So what do you do if you get a negative review?  Here are my tips:

1. You can’t beat them, so join them!

Sign up for a Yelp account.  When you set up your personal profile, upload a photo, fill out the profile, & find your friends.  Yelp has a simple feature that can search through your email contacts & allows you to connect (& “friend”) with people you already know who are also on Yelp. 

Now Yelp!  Find the businesses you frequent & review them.  Give love to your favorite stores, restaurants & services.  Had a not-so-great experience?  Remember your own review… Yelpers can get snarky & mean.   People try to be funny, but mean does not equal hilarious.  Avoid getting personal & keep it objective.

2. Claim your business listing.

Personalize your business listing & add information, photos & your bio.  Also add an offer.  Create a special for new clients or announce your next open house.

Also, add your business to Google Local & Yahoo Local Google My Business.

3. Drown the negative with lots of positives.

Take a look at your Yelp friends.  Are any of them your clients?  If they are, ask them to write a review for your business.  You cannot offer discounts, freebies or bribes for reviewing your business.

Take a look at your client database.  Do any of them have a Yahoo or Google (Gmail) email address?  Send an email to your clients & ask them to write a review for either Google or Yahoo local.

When someone searches for your service, not only will they see the Yelp reviews, they’ll see the Google & Yahoo reviews as well.

4. Don’t take it personally.

Not everyone is going to love what we do.  Remember everyone has their own “stuff”.  Focus your energy on all of the people who’s lives are transformed because of the work that you do.