How to Handle Negative Feedback – Part 2

You’re “out there” in your blog, Facebook and Twitter. It’s a Brave New World. Anyone can post any comment, can’t they? Who will stop them from saying negative things about your dental practice?

Don’t let that thought keep you up at night.

Here’s your mantra:Negative feedback takes many forms, and is not always aimed at harming your practice. These are the primary types:

“Every comment, no matter how ill-informed or irrational, is an opportunity. The better your response, the more respect you’ll gain from the community overall.”

Negative feedback takes many forms, and is not always aimed at harming your practice. These are the primary types:

• Bluster – the indignant, upset, frustrated voice that can’t quite convey his or her issue very well.
• Pressing – a real heads-up on something that should be addressed immediately.
• Disgruntled – mad as hell about something big or trivial; they will be very specific.

Make sure you publicly respond to every positive AND negative comment. But keep it within reason. Don’t let it become a time-waster.

Apologize and offer a solution – even simply offering to consider their concern in the future. That’s likely to be enough to satisfy them. If it’s antagonistic, be polite, but leave the conversation.

Control Your Blog

Most content management systems and comment platforms allow you to turn on comment moderation before a comment goes live.

• You can require registration for comments, require individual comment approval, or grant automatic approval for future comments once the respondent’s first comment goes live.
• If there’s any room for constructive criticism that’s worth exploring, accept it. Discuss it a bit. You can opt to suggest taking the discussion off-line, and discuss via email instead.
• If it’s simply a disgruntled comment, one that’s out of bounds, delete it.

As an independent dentist, you should do your best to listen to the comments and provide a solution if you can. If it feels necessary, outline a few points where you feel you already address the problem. Explain that you appreciate their feedback, and that you take it seriously.

Most of all, don’t take it personally. Always thank the writer -– even when it’s been a negative comment.

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2016/07/content-backfires-negative-feedback/