Maintaining a business reputation is tricky.
According to the most influential entrepreneur and investor Warren Buffet, “It takes 20 years to build a business reputation, but only five minutes to ruin it.”
And that’s something we can’t deny. If you are a business owner, you must know how hard you worked to maintain the strong reputation of your business.
But unluckily, sometimes we commit big blunders that destroy all the reputation we built for years. If you have built customer loyalty, it drives sales and leads, but this could all go down the drain when your single acts ruin your reputation.
So, what are those important things that you must need to avoid? What are those reputation-busters that could ruin all your recognition, hard work, and effort and put you back from where you started?
Let’s find out everything in detail.
- Tardiness and Laziness
Tardiness and laziness always kill your reputation, badly.
Whether you are late to a meeting with a client or just missed an important deadline, if you are failed to honor your time commitments, it will reflect badly on your company and the client. However, if you are punctual and manage things timely, it will show your clients that you value time and know how to manage it.
Time management is a skill that every employee and employer must need to learn. Establishing a positive corporate reputation depends a lot on managing time effectively.
Therefore, I will recommend my readers to stay ahead of their commitments and practice excellent time management. Prioritise your work and schedule things properly. Never hesitate to consider technology aids like email and reminders, and always be on time whether it’s a meeting or a project deadline.
- Poor Social Media Handling
Social media is sometimes a very complex communication medium. You need to be very careful while handling it.
You can use different channels to engage your customers directly, but it still backfires on your business reputation when you post something insensitive or inappropriate, even on your personal profile.
As we are all living in a very hyper-connected world, everything you post can go viral quickly. Things that seem harmless to you may come back to bite in less than 5 minutes.
If you posted something negative on your business page, many people see it and share it. Your post will go viral and instantly damage your reputation online which eventually costs you lost leads and zero earnings in the future.
To make the best use of social media, you can also hire a social media marketing team that knows perfectly how to handle your reputation on social media.
- Failed to Keep Your Promises
Once I heard somewhere, “Never promise more than you can perform.” I have seen businesses that over-promise, but under-deliver. And that’s something very bad, and badly hurt your reputation in no time.
Only make promises that you are intended to keep.
If you have promised to return money back in 30 days, then you MUST do it if your customers come to you within the scheduled period. Listen to their issues, apologize, and offer them a full return.
False promises can hurt your reputation more than anything. Don’t exaggerate, don’t cheat, and promise things that you are able to deliver or perform.
- Unnecessary Delays
Time is extremely valuable, not only for you– but also for your customers.
If you have arranged a meeting with the customer at 11 am, don’t be late. Or if you have promised to deliver the order on Monday, do not delay it as it will have a bad impact on your customers. Always meet
your deadline no matter what.
If you think you cannot meet deadlines, then do not promise any delivery in the first place. So, once you committed, be sure to stick to it. When you don’t respect your customer’s time, it can have lots of detrimental effects on your reputation.
- Inconsistencies
Inconsistency is another bad thing that quickly destroys your business reputation.
That’s the reason, it is extremely important to maintain your brand consistency across different channels you use, such as your website, social media pages, and other digital platforms.
When you represent your business with the same voice and style across all marketing channels, online and offline, you can easily build a strong reputation for your brand.
- Bad Customer Services
You might be selling excellent products or services, but your brand still cannot perform well if you are failed to meet customers’ expectations and treat them well.
According to Vince Lombardi, “It takes years to find a customer, and second to lose one.”
And that’s 100% true. The business builds a strong reputation with exceptional customer support.
You need to make sure that your customers walk out happily from the door. Follow up with them and see if they have any issues or complaints with your product. Analyze how will they rate the product and what they liked the most.
Bad customer handling means that either you are unable to deal with customers’ concerns, you don’t care about them, or you don’t have time to deal with their small concerns. Customers will instantly lose interest in your services if they are treated badly.
- Ineffective Website Design
Your website is a mirror that reflects your brand. If your website is poor and ineffective, it won’t convince customers that you are a good brand in the market.
Therefore, make sure your website is engaging and converting people the moment they land on your homepage.
To make the design effective, it is recommended to trust web development services as they know how to create a website that builds trust. If your website is poor and failed to deliver the right message, it will definitely ruin your overall brand image.
Hire the Best Reputation Management Services
Managing the solid reputation of your business is challenging. Make sure you complete this challenge with 100% success. And that’s only possible when you hire the best reputation management company that knows all the ins and outs of the industry.
The professionals can build trust for your company good image that allows your customers to choose you over hundreds of other businesses.
Remember, repeated customers are the secret to your success. They can make or break your brand’s reputation. Therefore, put every effort to establish a strong business reputation.