I recently read an article about a company that practices how they will inform customers if there is a major disaster, such as an online security breach.  Seems like a great idea to practice that apology and plan of action in advance.  After all, employee training and accountability to your customers are major components of a good customer experience.

Let’s apply this exercise to multi-family and reputation management.  Do you train your employees on what to do if they get a negative review? Before you ask, I’ll make it clear that I am not talking about handing out scripts. Do you teach them where the accountability lies and how to offer real solutions and sincere apologies in a timely manner?

Whether it is a positive or negative review, you need to respond promptly and thoughtfully. And, identifying your evaluation process now makes your future responses much easier to manage.

So, get your team together and practice responding to complaints. If it were me, I would find a negative review for a competitor, evaluate how they handled the situation, and then create my own practice response. It is a great learning exercise and it gives you a little insight into what your neighbor’s or not doing well!

Before you craft your response, don’t forget to evaluate the purpose of the review. Is the resident unhappy? Is the negative reviewer a dedicated complainer (that means that person is always a glass half empty kind of guy)? Will your response make a difference? How emotionally charged is the review?

Now think about what voice and tone you will use. Being nice might sound like a very obvious suggestion, but you wouldn’t believe how many people forget to personalize and humanize their responses.  A generic response or even a library of canned responses is not the solution.  The last thing you want is for your community to sound like it is run by a sales staff.   You want to be a friend, not a salesperson.

Lastly, there are three words you should always keep in mind when it comes to preparing for bad reviews. Listen, learn and share. This will keep you focused and growing.