I recently read an amazing story about a student who was towed by a towing firm in Michigan. The student started a Facebook page called Kalamazoo Residents Against T&J Towing and 11,000+ people have subscribed. While towing companies probably don't have many "fans" on facebook, 11,000 detractors is a huge number.
Only around 75,000 people live in Kalamazoo. While I'm sure many of the subscribers are joining just for fun, when one out of every 7 residents of a town signs up to a group that is against your business - you may as well stick a fork in your operations. You're all done.
The owner's response has been to sue the student for $750,000. Bad move. It looks like a class action countersuit is underway.
T & J Towing's BBB Rating
T & J Towing has a BBB rating of "F". You might expect that many towing companies have unhappy dealings with the public and as a result have very poor grades due to a lot of complaints - justified or not. This is only partially true. While there are quite a few towing companies with "F" BBB ratings, there are many with a grade of B or higher. T&J Towing has chosen not to become a member of the BBB and is apparently unresponsive to many complaints.
T & J Towing Local Pages
T & J Towing hasn't claimed any of their local pages and has downright incendiary photos posted on Yahoo Local Search. Here is a sample of their presence with local business directories:
- Google Maps (Google Places) - 72 reviews - almost all are 1 star reviews of people with horrible stories about the business.
- Yahoo Local - 37 1 star ratings, and a photo of Hitler in the three photos posted by an unhappy reviewer. Hitler is supposed to be representative of the business owner.
- Yelp - 9 total 1 star reviews, 4 of which have been filtered out.
From the vast amount of reviews that I have read, along with the BBB rating of "F", there are some problems at T & J towing. At the very least there are major customer service issues. There may also be some ethical issues with business practices.
How Does This Help Me Market My Denver Small Business?
There are a number of lessons to be learned for Denver Small Businesses from this case study. This towing company isn't a large company like Apple or Microsoft which has thousands of users campaigning against them - this is a local small business. In the age of social media, if you don't manage your services and your brand properly, bad things can happen. Here's what you can do as a small business owner to avoid big time issues.
1) Don't be a Jerk
This one should be pretty simple, but be nice to customers. Make sure your employees are nice to customers. Engage in ethical business practices.
2) Take the High Road With Difficult Customers
Even one difficult customer can make life very difficult for your business by posting multiple negative reviews in a variety of places. Young people may make up a tiny portion of your business, but due to social media, they can have a disproportionate impact (both positive and negative) on your business. Treat all customers generously and with kindness - even if it might be tempting to let a difficult customer know what you really think.
3) Join the BBB. Maintain Your Rating
Join the Better Business Bureau and respond to customer complaints. If negative reviews do come out about your business, you'll be able to defend yourself by pointing to an A+ BBB rating. In such an instance, I'm thinking that the local directories would be more likely to remove or filter bad reviews.
As an example, Yelp actually actively filters questionable negative reviews. I also know that Dex will sometimes remove questionable negative reviews. If you have good standing with a trusted organization like the BBB, this will go a long way towards maintaining a positive brand image.
4) Own, Maintain, and Monitor Local Directory Listings
I have stressed this numerous times, but be sure to go into the major local business listings at search engines (Google Places, Yahoo Local Search, Bing Local) as well as local sites (Yelp, CitySearch) and take control of your page.
Put information up about your business and monitor your reviews. This will allow you to put forth the image of your business that you want visitors to see. You can also monitor the reviews to ensure that reviews are accurate and honest - and not one unhappy customer or a competitor sacking your presence with negative reviews.