I was on holiday in the Champagne region of France and we stayed for a few nights at a small Champagne House which had four guest rooms.
My husband and I always like to check Google and Tripadvisor reviews before choosing a place to stay, and for this Champagne House, the reviews were nearly all 5-star, except for a single one-star review from a year ago.
The one-star review was, as you might imagine from the rating, pretty scathing.
The reviewer didn’t like the staff, didn’t like the ‘house rules’, didn’t like the restaurant they booked for him, and complained about not getting a welcome glass of champagne.
But the reply to the review, from the managing director of the Champagne House, was a masterclass in how to craft a reply that neutralises the impact of a bad review.
Here’s what they did:
- Politely thanked the reviewer for their comments.
- Apologised that the reviewer didn’t get the ‘Ritz hotel’ standards they said they’d expected, and explained they weren’t trying to achieve 5-star hotel standards but instead to “provide our guests with a nice, elegant and quiet place to stay in Champagne“.
- Gave the context of what had actually happened: the guest had arrived late (after reception had closed), had asked them to find them a table at a top restaurant 15mins later (with no prior warning), been rude to the staff, refused the welcome glass of champagne, etc.
- And, as a final masterstroke, the managing director said “I wish we could have a discussion about your experience but, from your comments, it seems like your expectations and requirements were not compatible with the way we run our company“.
Here’s why the response was so good:
- It was measured and polite.
- It set the context of what really happened (completely changing the impact of the review –I personally thought the reviewer sounded objectionable after reading the response!).
- It went into a level of detail that the reviewer did not, meaning the managing director’s portrayal of what really happened seemed much more believable than the reviewer’s account.
- It took the opportunity to explain what type of service they were aiming to provide, giving them a good opportunity to promote themselves to the right kind of clients.
- From our own perspective, it put a smile on our faces and made us want to stay there.
Take action
If you get a poor review for your law firm it’s important to respond quickly and to respond in the right way. And remember that sometimes a bad review gives you the greatest opportunity to make the right impression on your ideal (future) clients.
As a bonus tip, when you respond to a bad review make sure you do so on every platform where it was posted. One thing the Champagne House forgot to do after responding to the Google review was to check if the review was posted elsewhere –it was also on Tripadvisor, but anyone reading it there would not see the ‘neutralising effect’ of the reply.
Whilst you can’t please all the people all of the time, the best way to reduce the risk of bad reviews is to attract the right clients in the first place and then ensure you have enough time and resources to provide them with a great level of client service. Our Law Firm Profitable Growth Assessment takes 3 minutes to complete and will highlight any specific areas for improvement in your firm with specific recommendations and links to helpful resources.
Improving the quality of the clients you attract is one of the 7 ways to increase the profitability of your law firm or legal practice. If you’d like to find out more about the other 6 ways (5 of which don’t require you to get any new clients at all) then download a sample of my chapter from the book ‘Profitability in Law Firms’ which will show you ‘The 7 Profit Zones Formula For Higher Profits Without Working More Hours‘.
