Well, look no further.

Promote what you have already created

You’ve probably spent hours/days/weeks creating and developing your delicious offerings.

But have you promoted it enough?

Chances are you haven’t.

If you’re having a dip in sales you don’t have to race back to the drawing board to create something insanely creative and new.

Here are some ideas to help you promote what you have already created

1. Use social media to highlight and promote the benefits of your offering
2. Write a new article which links to your offering (Case Studies are awesome for this)
3. Design a poster or flyer and distribute it where your target market hangs out offline
4. Consider a delicious (limited time) promo for your offering
5. Look at how you can add MORE value to your existing offering (this can be a wording tweak) 
6. If you have several target markets try tailoring your communication to appeal to each one vs. all of them at the same time
7. Reach out to your existing networks and ask them to help you promote your offering 
8. Let your subscribers know that the price is going up and it’s the last chance to get in at this price
9. Revamp the sales pages with new text and images. Don’t forget the new testimonials
10. Revisit your sales process. Is it easy for people to buy from you? Do you answer all their questions?
11. Identify the key seasons when your offering is most needed and promote it then
12. Be consistent in how you communicate and how often you communicate. Things can take time. 

If you need help coming up with creative ideas to help you promote what you have already created then check out my Spark Sessions!

Your turn: 

What would you add to this list?
Do you feel you’ve promoted your delicious offerings enough?

Getting the word out there about your delicious offerings is crucial (obviously)!

Many seem to stall when it comes to reaching out for a number of reasons; fear of being salesy or waiting for the “perfect” moment or because they don’t know how to reach out to their target audience.

Similarly, the idea that you can only market to people you’ve never met before is a common stalling point.

Here are my top 6 tips on how you can get more eyes on your business (and get more sales) without it feeling icky!

In short, work your networks!

From the day we are born we are constantly creating relationships with people, whilst we all follow our own path there a dozens of people who will be more than happy to help you spread the word about what you do.

Some of your biggest opportunities can be found in these groups: Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances, Neighbours and Kids (FRANK).

How do you reach out to these gorgeous people in your networks?

1. Send an email to anyone you can think of, reminding them what you do and who you help and HOW (sing it loud and proud).
   Whilst you might think everyone knows what you do already, the chances are they’ve forgotten.
   Include a simple request to either share your new offering to anyone who might be interested or to share something on Facebook. Tell them what you’d like them to do.
2. Pick up the phone.
3. Make sure you are confident about how you talk about what you do so you can casually drop it into conversation (and yes, this is possible with virtually ANY business) when you’re out and about!
4. Use any forums or groups you are part of to reach out to the community you are part of. Don’t sell to them. Just remind them what you do and ask if they can support you on social media or introduce you to someone.
5. If you have a business that has a lot of offline activity, ask your favourite cafe/shop/gym owner/manager if you can leave a leaflet or poster in their space.
6. Ask your customers/clients to give you kick ass testimonials and put them proudly on your site! You can even ask them to spread the word on their networks too!

All these steps can be done without a huge time investment (and it’s free)

Remember, people who know you already love you and trust you.

Don’t make things hard for yourself by feeling you need to go out and find new people all by yourself!

Word of mouth and personal endorsements are worth a gazillion times more than any flashy advert or sales page can!

Your turn

• How have you used your personal networks to grow your business?

However, you might not be familiar with how to find out if your images are being used online.

The “reverse search” method to find the original source of an image can be done in 3 clicks and is actually relevant to everyone who puts an image online (or posts their photos online).

Why?

If you are an artist, illustrator, photographer, chef, or a parent, you might want to make sure your images are being used online WITH your permission!

Similarly, if you use images you find online it is YOUR responsibility to find the original source of the image to make sure you have permission to use it on your website or other communication.

If you use an image online that is subject to copyright without permission or attribution (if permitted) it is considered theft regardless of your intention, and you could find yourself dealing with legal action. And yes, that does happen.

Watch the short video below that walks you through how to find out of it your images are being used online.

(I’ll also you show the difference between image theft (without attribution) and the right way to do it!)

When researching this post I actually found over 50 of my drawings used without attribution as outlined in my Creative Commons License.

I emailed SOME of the people who used my images without attribution but not all.

Finding out that someone has used your images online without your permission can feel really icky (putting it mildly) and be a HUGE time and energy suck.

I will admit that I’ve wasted far too much time and energy fighting with people over this in the past, contacting lawyers etc … and what did it bring my business? Not a huge amount.

The fact is that we have a choice; either we scream “THIEF” or we send an email and hope that the situation can be rectified amicably. Usually it’s rectified super fast, but occasionally you can get some pretty irate defensive replies – you have to be prepared for both outcomes.

Here are some of the responses I’ve received when pointing out copyright infringement:

“Oh, it was my new assistant, she’s new to social media and didn’t know.”

- If you have anyone sourcing images for you, it’s YOUR responsibility to ensure they know about copyright. At the end of the day it’s YOU who is liable, not your assistant.

“I found the image on Pinterest/Facebook and thought it was free to use!”

- Use the reverse image search outlined in the video above to FIND the original source (and umm, my images have my URL on them which is like a watermark!)

Here are some quick links for you to read more on the issue of copyright:

• Get a Creative Commons License for your site (so you have something to refer back to in case of image theft).
• Dig in more to Copyright and Fair Use to make sure you aren’t breaking any rules (this is for the USA but basics stand true in most countries) .

Remember, using someone’s work online without their permission is theft. It’s important that when you use someone else’s work that you attribute and link with love!

Don’t let this oversight invite unnecessary stress into your life and business!

Have you ever discovered your images are being used online without your permission?  What di you do?

Sounds like a dream come true but it’s not impossible.

Ever wondered how some seem to juggle everything from family, work, crazy social commitments manage to roll out drool worthy offerings into the world AND still have a smile on their face?

Every single one of us are blessed with the same 24 hours in a day and, whilst our commitments may vary, there are a few things you can change right now:

Here are my 5 steps to help you save time and make money.

Be really honest with yourself as you go through the following steps!

1. Stop making excuses:

Every time you make an excuse for not doing X,Y & Z, it’s a get out of jail free card to keep you where you are.

Yes, your kid may have kept you up all night – grab a coffee and work on something that doesn’t require razor sharp alertness until you’ve come round!

Ask yourself, “why am I making these excuses?”

Deep down you know you need this, you want this and that this is meant to be fantabulous. {click to tweet}

Running around telling yourself that you have no time will make you believe it, leaving you with no time to market your business and get yourself out there!

2. Forget perfection

You are already imperfectly perfect!

Perfection doesn’t exist.

Trying to find the perfect words, the perfect name for your products or that perfect moment in time to do something is just a great recipe for doing nothing at all.

Remember, the more you do something, the better you become at that thing.

Your first time is rarely amazing, your second a bit better, you’ve just got to keep doing it.

Ditching the idea of perfection will help you save time and make more money because it will force you to take action.

3. Make yourself a priority

It’s so easy to give away your time and energy to loved ones, to clients, to ridiculously unnecessary tasks and push away that voice that says “What about you gorgeous?”

We all have a dream, but to keep that dream alive you need to fill YOUR cup before you fill someone else’s. And yes, this is hard and is something you’ll have to practice often.

Working on yourself will help you stand out in a crowd. It’s daunting but very necessary.

You are gorgeous and your delicious offerings need to be out there in a big way! 

In order to sing it loud and proud you need to accept that we are all experts of our OWN experience!

Believe it, know your worth and, get over the idea that you aren’t deserving of this attention.

You ARE enough. 

4. Make your business your #1 client

Giving your business as much attention as you give your clients and customers is so important.

You need to make time to work ON your business as well as working in it.

Stand back. Breathe.

Busying yourself with everything you are doing right now is keeping you just where you are.

Make a plan and stick to it. Don’t launch things without a clear plan!

Too many solopreneurs launch products and promotions in a panic just because they have to get it “done”, or try to make some sales fast.

And guess what? Your target market can sense that. Emotional, rash decisions are when mistakes happen. They actually do a lot more harm than good.

Yes, I’ve seen posters put out without the company name on them, or an image without any web address, or an advert with the wrong price,  and even promotions without any clear end date or terms and conditions.

These mistakes can usually end up costing you money, wasting time and a lot of your energy!

5. Don’t go alone

You have superhuman powers, we all know you do, but you don’t have to put it all on your back and go it alone.

Too many of us try to do everything which leaves us very little space (and time) to do what we’re really amazing at.

• Join a mastermind or group of likeminded entrepreneurs 
  Finding entrepreneurs who you trust and admire is a great way to bounce ideas, boost your confidence, and they can help support your launches (as long as you return the favour, obviously!)
• Work with someone who can help you grow your business
  Finding someone to work with to help you clarify where you need to focus your energy is key.“`When you’re working in, on and around your business you can’t see the wood for the trees {trans for US peeps: “You can’t see the forest for the trees”} – and that is normal, you are too close to what you are doing.

There are my top 5 steps on how to save time and make more money.

Your turn:

• Which of these steps are you guilty of?
• Have any tips of your own you’d like to share?

YES! Of course you do!

What I am going to share with you now is something so ridiculously simple yet so many overlook these 3 tips.

Nothing slimy, sleazy or icky-poo here.

1. Remind everyone you know, on and offline, what your business does.

All too often we think that all our friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter etc … know what we’re up to.

Most of the time they don’t.

They have their own lives, their own things going on. They can’t be expected to keep you top of mind when it comes to your delicious offerings unless you remind them.

One of the most neglected audiences is FRANK (Friends, Relatives, Acquantances, Neighbours/Colleagues and Kids)

The power of word of mouth marketing will trump any fancy poster of sales page.

Want to know how to reach out to them?

• Go personal, pick up the PHONE (yes, the phone can be used to talk to other humans as well as check your email)!
• Send an email to touch base, tell them what you are up to and ask them to spread the word. 

Remember: When you are reaching out the idea is to get them to help you spread the word, save your sales pitch for when people come to you.

2. Reply to emails.

Ok, you are probably thinking “eh? Is she serious? That’s a tip?”

Actually yes it is.

I am constantly amazed at how many people do NOT reply to emails or reply to emails days or weeks later.

I have lost count of the number of people who have bought from me because I replied to their enquiry (amongst other things!)

Remember: If someone has decided to write to you asking for more information it’s because they are looking for a solution NOW.
The motivational factors that surround that initial contact needs to be jumped on as fast as possible.

Occasionally spam filters can get a bit a hyper-active and hide your email gold SO it’s a good idea to keep on top of your spam folders on a regular basis.

Your inbox is where you want to get the party started, not on your Facebook page!

And, consider this; replying to emails in a timely, thoughtful manners shows you actually care about your customers/clients and your business.
It’s a direct reflection on how business operates!

Examples:

• Taking 10 days to reply to a holiday rental enquiry can make the clients think “OMG, will they actually be there when we arrive? Will the place be cleaned on time … etc”.
• If you are a coach or consultant, not replying to emails can make you look like you don’t care and if you offer email support clients will think “Huh, I bet they don’t even answer client emails, I’m not paying for that!”
• If you sell products, not replying to emails can make your customers think “Will they actually ship on time? Does this company even exist?”

Tips on how to reply to emails (and yes, if this is glaringly obvious make sure you are actually doing it!)

• Reply within 24hrs if you can. The sooner the better. 
• Answer the question as well as you can.
• If relevant, check out the links they have placed in the email or signature to get a feel of who they are and make reference to it in the email.
• Don’t be afraid to give away a few tips or suggestions to be demonstrative of how you can help (and get paid) down the road. 
• Make sure your tone matches that of your other brand touch points (website, social media etc …) for example – if I was to be extremely formal in my emails and sign off “Yours sincerely” I think people would question if it was really me. Be consistent. 
• Include a clear call to action – what do you want them to next? Book a session, buy something, tell a friend, go fly a kite? You decide.
• If you are too busy to answer emails then get an assistant to do it for you. 

If you’ve done this before and just been too overwhelmed with time-wasters, it’s probably because you just needed to direct the person clearly to take action.

3. Keep on top of your social media channels and your blog comments.

You don’t have to be on every social media channel there is out there, but make sure you are on top of them (or get someone to do it for you)

If you get messages on your Facebook page answer them! Try moving the conversation to your email inbox to keep things professional (and if you’re like me, email is so much better to keep track of than Facebook messages)

Thank people for sharing your stuff. All too often there is this gross sense of entitlement online (and it’s sucky!)

NO one HAS to share your stuff.

Really.

The fact that they do share your stuff is simply amazing and needs recognition.

Even though it’s time consuming, you can, carve out 15 mins a day to thank those who have shared your delicious offerings and technically done a whole bunch of free marketing work for you. You’ll probably also meet some cool people and who know’s where that’ll lead.

Similarly, keeping on top of your blog comments, especially if you don’t have loads, is a great way to keep conversations going and help people connect with you.

Make time for the 3 things here and you will see a difference in the leads and get more sales!

Your turn:

• Which of these 3 simple things have you paid attention to in your business and seen great results? 
• What would you add to the list?

You have probably been told repeatedly about the importance of finding your niche.

That sweet spot that will guarantee unrivaled clarity and crazy cash?

Finding your niche is a real challenge, and most times it finds you.

After all that soul searching and research you can end up with a niche that’s too small.

In the beginning mapping out your target market, your ideal client/customer etc IS important but you do not have to confine yourself to one person.

You can spend a lot of time working out that perfect person but until you actually get out there you won’t really know.

How do you know if your niche too small?

Let’s say you are in the business of feline hygiene products your target market is cat owners. Your niche is feline hygiene which can include a range of products. That’s great, there are a lot of cat owners.

But, if your specific “feline hygiene” product is pet-safe hair-dyes for white persian cats your niche is too small! Are there enough white persian cat owners on the planet who want to turn their cat into a technicolour delight?

Probably not.

Getting super specific on a product range or collection of services can be great but don’t take the “less is more” approach to an extreme.

Your niche is too small if:

1. You don’t get enough sales
2. You have run out of places to promote your delicious offerings
3. Everyone in your niche already has bought from you!

How to avoid a niche that’s too small:

• Get clear on the benefits of your delicious offerings and WHO they can help (your target market)
• Make sure there are enough people on the planet to buy from you and that you know where to find them (Google can help you with this).
• Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and test the market, you will never know if you don’t try.

 Your turn:

• Have you found yourself in a niche that’s too small?
• Or do you feel that you need to narrow your delicious offerings down?

Actually we need it to stand out in order to really succeed.

You’ve created a business, you’ve taken that step many dream of. And then you start questioning yourself.

What makes my business special?

When, in fact you should be asking “what makes ME special?”

Since there is no such thing as an original idea, the chances are that you aren’t the first person doing what you are doing.

Your biggest advantage point is YOU.

Yes, YOU! (and unless you are clone, they broke the mould when you were born)

Here are some simple tips on how to get your business to stand out from the crowd:

1. Tell your story!

Why did you start your business?
Chances are it’s because you identified a skill you had and a place in the market for it.

The why is a really important

It’s the story that surrounds your why is what’s going to help people connect with you and make you stand out.

2. Be absolutely clear on who you are helping

• Who is your target market? Get super detailed – what do they eat? What clothes do they like.
• How does your business help those people? Be specific

Remember, you cannot be something to everyone.

In order to make a difference and stand out you need to create polarising emotions – the stronger, the better.

2. Embrace who YOU are

Get over the whole idea that you aren’t enough! We are all experts of our OWN experience! Believe it, know your worth and, tell that inner voice to shut it!

3.  Find your voice (and your secret somethin’)

Give yourself permission to be YOU completely. All too often we try to dilute who we really are in order to appeal to more people which usually leaves you selling yourself short on so many levels.

Now, you might not be ready to race out into the world with total reckless abandon (and I don’t really recommend that approach) but you can start off by doing one of the following:

• Record a call with your best friend describing your industry. What do you love? What do you hate? And WHY?
• Write an article or newsletter with ONE person in mind – the idea that only one person will ever see it will help you unlock your real voice!
• Note down some of your own funny vocabulary you use with clients or friends. Some of the phrases are fantastic nuggets you can use to make your communication super fresh, fun and totally you.
• Keep repeating the steps above, often.

4. Ignore your competition

Yes, ignore your competition.

You can’t lead if you are following your competition << {click to tweet}

5. Be prepared to stand out

It might sound silly, but many fear that if they stand out people will laugh at them.

And, maybe they will.

In order to stand out you have to be ok with the occasional feeling of running down a street naked screaming “look at me”.

It’s embarrassing, it’s uncomfortable, and well, it’s a feeling you are going to know all too well when you first take the plunge.

Now it’s your turn!

I want to know:

• What makes you stand out from the crowd? 
• Which of the steps above are you going to start working on today? 

This bright, young woman is Angelica Horvatic.

Finding clarity

Angelica has a vision, she is taking strides to change the way residents of Dubai look at their overall wellbeing. Her nemeses are quick fixes, faddy diets and fashionable mantras.

Over the last few months I’ve helped her by putting her through some grueling tasks to really find her voice, clarity and a clear direction to take her business to the next level.

Until now she was hiding between two entities: “Dubai Personal Fitness Trainer” and “Be Excellent”.

She led, what appeared to be a dual life.

One as a personal trainer who coached her clients to phenomenal heights.

A second as a life-coach who felt that she had to keep her life as a personal trainer low-key.

We worked together to really get to the essence of WHAT she does, WHO she helps and WHY.

Enter AngelicaHorvatic.com.

No more business-names, her new site reflects her passion for what she does. Angelica practices what she preaches, and  has a fabulous list of clients who are addicted to the new age of wellness she introduced them to. (And it’s important to note that FUN is key to Angelica’s style and energy!)

Today, Angelica is announcing to the world that she is AngelicaHorvatic.com and sharing her wellness knowledge and wisdom.

The background

Angelica has lived and breathed wellness for over a decade. She trained and worked in London and Dubai as a personal trainer.

In Dubai, as I mentioned, she was part of the Personal Training team in the first Fitness First in the Middle East . A few short years later she stepped out by herself to embrace a whole new world of entrepreneurship and living life on her terms.

Struggling with the confines of being called a Personal Trainer, when her work involved so much more, she created a coaching website to highlight the other techniques she brought to her clients such as traditional coaching methods, hypnotherapy, therapy and of course fitness.

But there was a gap.

Marketing Challenges for Wellness Coaches

• Being pigeon-holed as either a life-coach OR a personal trainer
• Lack of understanding as to what “Wellness” and “Wellbeing” really means
• Pre-conceived ideas that it’s all fluff (sadly, like all industries, there are always the fluffy ones!)
• Educating their target market to realise that there’s really no quick fix

I decided to ask Angelica 3 questions about our journey together.

Check out this Q & A:

1. Over the last few months we did a lot of different things. What was the most important thing you learnt in this time?

“I learned that it is extremely important to hire an expert for the things you don’t know anything about.,

I also learned that it is all about finding your values and your passions, who you truly are and what is your driver in life first and then in business.

As only then you can get answers on what you want to actually do and why. Finding that purpose will just give everything so much more sense and it will make you connect with yourself and your customers so much easily.

When you are 200% sure about who you are and what your business purpose is, you really start to actually attract customers. Dreaming and envisioning can be nice and stimulating but what really works are small steps with actions tied to goals every day.

 

I also learned to always focus to educate and inspire, thank you! ”

2. What were your biggest challenges when we first stated working together that we’ve now overcome?

“Firstly I was overwhelmed with loads of homework I needed to do for my site. I mean I thought I hired someone to build my site.

It is so funny because I had the same reaction as some of my clients, some hire me to “fix” them and get shocked with how much work they themselves need to invest.

So I realised I am the boss and if i want to have a successful business I have to work on it and everyone else can help out but I am the main component there.

I also realised I  shoud learn to walk before I jumped, for example when I first spoke to Ameena I wanted to do group workshops all around the world while i still hadn’t coached groups. So again do actions first and dream later!

I also had many challenges about putting the right price on myself and my services, I was uncomfortable about it for so long, and now I totally overcame it!”

3. What does the future look like for AngelicaHoravtic.com?

“The future is in educating and inspiring Dubai  and the Middle East, breaking all those misconceptions about coaching and teaching people what coaching actually is and how important it is for everyone to work on their goals and on their wellness.

Starting with individuals first and then slowly introducing group wellness mastermind workshops, helping even more people to live life they want!”

 

The behind the scenes results

You are probably wondering what else we’ve been doing during the construction of the new site.

• Creating a whole online presence that reflects WHO Angelica is and WHO she helps
• Unique packages to get real results
• Developing offline strategies to gain more press attention

Please go to Angelicahorvatic,com and check out angelica’s new site and show her some love.

 

Date published: 25th March 2013

You are probably surrounded by people offering a similar, if not the same, delicious offering. The challenge for every business is how to stand out and win your corner in your market!

So how do you convince people to buy from you?

Here is a list of things for you to consider to help you stand out and convince people to buy from you (and don’t worry, no sleazy techniques here!)

1. Find your niche

Make sure you identify what your niche is. Having a strong niche will help you build up your reputation as a specialist vs. a jack of all trades. People are much more likely to buy from someone who offers a specialised range of products and services than from someone who sells a gazillion different things.

2. Know your target market

Get clear on your target market. Who are they? What do they do? What are their challenges? And, how do they talk?

Using the language that best resonates with your target market will help you speak to them in a language they understand.

3. Illustrate the benefits of your offerings

Many businesses get all bogged down with illustrating the features of their products when all customers want to know is HOW your delicious offering is going to help them.

Personally I don’t care about the features on my phone – I hardly use any of them – all I want to know is that the camera is amazing so I don’t have to carry around another camera and that I can easily make calls and connect with people without issues.

4. Highlight your awesomeness

Yes, it’s time to sing it loud and proud. The one thing that is certain is that are an expert of your own experience. It’s your secret sauce that you must communicate.

If saying it yourself feels too much like bragging then ask someone for help – this is usually a self-confidence issue. And never forget to add lots of testimonials from happy customers to support your claims.

5. Educate and inspire your target market

It’s your responsibility to educate and inspire your potential customers. Blogs and social media do make this fairly easy to do. Write great articles that are demonstrative of how you can help and illustrate different ways you can rock their world with your delicious offerings.

Teaching your target market about how your offering can help them and highlighting various ways their lives can be changed helps encourage repeat customers too!

Don’t forget to have a strong call to action on all your communication. It sounds obvious but many business owners are too scared to tell potential customers what steps to take next.

6. Don’t be afraid to talk about money

Make sure you publish your prices online so potential customers know straight away how much you charge. Also, make it super clear what your payment terms are so there is no time wasted. (And obviously make it as easy as possible for people to buy from you!)

So there are a few simple steps on how you can convince people to buy from you.

Put these tips into place and you’ll leave the competition in your dust!

Loved this? Sign up and get more irresistible tips!

At the end of the day we can’t please everyone.

What’s important is to know how to deal with the situation when it arises and not take it to heart.

Very often, if you are a solopreneur or offer a highly personal service, negative reviews or a complaint can fire up the strongest of emotions.

You may want to scream and break things or you might want to curl up in the foetal position on the floor and rock gently to 80s love ballads in the dark.

It can feel like a person attack, a slap in the face after all the effort you’ve put in to have someone come back and say something negative about your obvious fabulousness.

After all, we’re perfect right (*insert sarcasm and a reality check shot*)?

Before I dive into how to deal with complaints and negative reviews I want to give some basic, yet very important, consumer behaviour theory.

Consumers are twice as likely to express their dissatisfaction with a product or service than if they are satisfied. (Nice eh?)

Think about how often you’ll complain to a friend, or online, if you get a crappy deal? Rave reviews are a lot harder to come by especially if you have delivered on expectation – why? Because the customer got what they wanted – transaction over.

The challenge is how turn a complaint around before it hurts your business and your pride.

1. How to deal with complaints

So, you receive a complaint and someone is unhappy, maybe something didn’t work, or broke the first day, or it shrunk in the wash.

Whatever the complaint is you need to address it immediately. Allowing a dissatisfied customer to sit and stew in the dark is dangerous territory which can lead to a much larger problem.

Quite often you can look at a complaint as a gift – it’s someone taking the time to tell you what is (possibly) wrong with your product or service. Usually it’s not the personal attack on your being that you may initially feel it is.

1. First off, make sure you have a clear complaints policy including refunds and exchanges.
2. Do include a time frame for complaints – complaining 3 months later is a bit too late!
3. Stating “no refunds” is completely well within your rights.
4. Take each complaint case by case.

Here are 2 examples of different ways to deal with complaints:

The customer who didn’t follow instructions

I recently had a client really upset that a customer had complained that a product had shrunk, and the dye had run in the wash. The customer insisted she had followed the washing instructions on the product (she clearly had not) – the dilemma was that this customer was a prominent figure in the target market of my client and upsetting her could cost this new business its reputation. Pointing out that the customer had not followed the washing instructions and refusing an exchange was too high a price to pay for this business. An exchange was given which ensured that this small business owner saved her reputation (even though she wasn’t in the wrong).

The client who’s baggage was more than just holiday clothes

A few years ago I had a family come to Provence to rent a holiday apartment in August. From the minute they arrived I knew it was going to be an interesting week. The complaints started almost immediately:

(Here are some highlights of the 17 phone calls on the first day)

Client: “Oh it’s too hot outside”  
Me: “Yes, it’s the South of France in August”
Client: “This is not the luxury apartment I thought it would be”  
Me: “The apartment is exactly as described and the word ‘luxury’ was never stated”
Client: “This kitchen is so ill equipped, there isn’t a marble slab to make pastry” 
Me: “A marble slab? For pastry? You are in FRANCE on HOLIDAY, why not go to one of the 4 bakeries in the village and buy some pastries?”

The next day I saw the husband of the client who was complaining who apologised to me and told me how this “reconciliation” holiday was proving that he really did want a divorce.

So, what can you learn from this story?

Sometimes people are just miserable gits, with epic sh*t going on in their lives, and you are the chosen one to share in the icky-poo stuff that’s going on with them.

2. How to deal with negative reviews

You’re rocking and rolling until one day you get an alert that someone has left you a review online.

Excitedly you go check it out.

It’s bad, really bad.

You yell and scream, it’s online, the world will see it, you can’t remove it, you feel attacked.

Someone actually took the time to type out these nasty things and put them online knowing full well that you can’t do anything about it.

Now, before you run off to make a voodoo doll of this person listen up.

Have a really honest conversation with yourself – is there any truth in this negative review? Maybe? Even just a teeny bit? Tell your pride and ego to take a backseat on this convo darling! Take a deep breath, yes you are a fabulous person and this review doesn’t change who you are.

A negative review amongst a sea of glowing testimonials makes you look HUMAN. It’s normal.

You can’t please everyone – even the most divine beings are disliked by many.

It’s not time to shut down your business, sell all your wordly possessions, and retreat to a cave.

It’s time to put things into perspective, why are you focusing so much on this one negative review?

Sometimes you will have the opportunity to respond to a negative review – if this is the case DO NOT reply immediately. Re-read the lines above and take some time to draft your response.

This is often a usually a good time to refer to your terms and conditions.

And sometimes it’s just best to let it be.

Most negative reviews I see online usually make me question what was going on behind the scenes?

• That crappy restaurant review – did he get dumped?
• That terrible hotel stay – did she just find out she lost her job?
• That terrible product review – did it come at a time when huge bills flooded in and they knew they couldn’t afford it?

And then you just have plain old crazy, people who complain as a sport – and yes, the vast majority of your future customers are aware enough to spot the crazies out there.

Basically, the customer is sometimes right. Sometimes.

But it’s important to not let complaints and negative reviews dent your confidence and fabulousness. Sometimes it is about you but usually it’s about them. All too often we focus on the negative, and we allow that one bad review to taint the rest of the amazing ones. Yeah, we’re all weird like that.

Go read your amazing reviews, those emails filled with love and appreciation and use those as a guide.

Hopefully this post helps you put things into perspective and if you need to make some changes based on the “bad” feedback treat them as a gift.

How else would you know what you need to work on?

Now, I want you to tell me how do you deal with complaints and negative reviews?