Turning 1-star Google reviewers into 5-star fans of your business

Imagine waking up to find a one-star review on your Google business profile.

It might give you that sinking feeling, right?

I recently helped a client formulate a strategy to deal with this exact scenario….

And we managed to turn a one-star diatribe into a five-star review within just 24 hours.

We did it by making direct contact, listening to their concerns, and addressing the issues raised in the initially negative review.

They were so pleased with the outcome that they didn’t just delete the 1-star review as we had asked; they replaced it with a 5-star one.

Here’s the thing to remember: people want to feel heard.

Even when they’re in the wrong, listening to what they have to say and acknowledging their perspective can make all the difference.  

It’s not just about managing reviews on your Google business profile—it’s about transparent and respectful communication that is designed to preserve relationships.

I’m sharing more on how to handle these situations, including some ways you can avoid seeing negative reviews on your Google business profile in the first place, in this week’s episode of Commercial Real Estate Leadership.

Episode transcript

Imagine checking your email one morning and you see one of those notifications from Google that someone has left a review about your business.

And you think, "Great! What's this review going to say?"

You look at the review and it's a one-star review from an unhappy customer.

What do you do next? Well, that's what we're going to talk about in today's episode.

Hello, welcome to episode 188 of Commercial Real Estate Leadership. I'm your host, Darren Krakowiak.

Really appreciate you choosing to spend some time with us today.

We've got a great episode lined up for you based on something that's been going on with a couple of my clients.

In one case, we managed to turn a one-star review into a five-star review within 24 hours. And in another case, well, we haven't managed to turn that review into a five-star review.

That was a one-star review was we haven't been able to identify who actually left that review.

But what I wanted to do today is just to share with you some of the ways that I've been helping my clients deal with those negative reviews on their Google business profile.

Because it can be a real downer when you see that you work so hard trying to do the best thing by your clients. And it's really disheartening.

So, I thought that, that would be something that would be worth sharing on today's episode.

And as I shared last week, I'm going to be also sharing some personal updates in each episode moving forward.

And I sort of thought after that episode, a reason for me to do this is to set an example for you.

Because your team members, the people that you work with, they would love to hear more about you. I think that's something that they are looking for.

Because people are employed by companies, but they don't put in discretionary effort for companies.

They're not loyal to companies. They're loyal to people, to the leaders that they work for. And while people are employed by companies, they work for people.

So, I think we want to show our people that we work with a little bit more of who we are and just to make that bond a little bit closer and to help people understand a little bit more about who we are.

And in some cases, I think that you'll be able to show that you're a little bit like the people that you work with, which can only be a good thing in terms of solidifying the relationship that you have.

So, I really encourage you to share more about yourself with your teams, just as I'm doing with these updates in our podcast episodes.

And just a little update on last week, I said I was going to miss out on Father’s Day at my daughter's kinder because I had to go to Tasmania.

Well, the trip to Tasmania actually got postponed. Not for good reasons. The reason it got postpone was because I strained my back.

I went to the football to see Carlton lose by I think two points against St Kilda.

And sitting there in the nosebleed seats at Marvel Stadium, I was slouching and sitting in an uncomfortable position.

And about a 24 hours later, I was sitting down and I got up and I'm like, "Oh, that does not feel good."

And I realized I had strained my lower back. I had to get a CT scan. I had an examination by a doctor. Nothing serious. But it does require some treatment.

And I went to the acupuncturist, they are the Eastern medicine doctor, Dr. Hong.

And he really helped me. I feel a lot better after seeing him, but there's still a little bit more care required to get me back to tip top shape.

And certainly, I was in no condition to fly down to Tasmania.

Very disappointed that I wasn't able to get down there for that event, but I'm very thankful to the organizers of the event because we've postponed it until November.

So, if you are in Tasmania and you want to come along to that event, just DM me on Instagram. @cresuccess is our handle.

DM me 'TASMANIA' and I'll know what you mean. And I'll send you all the details about how you can get involved in that event, which is now happening in November.

And of course, I was very lucky to be able to attend my daughter's Father's Day event at kindergarten, although I wasn't as mobile in terms of being able to play all the games that they had, given the condition of my back.

So, the PSA, the public service announcement point of that story is 'Don't slouch at stadiums. Watch your posture?'

Because sitting for two and a half hours in a position which isn't good for your posture can lead to some nasty effects.

Well, today's episode is about Google reviews. And I wanted to just first of all share a little story that I experienced where I was thinking I might want to leave a negative Google review.

But instead, what I did was I actually directly complained to the hotel about what happened and then they resolved it to my liking, which meant that I didn't leave a negative review.

And I don't like to leave negative reviews. I don't think I've ever done it actually, because I know the impact that it can have on a business.

So, it's always my objective to try and resolve it. And at this hotel chain, they've got a real emphasis on resolving matters if something goes wrong.

And the thing that went wrong was actually quite a big thing, right?

So, I check into my hotel room at about 8 pm. And at about 10 pm I could hear someone trying to get into the room.

And they're really trying to get into the room and I'm thinking, "I didn't order room service. It's shouldn't be the cleaner. What's going on here?"

I go to the door and someone's trying to get into like, "Yeah, this is my room." I'm like, "No, no, no, this is my room."

And he shows me the room key that he's been given with the little folder that writes the name and the room number.

And yeah, for sure, he's been given the same room number as me.

So, I tell him, "No, no, no, you need to go downstairs and sort this out. This is my room."

And yeah, the hotel made a huge mistake. It was a big privacy and security breach to which they were very apologetic.

And they said to me, "Can we transfer you to a bigger room?

And I said, "Well, it's 10 o'clock. I'm fine. I'm only staying for a night."

They said, "Well, look, we're really sorry. This shouldn't have happened. Next time you stay, send us an email and we'll make sure that we take care of you."

And I thought about that and I actually thought, "You know what? I think this is a big stuff up. And I don't want to have to be thinking about this next time I come to the hotel. Why don't we just get it resolved now?”

So, I sent them an email and said, "Thank you for what you've offered, but I think that this was a pretty big mistake and I'd prefer it if we could just resolve it now."

And they wrote back to me and said, "Yep, we'll give you 50 percent off this day."

And I thought, "Okay. Matter resolved."

And the reason why I'm sharing this is because I've gone through with a couple of clients recently, the rigmarole of having a negative review on their Google business profile.

And I don't think that either case was necessarily their fault, but I wanted to just share a couple of principles around how we can try and avoid receiving negative reviews, and also some of the things that we talked about with those clients about how to address negative reviews.

Because as I mentioned at the top of the show, in one case, we were able to turn that negative review, that one star review into a five-star review 24 hours.

So, the first thing, I think we've got to remember is that we want to always welcome client feedback.

When a client, a customer, a tenant, so not even our direct client, but one of our clients comes to us with a complaint, we want to really treat that seriously and take on board what they've got to say.

And even if they are in the wrong, we want them to feel as if they have been heard and what they've said has been recognized.

And if they are definitely in the wrong, I think we need to make sure that we take the time to explain our position and help them understand why the way that we are looking to handle this situation is the way it is. Because of the policies, procedures, because of the way things are done.

Because if people don't feel like they've been listened to, if they feel like they have been done a hard done by, or if we're acting in a way which is not open to receiving their feedback, customers now have the power to just jump on Google and leave a negative review.

So, I think we always want to be respectfully accepting people's feedback, even if we don't agree with it.

Because that can go a long way to stopping a person from taking other measures to try and get the matter resolved, or at least to make them feel heard in terms of leaving a negative review, which is what we don't want.

So, we always want to welcome feedback is valuable and try and resolve customer complaints as best we can.

But of course, that's not always possible. And sometimes people will leave a negative review.

And the first thing we want to do is try and identify who left the review and contact that person and see if we can acknowledge what they've said. And try and resolve it with them and ask them if we can resolve it for them, if they are willing to remove the review.

And that's what we did with one of my clients. And not only did that particular reviewer remove the one-star review, but they replaced it with a five-star review, which I thought was incredible. That was a better outcome than we could have hoped for.

Now in another case, we weren't able to identify who left the review. It was an almost an anonymous review.

And in that case with a different client, we responded to the review by leaving a response from the business owner, which basically said, "We don't have a record of having spoken to this person. However, we'd like to understand what has happened here. Can you please contact us at ...".

And then go to the email and the phone number. "Thank you." And we put the name and the managing director.

So, anyone who's coming across that review can see that the business owner is taking it seriously.

Another thing that you can do if you receive a negative review, and perhaps you can't find the person who has left the review or you find the person and they're unreasonable and not willing to change it is to make sure that we are continually looking for ways to get more positive reviews.

One way to outweigh one negative review is to have a positive review. Because I think most people when they look at Google ratings are reasonable and they understand that from time to time there might be someone who leaves a less than shining review about the business.

So, if there's a one or two there, that's okay. It's not the end of the world.

But if you believe that there is a review that is on your Google business profile that is having a negative impact on your reputation and you've tried to contact the reviewer.

And they won't change it or you can't identify who that person is, there are a couple of things that you can do beyond just responding as the owner by leaving a note in response to that review on your Google business profile.

One thing that you can do is you can follow through on Google's dispute resolution process and dispute the claims being made in that review.

And you can just click a button and say it's spam or say that it's not true.

It seems to take some time in terms of the way that Google goes about responding to those reviews. But that is one step that you can take and then follow up on that.

And if you really believe that there are some reviews which are having a negative impact on your business, well, there are professional agencies that you can contact that will actually go through the process with Google to get that removed, if there is a basis for removing it, you know, if it's untrue or unverified.

Those agencies obviously charge money for that service, but that is also an option that is available to you.

So, today's episode is really just about how to deal with negative Google reviews and also, I guess, how to avoid them by trying to always make sure that we're accepting feedback when it comes to us, that we take it on board.

That we ensure that people feel heard when they're making a complaint or providing feedback and resolving it in a way that may not be to their complete satisfaction in terms of the result.

But at least ensuring that they know that we have taken on board what they've said, so they don't feel like their only recourse is then to go and to leave a negative review on your Google business profile.

So, if you have experienced any negative reviews in your business, I do empathize with you.

I know what a terrible feeling that is, especially if it is untrue or if it's unfair but we've given you a few ways to deal with it.

And I think the best way is just to make sure that we are always looking to invite people to leave positive reviews.

And I think the best way to do that, some people like to send out as a matter of course, an email after a transaction is complete to ask people to leave reviews, and that is one way to do it.

A way that I like is to always be looking for triggers. So, when someone says to you, "You did a really great job. We really appreciate it."

That's where you can say, "Thank you so much. We're actually looking to beef up our Google business profile. Would it be okay if you could leave a review with that feedback on our Google business profile?"

And if they say ‘yes’, you can then give them instructions on how to do that. And that will go a long way, I think, to outweigh the occasional positive review that you might occasionally get on your business profile.

All right, that is our episode for today. Thank you so much for listening and I will speak to you soon.