In this episode of the "On a Roll" podcast, host Mike Michalowicz explains practical strategies for dealing with negative online reviews. He begins by recommending that businesses actually welcome a few negative reviews because a perfectly five‑star profile can look fabricated. He then outlines three core tactics: (1) respond professionally to unfair or scathing comments without resorting to insults; (2) offer a concrete resolution such as a refund, complimentary service, discount, or referral to a better vendor; and (3) treat one‑star reviews as valuable because prospective customers read them to gauge potential problems. Michalowicz demonstrates his process by drafting a response to a sample one‑star review, emphasizing the importance of addressing the reviewer by name. The segment also includes a brief plug for Barry Moltz’s book "Small Town Rules" and a humorous, unprofessional mock name used as a contrast to the recommended professional tone.
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Welcome to On a Roll. And now here's your host, Mike Michalowicz. Welcome to On a Roll. I'm Mike Michalowicz. You're not. Today we're going to talk about how to handle negative reviews about your business. But first, my boy Barry Maltz, who is awesome and he's a must read author, wrote another book called Small Town Rules. And this is a book you gotta pick up. I would almost say almost say over the pumpkin plant, but I'm not gonna say that. Pick the pumpkin plan first, but then also get this book. Barry Moltz, awesome guy, awesome author. All right, so how do you handle negative reviews? Here's the first trick. Recognize you want negative reviews. If it's always five stars. People coming considering your business think they that is manufactured may not be, but it feels that way if it's all lopsided one way. So first way to handle it is recognize you actually want them. Second is if they're unfair and scathing. Then you have to respond, but respond professionally. So if someone's being all slanderous about your business, don't get up all in their face and call them a jerk wad or something. Instead, write back professionally and this is how you do it. The third thing, write back with an offer to resolve the problem. So if someone buys a book of mine and they say it sucks, I hate it. I can offer a refund. Someone goes to your restaurant and they hate it, offer another complimentary dinner. Someone uses your service, offer a discount or even turn them onto an alternative vendor that may serve them better. Offer a resolution. The final thing to know about one star reviews, every one of your customers is going there and checking it out. They're not checking out the five stars. They want to see what sucks about you. And if nothing sucks about you, then they may hire you. 1 stars are that important and how you handle them is just as important. All right, so I want to show you a one star review and how you should appropriately handle it on my own site. Here's a one star review that I got and what I do instead of responding immediately to them because you can get in a moment, I go into a word processor and write down exactly what I want this person to hear. Always address the person by name too. People respond to their own names being said. This came in from Harold Micrombus. So I start off, Dear Harry Micropenis, that's how you roll.
