Who knew? Regarding my story last week about Charlynar Homes and blogs’ changing accountability for companies – it took less than two days for Google to find out about Charlynar Homes. Those of you with no current web presence, be aware – one unsatisfied customer, armed with a wee bit of technological skill, a few minutes of spare time and a desire to impact your business in a negative way can impact your reputation in an extraordinary fashion.
Coincidentally, after I wrote the story last week, I spoke with an old friend who is a project manager with a large national builder who was experiencing this exact situation – an unsatisfied homebuyer had started a blog detailing – timeline, contact information, pictures – his complaint, and in doing so had flummoxed the large company. (when Googling the development, the blog comes up #1)
My advice was simple – start a company blog, detail the situation, embrace transparency … and fix the problem for the customer and the others who have the same issue, even though the builder is not at fault.
Update: I just read this story about how Google is indexing blogs in near real-time.
Technorati Tags: real estate, reputation management, transparency
RE: Google indexing in near real time
How true.
I have a number of Google Alerts set up, including a vanity search on my name to find out where I’m mentioned online.
It’s very often the case that I receive notice from Google minutes after I’ve made a comment somewhere or posted something new to Flickr, Vox or other services.
Because of this, smart companies (or agents) wishing to protect their brand will need to address potential customer service nightmares before they come to a head. (Brilliant companies won’t let them come to a head).
Case in point – my family and I had a bad experience at a hotel in VA Beach a couple of weekends ago. I notified the hotel and was contacted by a manager to discuss the situation.
The result?
We’ll be going back to the hotel AND they’ll get a good write-up on TripAdvisor from me because they addressed the problem.
It’s all about transparency and honesty.