What about the CRAZY people?

[ryan.leslie]

In my weekly training webinars for DealerRater Certified dealers and staff I get the opportunity to talk about the dreaded negative review. I came across a video that embodies a slide I share entitled What about the Crazy People? You know who they are. They are the one's demanding $5,000 of goodwill from your service department on the $5,000 used vehicle you sold them 5 years ago.

Here's the video showing a CRAZY PERSON reviewing a lemonade stand. Look familiar?



Three quick takeaways:

1. Recognize that some people are CRAZY! - We all know that crazy person in our life, the one that refuses to ever be happy or satisfied with anything. You've probably bent over backwards to make him or her happy enough times to determine that it is an exercise in futility. (PS. If you can't immediately think of this person in YOUR life, I hate to tell you, but YOU are this person.) Here's the thing, your unsold prospects have a CRAZY person in their life too. They EXPECT to see CRAZY PEOPLE represented in your reviews! Be very careful about a system that "cleanses" reviews. This is still a people business, people dealing with people is never perfect!
2. Recognize that this is an opportunity! - Every negative review represents an opportunity to demonstrate to your unsold prospects that you care through your public response, even about the CRAZY people. Remember, you aren't writing that public response for the benefit of the person that wrote the review, you're writing it for all of the unsold prospects that will read it later.
3. Recognize that NOT every negative review is written by a CRAZY person - Want one more reason not to artificially "cleanse" your content? You'll miss the best opportunities to improve your service AND win future business. Things don't always go as planned and it is usually execution, but sometimes the plan itself is the reason things didn't go as planned. Don't immediately dismiss a negative review that points out a weak spot in your game plan as being written by an unreasonable crazy person. There are great insights into your business that can and will improve your operations. You don't have to try to "think like a customer" when you can read what they are thinking! Thank the reviewer for their feedback and let them know that you use that feedback to improve.

Last thought:

I always encourage GM's and Dealer Principals to be involved in their response strategy, but as tempting as it may be, I do not suggest the "Hands On Management" of CRAZY PEOPLE displayed in this video.