If someone says something negative about your business online, what should you do?

Let’s face it, if you are a retail business or a company that gets a lot of traffic, you will probably get some bad reviews.  However, WHENEVER POSSIBLE, be sure to respond to those reviews or mentions.  A bad situation can actually be turned 180 degrees with offering a solution or offering to help.

Here are a few things to know about bad reviews online:

1. The writer may feel like they can hide behind a computer screen and when you publicly ask them how you can help make it better, they will back down and be sheepish.  You will also come across as looking good because your answer will be paired with their criticism.  For future onlookers, you will look like you tried to find a solution and that’s all most people want.
2. You may have legitimately done a very bad job and then you need to apologize and let them know that they are right.  Then be sure to list what you are going to do to make it better.
3. Go on the PR offensive.  Typically, there are plenty of people/clients out there thrilled with your service.  If the only person that has ever written about you online wrote something negative, appeal to your happy customers and clients, asking for their honest reviews.  Most of them will be glad to oblige and 5 positive reviews will quickly drown the negative.

In the very rare cases of libelous material, respond to the writer privately and ask them to take the material down.  If they don’t, figure out if you want to consult an attorney.  This happens very, very rarely so don’t lie awake thinking about it at night.

I have encouraged friends, family, clients, etc. to use this platform, boasting about its robust set of features.  While there had been “cooings” (is that doves?) about Hootsuite transforming from a previously free version to a paid subscription, it was not until this week that the squawking became a reality.

The freemium model is not new in the social and digital space.  In essence, Hootsuite’s new pricing attempts to follow the freemium model.  But unlike other services that upgrade only their new set of features with a paid subscription, while maintaining their free plan with already existing features, Hootsuite has elected to alienate its greatest talkers and loyal fans (those that have been there from the beginning) by diluting its free product.

HOO would do such a thing??? *

Last week, when I first saw these changes starting to take place, I tweeted a complaint about Hootsuite.  After thousands of praises, I finally had something to say to them that I needed a response to.  And did I get it?  No. I got crickets…no owls at all.

I believe that these great developers and entrepreneurs should be paid for their creativity, services, and hard work.  However, it is bad business to turn your previously free services into a paid model and expect little to no objection from your loyalest fans.  Hootsuite could learn a thing or two from 37signals who have never used the freemium model.  If you demand money for your already free services, you’ll turn fans against you quickly.  Is the bad, fast-traveling, word of mouth worth it?

Hootsuite, here is my suggestion:  Create better features for your new Pro plan and leave the Free plan the way it was; or at the very least, show some appreciation to the people who got you where you are today and let them keep the features they have grown accustomed to.

And to all businesses out there:  Don’t shut out customer complaints.  Listen to them and respond!  A remedied bad situation will get more people talking than you can imagine.  Don’t be afraid to approach negative feedback – engage it!

She has been an extraordinary part of our team, one that we can all count on, seeing to the most minute of details for our clients and members alike.  She put a new definition on multi-tasking, handling everything with grace and aplomb.

How does one say goodbye to a co-worker, a friend, a trusted employee?  With tears, best wishes, and a very large martini!  You will be missed, dear Lolly!

Our very best wishes on this grand adventure.

1. Promoting a post that you liked on another blog.  If a fellow design blogger posts a great post on her blog, show her some love.  You’ll get reciprocity and build goodwill.
2. Great finds from High Point or NeoCon. Talk about trends.  Show your favorite pieces.  Show what’s new.
3. Canopy beds.  Talk about the history of the canopy bed and how it translates into today’s interior.
   

   A dreamy canopy bed. Photo: Elle Decor

4. Green upholstery options.  Vendors that are now offering green upholstery.  What to consider and how to know if something is truly green.
5. Considering Living in Place when building your home.  Design of passageways, thresholds, roughing in an elevator, and more.

Plus two extra for the end…

• Historical uses of crown moldings.

Crown molding frames a pretty window seat. Photo: Traditional Home

• Splurges + steals- mirrors, cocktail tables, beds, etc.  This is your typical magazine article showing the Versace dress with its hefty price tag (that is absolutely to die for) and a BCBG dress that achieves the same “look” at a more affordable price.

We hope you enjoyed the series and found a few points of inspiration for your interior design firm’s blog.  If you found any of these suggestions particularly helpful, or if you’ve created any innovative posts for your blog,  please share your ideas with us! We’d love to see what you’ve come up with.

1. A definition of trims.  Educate your readers and expand their vocabularies (tape, braid, lipcord, etc.).
2. Your latest project and an interview with the client.  This could even be a video.
3. Multiple arrangements for the same living room furniture.  Show 5 or 6 basic pieces and how they can be arranged in a basic room to show a very different look.
   

   Interesting furniture arrangements create new life in a living room. (Photo: Elle Decor)

4. Appropriate height to hang art.
5. How to choose a tile grout color.  When to use contrasting grout.  What to think about regarding maintenance.

Stay tuned for five more blog post ideas, coming next week!

I’m currently sitting on an Alaska Airlines flight, flying from DC to Seattle.  It’s a long flight, the seats are average size, and the paid snacks are average too.  However, there are some remarkable things about this flight that do not just have to do with Alaska Airlines.

This plane has WiFi.  Yes, I realize that this technology exists but it’s surprising how many planes do not still have the service (come on airlines, get with it).  I was excited to learn that we would have WiFi, but imagine my glee when I found out that Bank of America (who is the credit card backer of the Alaska Airlines Visa) would be covering the cost of the WiFi for all Alaska flights this month.  Typically the WiFi is up to $12.95 for a flight of this length.  I have a Bank of America credit card, and now I’m more likely to keep that card and to consider B of A for other banking and credit card needs.  I don’t know how the deal worked between B of A and Alaska, and I don’t really care.  I do care that I have free WiFi right now; my experience with Alaska is better and I like Bank of America more.

Bank of America win.

Alaska Airlines win.

Alaska Airlines also has these cool electronic devices called DigEPlayers.  This means that for a fee, you get your own digital player that is preloaded with several movies, TV shows, music videos, music, and more.  This is mentionable in and of itself because I like that I can choose what I watch and I don’t have to strain to watch a movie that I didn’t really want to see in the first place on an overhead screen.  I mentioned that these DigEPlayers have “More” and this is where we find another joint venture win.  I scrolled through the menu and found that the player has Soundview Executive Book Summaries.  I have seen these advertised in a magazine, and they did not look inexpensive, but imagine my glee (AGAIN) when I found that I could choose from over 45 business books and hear the executive summaries during my flight.  Now I’ve been able to try out this service, while I’m a captive, bored audience, and now I will be more likely to actually purchase this summary subscription

In-flight boredom eradicated... (at least on Alaska Airlines!)

from Soundview because I recognize the value and I like that they entertained me.

Soundview Executive Book Summaries win.

Alaska Airlines win.

Since I really enjoyed listening to a couple of these executive summaries, I found that I wanted to know more than just the 20 minute soundbyte on a couple of them.  This means that I opened my Firefox, went to Amazon, and bought the books…from the sky.  I’m sure this is SkyMall taken to a whole new level.

Amazon win.

Author win.

Alaska Airlines win.

So, the next time that you are thinking about running your company as an island, think about how much happier you could make your customers or clients if you give them things that may not cost you any extra but mean a lot to them.  People remember what made them happy and when they were happy.  Shouldn’t that be in your store, in your office, on your website, or on your flight?  I’ve almost even forgotten about the $20 that Alaska charged me to check my bag.

By the way, for inquiring minds that may want to know, I bought Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside and Rohit Bhargava’s Personality Not Included.  I will keep you posted.

Last week at the Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius conference in New York, Olivier Blanchard from The BrandBuilder not only gave an incredibly robust presentation on determining ROI from social media efforts but he also gave a REAL LIFE (these exist!) example of a small business who used different digital and print avenues to promote his business.

From Olivier’s presentation:

Example of spend justification — A retailer suspected his print advertising wasn’t helping. 90% of spend was on print, 10% was on email, blog, and in-store. We embedded unique promo codes in each channel. We did sales as tests. We didn’t need to measure all the time, just slivers of time. Of all promo codes, 4% of sales came from print, 69% came from email, 17% came from Facebook, and 10% came from web and blog.

In our own experience, we have also found that our clients have highest direct sales from email marketing compared to other platforms.  One of the design firms that we work with in Montana held a large sale on all furnishings from one of its manufacturers.  The firm printed and mailed postcards about the sale and….crickets.  For the same sale, we developed an email marketing campaign as well.  At least three large furnishing purchases were attributed directly to the buyers receiving the emails (side note: margins on furniture are large). Emails are sharable too.  For your list of 500, you may reach 1,000 when people forward on something good to their friends. That’s much more difficult with a hard copy mailer.

By what I’ve written in this post, I would imagine that several of you are thinking- “Well then why do we waste our time with Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and the other things that are about to make my brain explode?  Why not just put all of our resources into email marketing if we want to make more money?”  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, vlogging, etc. are important for the new way that we, as consumers and as sellers interact; we expect that interaction and it’s an important fundamental piece of our new marketplace.  On the digital marketing scale, email marketing is much less conversational. Conversations are important in building the bridges for future sales and future brand development.  Don’t give up on the other platforms, but especially don’t think that email marketing is now obsolete.  Just like each of the other tools, it has its place in your tool belt.

Recently I was hit with this client experience when picking up invitations from a stationary store. In the bag with my invitation boxes were cute monogrammed cups, a note pad, and match book. Naturally, the next task to check off my event to-do list was ordering favors. What a great way to hook me in as a client, encouraging me to do repeat business or refer the store to a friend.

There are many ways you can incorporate this strategy into your business.  For example, if you and a client just completed the living room and master bedroom, you could leave them with a stunning dining room centerpiece or an accessory that would look great in the study.

I will definitely use Paper on the Avenue again. It was a great finishing touch and lasting impression that I will remember for a long time.

I’ve been an interior designer for over 20 years, so I’ve had plenty of time to make these mistakes.  Here’s a startling statistic (and I’ll bet it is higher during this recession) – 62.8% of all new businesses fail within 6 years according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and 96% fail within 10 years.  That means you’re lucky to be one of 4 out of 100 to make it past 10 years…or is it luck?

What if you could avoid the mistakes that these business owners made?

I’d like to see you avoid them, and if you’ve already done a few of them, now you can learn what not to do so you don’t waste your valuable time and money:

1. Not having a written “ideal client” profile – If you don’t know who your ideal client is, how can you tell other people who they can refer to you?  If you’ve ever had the client from &%$&, (or more than once) the key is to know what you don’t want in a client as much as what you do want.
2. Not knowing the lifetime value of your client – If you’ve been in the business even a few years, you can add up your billings and divide by the number of clients to get your current lifetime value.  You should also look at how long they stay as a client.  These two metrics are critical in your business planning and if you have this data as part of your Business Dashboard, it will help you grow your business.
3. Spending your time and effort marketing to new prospects rather than your current clients or inactive clients – Here are the statistics: your chance of selling a fresh prospect is 1 in 10 or even as low as 1 in 13; you chance of selling an inactive client is 1 in 3; your chance of selling to an active client is 1 in 2. Do you want to work less?  Sell more to your current clients, and once you’ve maximized that, work on reactivating your old clients.  Getting new prospects is your most expensive and hardest job. (Harry Mills – The Rainmaker’s Toolkit).
4. Not staying in touch with your clients frequently – Some of you do a really good job of sending thank you notes or birthday cards, but what about offering a special service during a slow period?  There are hundreds of strategies for keeping in touch with your clients without being a pest.  Be sure and share some of your best ones and we’ll compile a list to share with you and our members.
5. Not offering additional services at the end of an engagement – You are more likely to sell additional services to your client if you are in front of them and during the time when they are most excited about what you’ve done for them.  What can you offer them?  Is there a room you can “re-style” for them?  Chances are you’ll end up with new accessory, rug or window treatment sales.  This is like an upsell at McDonald’s – “would you like fries with that?”  You already have your wallet open, and besides, those fries smell really good!  In fact, you can significantly increase your revenues by this one strategy alone, and it is easy.  Even Starbucks knows that most people come in once per day, but if you come back after 2 pm, you can have a frozen drink for $2.  Guess what, that increases their revenue by 66% in many cases, and it is business they would not have gotten otherwise!
6. Inconsistent marketing – I can guarantee that if you are only marketing when business is slow that you are experiencing repeating cycles of feast and famine.  Not having a plan and marketing each and every day guarantees cycles that will make your hair go gray!  If you have a system in place and you work the system (assuming it is the right one), you will weather any financial storm.
7. Paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars for costly magazine or newspaper advertising. Most businesses budget between 3 – 6% of their expenses for advertising, marketing and PR, but this is the worst possible place for you to be spending your money.
8. Not paying for professional photography – if you are serious about your design business, you need to pay someone to shoot your best projects.  Since my projects always took years to complete, I hired my photographer every two years and figured that a full day of photography cost around $1,500.  I used to shoot between 3 – 5 days in a row (which is exhausting).
9. Not having a strong web presence – 75% of designers do not have a website, and today, I don’t recommend spending money on a website.  A better option is a blog, social media and online directories.  Also, creating a digital portfolio and other new techniques of marketing are far more cost and time-effective than the traditional brochures and websites.  Please request a copy of our Internet Strategies for Architects and Interior Designers if you haven’t read it.  It will give you steps you can follow to join your competitors and be found by new prospects.
10. Not asking for testimonials and referrals from every client early and often – It is more effective to ask for both testimonials and referrals at the beginning of your engagement, and for sure, by the end of the project.  The easiest way to do this is have a pre-set list of questions for testimonials and interview your client while taking notes.  Ask them if you can write up the testimonial for them and then forward it to them with a date you want to receive it from them on their stationery.  Even better, get a video testimonial.  Be sure to get a testimonial release, too, so you can use it in your marketing materials.

Marketing and sales are the lifeblood of any business, and if you are consistent and observant about what works best, you’ll find that it gets easier and easier so you can focus on what you like to do best – interior design.

I am a fan of their page on Facebook.  A week ago, they posted on their wall that if they got to 1,000 fans (now “likes”) by the end of May, one of their fans would receive a giveaway.  This is clearly against the Facebook Terms of Service agreement which now prohibits contests being held on a Facebook business page unless offered through a third party vendor or approved by Facebook directly.

I felt a bit like a little kid saying “my mom says that you’re not supposed to do that”, but I wanted to make sure that this salon did not get in trouble and have their hard work on Facebook be for naught.  I commented on the giveaway post by the salon and diplomatically told them to be careful about offering contests on their page.  I also said that I was not sure how actively Facebook was enforcing these guidelines, but I wanted to be sure that they knew.

What did the salon do???  They deleted my comment.  They have then proceeded to post more on their wall about this giveaway, even weekly contests to their “likes” group.  Furthermore, they responded to the people that commented on their post- “Wow!  Thanks for all of the feedback!  May is going to be contest filled so keep an eye on this page!”

What did I do???  I wrote this blog post.  For a moment, I thought about alerting Facebook.  Hell hath no furry like a social media girl scorned!

What is the appropriate way to deal with comments on your Facebook page or blog?  Unless it is vulgar or slanderous, NEVER delete a comment by someone who has taken the time to write it. This is a great opportunity to respond and to make things better.  It may be an opportunity to turn a poor customer service experience around or, in this case, it may be a chance to thank someone for giving your business a head’s up, whether you choose to follow it or not.

What did deleting this comment do for my fondness and future evangelism for this company?  It ruined it.  Poor form.