“Keyboard Warriors” Podcast & Transcript

People are more motivated when they are unhappy than when they are happy. How do we combat that? We have to not only motivate them when they are happy, but as a #business have a process in place to collect reviews and make sure everyone on our team knows exactly what to do with a happy customer ??

Jessica Perlman and I recently discussed this very subject on a recent Authentically Social podcast episode. You’ll find the full transcript of our conversation below and for those TL;DR (too long didn’t read) folks, I’ve included the link to my YouTube page to view the video ?? Enjoy!

Corey: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another Authentically Social Podcast. As always I'm Corey, my beautiful wife, Jess. And we are here to talk about another principle on being authentically social and explore some of that right now. So without further ado, what are we talking about today?

Jessica: All right. So our authentically social principle for today is, beware of the keyboard warriors. And the mantra we want you to keep in mind when you're thinking about this episode and applying these tips and tactics to your business, how can I turn a critic into a champion? So Corey, haters are going to hate.

Corey: Yeah. You and I were prepping for this a little bit beforehand and just going through all the different channels and just the places where we seem to, I think this is why people hate the internet and social media so much is because there's so much hate out there. There's just so much crap, you look at as an author, book reviews and how much time people will spend on beating up your book or we joke about next door. We want to do a segment just on the meanness that starts on next door. You might see somebody will be like, "Oh my God, I lost my cat. I can't find my cat." And all of a sudden somebody says, "Well, why is the cat outside? Shouldn't it be inside?"

Corey: And the next thing somebody's like, "Yeah. I mean, that's just inhumane." And it's just like, oh my God and everybody just goes all crazy about this poor woman who just lost her cat. I mean, it's like, geez, Louise. So there is just a lot of negativity out there on the internet. So I think that's something that we need to talk about and the one of the mantras that I use on this section is that people are more motivated when they're unhappy than when they're happy. And so that is just something that we all know out on the internet these days and it's just something that we all have to deal with. If we're in business on social, at some point within our business lives we will run into some negativity on social or on a Google review or on anything else. And we got to figure out how to respond to that.

Jessica: Absolutely. I agree that there is a lot of negativity out there and people... So we use this term of keyboard warriors because it is like these people who are sitting in their basement or behind their computer screen. People seem to be more brave when they can talk behind a computer screen and say things really online that they would never say to your face. And especially, as business owners that we talk to, sometimes this could really be a challenge because you think to yourself, "I want to make this customer happy and I want to do everything I can," but if they're going to say these words behind a computer screen and they don't just come and talk to me or treat me as a real person trying to handle the review then what do I do? It puts them in a little bit of a bind so what are some ways that we can work to turn this critic that we all face into a champion?

Corey: So the first thing is, and this is to some root ways easier said than done which is to take the emotion out of it. To be as diplomatic as possible, I always recommend to business owners or people who are responding to reviews to always sleep on it. You've said that to me at times, that when I'm emotional I'm going to respond in a heightened way. That's probably, only going to do what the keyboard warrior wants to do which is to start a fight or get into an argument. So sleep on it and try to solve the problem, that's the number one thing to do. Because even if you can't solve the problem, it shows other people who are looking at it that you are trying. And I think nowadays, which is so cool about how we've progressed as an internet society is that audiences or people appreciate vulnerability, authenticity, transparency from businesses.

Corey: They understand that bad things can happen especially, like restaurants and service providers, dry cleaners, massage, whatever and that's okay. It's just really about how that the business person or the business handles that criticism and just being open to it, being apologetic, empathetic is a word that I would use quite a bit with this, is important. So step number one is, "I'm really sorry that happened," whether or not it did or not but you don't say that but, "I'm really sorry you experienced this," because that's factual one way or the other and, "We'd like to solve it any way we can." And then I always recommend trying to take it offline as opposed to trying to solve it there, "If you want to call me directly, if you want to shoot me an email, I'd be happy to help resolve this issue."

Corey: And of course, if you can resolve the issue, fantastic. And the only other thing I would add to that is get the reviewer to edit or respond to that review because we've seen studies that have shown that people have really responded well to seeing a reviewer positively respond to a originally negative review which has been really cool. So A, be diplomatic, B, try to solve the issue. If you can't solve the issue and they are clearly not getting it or try to again, take it offline as fast as possible, "I'm really sorry we haven't been able to solve this for you. Here's my email address or here's how to contact us, let's hand it like that." And then just leave it alone at that point, don't continue to engage because the conversation that's going to happen after that is going to be detrimental to you and your business.

Corey: And then last but not least, I would just say that a lot of times what comes up, Jess, is wrong. It's inaccurate, it's a different business, maybe it's a competitor, I've heard that before. That's tough, you can certainly with Yelp and some of these other places try to get that review removed, very hard to do we've found in the past. So again, I would just in the most diplomatic way you possibly can respond to the review, say, "Oh, I'm so sorry. This happened to you. From what we can gather in our research this is actually, not our business. It was somebody else. So again, so sorry that happened to you but I just want to let you know that it looks like you've got the wrong business," in the most kind way you can possibly say that. But definitely, defend yourself but do it in a way that doesn't make you sound defensive.

Jessica: Yeah. I think maybe a small example of how it might look to turn a critic into a champion is something I've seen before where I'd be doing some online shopping and I'm looking through the reviews as I not oftentimes do to see what people are saying. And there might be a handful of some positive ones, some negative ones. But then you come across one that talks about maybe that they didn't have the best experience but what great customer service they had. So they're addressing that, "Yeah. I had an issue with the product but customer service came through in the clench and they were awesome." And so I just think that might be like a small example of how all of a sudden someone who was dissatisfied with your product or service now, they're saying, "Well, wow. They have great customer service." So me as a buyer I feel more confident in my purchase knowing that should something happen, they've got my back. And so I think that might be one small example. Do you have another clear example of that transition from critic to champion?

Corey: Yeah. And I just want to add to one point that you're saying that I actually, think that it can make the critic become one of your best champions even more so than someone who didn't have that issue to begin with. When you solved the issue for somebody who was originally unhappy, they just become a huge advocate for your business, period. And I think we can all agree that we've seen that time and time again, we've probably felt. That if the business has responded in a way that's helped us solve the issue, it's made us want to work with them more and refer them to other people. So turning somebody from a critic to a champion can really motivate somebody to become one of your best champions.

Corey: One other just quick little example was, and this is completely true and it happened not too long ago. Amazon review, I was buying a cheeky gift for my kids and it was like one of those gun things that you spray hair and knocks. I think they played with it one time, it cost us 69.99 for one play session. But in the reviews somebody said something negative and the creator of the game had responded in a very diplomatic way and helped address... It was a shipping issue I think. The person responded again, "I really appreciated it, kids loved it, blah, blah, blah." And it made me hit the buy button so seeing that conversation between unhappy customer to owner, to happy customer created a new customer out of me.

Jessica: I think it's a good reminder just to us as consumers and buyers out there that if we really feel like we had a good experience with a business or service, to go out there and leave that review, to give them those five stars to provide that feedback that you know is really vital for small businesses especially, in the marketplace when people are looking at their products and services. One thing I wonder is, is it possible for us to have...So we talk about like how we respond to people who might have less just a negative review but as a business or company, how can we be proactive in, I guess, addressing reviews overall they're going to be coming in whether we like it or not so what are some things proactively we can do to address that?

Corey: So I think as we go full circle here unfortunately, as businesses, we're going to run into negativity. And obviously, we wanted to address that so that was the first part. And then if we can turn somebody into a champion, great. But really the key takeaway from this chapter or this podcast is creating a positive moat around your business, on every digital asset that's important to you. So what I mean by that is starting today or if you haven't already starting today, be proactive on getting happy customers and clients to talk about us online. And that is different depending upon who you are and who's listening. If you are a local business like a chiropractor then it's Google reviews, then it's Yelp reviews as well as social. If you are an attorney, if you're a software company, something like that, it might be a LinkedIn recommendation.

Corey: If you sell e-commerce products or something like that, it might just simply be a testimonial on your website or again, a social review. But the point is that you are always looking for positive sentiment on all your most important digital assets. What you do with that is each one of those creates a deeper and bigger moat around your castle so that when that negative Norm or Nancy comes to attack your castle, there is a giant moat in the way from them to be able to penetrate your castle. And what that looks like is if you go on Google and there's 244 five star reviews and someone throws in a one star, it barely penetrates. But if you only have three reviews and someone comes that's 25% of your overall reviews, that is a very damaging review. So having that protection and one thing that I always see businesses do, what you've got to be careful with, is they only focus on one area.

Corey: Oftentimes it's Google, if you have 200 or a hundred plus reviews on Google, stop working on Google, go somewhere else like Yelp, like Facebook, like somewhere else where you see that reviews are being able to be offered there and you don't have very many to begin with and concentrate your efforts there. So the next time somebody says, "Hey, Jess, I've got to tell you that podcast was fantastic." You say, "You know what? Thank you. And would you mind leaving us a review on an Apple podcast because we really appreciate that," something like that.

Jessica Perlman: Nice plug. I like that. I was thinking exact same thing. Speaking of reviews, it looks like, be ripples of positivity out there on the internet. Let's be aware of the keyboard warriors, they're going to be out there no matter what. They are there and here to stay. But think to yourself, how can I turn this critic into a champion for my business? And the example that you just gave was a great example. Somebody could come and leave a negative review and one of your champions could say, "That's not true about them. I've had a great experience with that business." So I think that wraps it up for today. Anything else you'd like to add? Oh, one more thing.

Corey: That was one more thing. Just an action I want you to take from this is to create a process for collecting positive reviews. So if you don't already have one obviously, let's say you're a restaurant then restaurants, if the waiter waitress hears positive feedback from a customer then what are the steps to get those reviews? If you're an attorney, if you are in mortgage, if you're in real estate and you close, what are your steps for getting positive reviews? Make sure it's clear, make sure the entire team knows how to do it, make sure you have goals in place. And that will eventually, get you to that positive sentiment that we were talking about.

Jessica: Well, thanks a lot for joining us. And we look forward to sharing another Authentically Social principle with you. Take care.

Corey Perlman:Bye.

Jessica:Thanks for listening. We're over here, giving you a digital high five for completing another episode. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to take a screen grab and share it across your social media. Don't forget to tag us @coreyperlmanspeaks. I hope we can stay connected by following each other as we are excited to see more of your social media journey.

Have a great week!

Corey