? If you aren’t doing it at least once every month, you’re making a huge mistake.

In fact, you should try to get into the habit of seeing where your company’s online reputation stands every few days if you can. You don’t necessarily want to become obsessed with reading every single online review that your company gets the second it comes in.

But you also don’t want to turn a blind eye to your company’s online reputation and not know where it stands at almost all times. If your company gets something like a bad review, you should know about it quickly and work to respond. It’ll stop a small business reputation crisis from spiraling out of control and turning into a much bigger crisis before long.

Know What Might Impact Your Company's Business Reputation

As we just alluded to, a negative online review is one of the main things that will impact your company’s business reputation. If your customers or potential customers see that you have a recent negative review, it might leave a bad taste in their mouths. It may even make them want to bring their business elsewhere.

Because of this, you should always be on the lookout for any negative reviews your company might receive. Responding to them can help to prevent a business reputation crisis in the first place.

But it’s worth noting that there are also many other things that can impact your company’s business reputation. Here are just a few of them:

  • Data breaches
  • Angry former employees
  • Customer service slip-ups
  • Dramatic stock price changes
  • And more

In almost all of these instances, you should be able to prevent a business reputation crisis by taking actionable steps on your part. For example, taking cybersecurity more seriously can help you steer clear of data breaches. Providing better training programs for customer service representatives, meanwhile, can help you avoid negative interactions between these reps and your customers.

Talk strategy with a Business Reputation expert

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Spot the Signs of a Potential Business Reputation Crisis

On some occasions, business reputation crises will occur without much warning. A group of hackers might target your company’s data. And even if you’re able to successfully shut them down, the simple fact that you were attacked by hackers might leave a blemish on your business.

But there are also other situations where you’ll be able to spot signs of a potential business reputation crisis and work to shut it down. There might, for instance, be a customer who contacts your company on numerous occasions to complain about a faulty product that your company sold them. Each of these attempts will give your company a chance to defuse a situation that could become volatile.

But if your company misses these warning signs, it could eventually lead to this customer either leaving a negative online review for your business or doing something like contacting the media to try to expose your company. This could leave you with a full-fledged business reputation crisis on your hands that could have been avoided.

You and your employees should always be looking for any signs that might suggest a business reputation crisis could be on the horizon. It’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your online reputation.

Limit the Damage a Business Reputation Crisis Can Do

photo of man looking at bad reviews on a wall showing a business reputation crisis

If your company remains in business for a long enough time, a business reputation crisis will be almost inevitable. There will come a time when a customer will leave a negative review for you without contacting you to complain first or an ex-employee will talk bad about your company in an attempt to paint it in a terrible light.

When you find yourself stuck in the middle of a business reputation crisis, you shouldn’t ever ignore what’s going on. That could cause further damage to your online reputation.

You also should try not to put too much blame on a customer or even an ex-employee who might be deadset on trying to ruin your online reputation. Instead, you should strive to limit the damage being done by a business reputation crisis.

You might be able to do this by responding to a negative review that a customer has left and attempting to make things right with them. Even if they don’t take their negative review down later, other people will be able to see how you tried to reason with them and take that into account.

Consider Hiring a Business Reputation Management Service

Your company’s online reputation could ultimately make or break it at some point. For this reason, you shouldn’t be afraid to call on a business reputation management service to assist you if you aren’t sure how to keep your online reputation in a good place.

Having a company like Ascendance Website Solutions in your corner providing you with online reputation management services could make all the difference in the world. We can help you:

  • Earn more positive reviews from your customers
  • Avoid getting negative reviews from your customers
  • Monitor your online reputation and alert you to any possible concerns

We can also spring into action at the first sign of a business reputation crisis and discuss your options with you. We’ve helped our fair share of companies in lots of different industries through online reputation crises. We know how to handle even the most delicate situations.

Work On Earning the Best Business Reputation Possible

If a business reputation crisis is on the especially bad side, it might not matter how good of an online reputation your company had before. This crisis could bring your company down and put it into a tough spot.

But you might be able to prevent a business reputation crisis from doing any serious harm to your business by establishing a great online reputation long before a crisis hits. It’s why you might want to consider working with a company like Ascendance Website Solutions prior to a crisis ever taking place.

We can build up your company’s online reputation and make it so that a single business reputation crisis won’t be able to affect it too much. We can do this by providing you with a reputation management and review platform. It’ll take your current online reputation to the next level.

Be Thankful to Those Who Improve Your Company's Online Reputation

In the event that your company ever goes through a business reputation crisis, wouldn’t it be nice to have a large group of people singing your praises and downplaying the crisis? You should begin to assemble this group of loyal customers from the second you start getting your company off the ground.

How can you do this? Well, one of the best ways to do it is by simply showing your appreciation to those who help to give your company a great online reputation to begin with.

When your company’s customers leave positive reviews for you, you should go out of your way to thank them for doing it. You might even want to go as far as to set them up with special discounts to show your gratitude to them.

There isn’t any guarantee that these customers will come to your rescue if and when a business reputation crisis takes place. But there is a good chance at least some of them will speak highly of your company and enable you to overcome whatever crises might come your way.

Don't Let a Business Reputation Crisis Affect Your Company Negatively

As we’ve mentioned a couple of times now, you might not be able to completely avoid going through the occasional business reputation crisis. All companies, big and small, suffer hits to their online reputations every now and then.

But you don’t have to let a business reputation crisis bring your company down and keep it down for good. By enlisting the services of a business reputation management company like Ascendance Website Solutions, you can prevent most business reputation crises and deal with any business reputation crisis that might come your way accordingly.

Touch base with us today to get more information on our business reputation management services.

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