In July, the special report, teleseminar, and Pass-Along Materials on BeAResumeWriter.com addressed working with challenging (or pain-in-the-a$$) clients. You can check them out in this Working With Difficult Clients bundle.
I received the following question from a resume writer about clients who disparage you online:
Bridget,
Ever consider writing materials about how to handle PITA clients that give you scathing reviews because they want to showboat their frustration and anger?
The bad review I got from the one guy even went to the Better Business Bureau. As a result of his review, my last 7 thumbtack bids have been declined before they even consider me. for Yelp, I had 24 views and only 2 clicks to my website or calls.
Last night I decided to delete both profiles, which I'll do today. They weren't producing anyway, so why double the whammy with a negative reviews? Plus I had four positive reviews immediately following this bad one and Thumbtack said I could post them there. They did, but Thumbtack won't publish them because they aren't Thumbtack clients, so these four fabulous reviews are lost. They could have bolstered Yelp, but Yelp has a bad reputation anyway.
I'm going to restart my blog and do my own marketing. I may switch gears from resume writing or expand it. Either way, how to handle a disgruntled client with a bad review is different in many ways from a PITA client. You might consider what to do about it. Especially when you send them the Client Release Form informing them you can sue for disparagement, but there's enough truth in there that you might lose the disparagement case. I'm still thinking about it.
My response:
Great idea! I will add that to my possible topics list for a future special report.
Online reputation management for resume writers is handled in much the same way we suggest it for jobseekers! YOU control your brand identity and reputation online by creating POSITIVE content so that NEGATIVE content is pushed further down the page.
When I Google YOU, I should see:
• A "complete" LinkedIn profile (with glowing Recommendations from happy clients)
• Testimonials and samples on your website that showcase happy clients and your best work
• Articles (or blog posts) that demonstrate your competency and expertise
Right now, Yelp and Thumbtack are showing up on the first page of your Google search results -- but unfortunately, I don't think that deleting your Yelp or Thumback profiles will eliminate them entirely (AND deleting them eliminates your opportunity to respond to clients -- both negative AND positive) ... so I would instead make a concerted effort to INCREASE your positive reviews on both sites, while simultaneously REDUCING your dependence on both of them as sources of new clients (Thumbtack in particular).
Thumbtack is the equivalent of our jobseeking clients applying for jobs online. It can work, but it's not a great strategy ... you are at the whim of the person at the other end of the keyboard.
However, for Thumbtack, go through your client database and look for clients who found you through the service -- and were HAPPY -- and ask them to write a review for you.
If you decide to continue writing resumes, the most important things for you to do are:
1. Standardize your client management process so that all clients have the same intake policy (and you don't make *exceptions* for clients -- as you found out with [client name redacted], that is a RED FLAG for a potential PITA client). They either work with you the way YOU want to, or you don't work with them. AND you need to make sure you meet 100% of client deadlines going forward, because that's critical.
2. TAKE CONTROL of your client marketing. In addition to boosting your positive responses on Yelp and Thumbtack, increase the content you have available out there that YOU control. Posting regularly on Facebook, adding at least one blog post a week, writing articles for third-party sites (these have to be UNIQUE content) like Ezinearticles.com, goarticles.com, etc.
You also need to figure out who your IDEAL client is, and identify how to connect with these folks.
I've attached the "Attract Your Ideal Resume Client" special report (that was your Bronze member special report in April 2014) and I encourage you to work through it!
Hope that helps!!
Bridget
