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  1. #1

    How do you gain your reputation back up when you lose it?

    How would you gain it if new clients won't sign up? What's the best way? Be helpful in public or work on your site more or what?
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  2. #2
    There's no trick to building your reputation. It's all about giving your customers what you promised and providing quality service day in and day out. If you do that, the word of mouth and reputation will come.
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  3. #3
    Life would be so much easier if a trick was available but I see what you mean now. I don't know why I asked this question in the first place.
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  4. #4
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    I know of some that simply hid who they were and buried their past, but it eventually catches up to them. Sometimes it's a slip, others a past associate that's gotten mad at them and exposed them...and so on.
    Confession is good for the soul, and is better than getting found out.

    We've had a few here on WHT that messed up, and faced it head on. Took the hit, admitted mistakes and came back to be helpful and honest. "Manned up" as it were, and that gained them a lot of respect, even in light of past transgressions.
    That certainly gets my attention, as it shows maturity, even if newly found.
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  5. #5
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    As bear says, the best thing that you can do is to acknowledge your mistakes, explain what you're going to do differently, and move on. The ones that try to bury it are just asking for trouble.

    On another note... a reputation takes years to build up, and can be destroyed in minutes, so always keep that in mind as you build your business.
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  6. #6
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    Well said..

    There really is no quick way of building reputation other than doing a stellar job helping your customers.
    Make good on your promises and if possible do more than you promise (also don't promise too much)
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  7. #7
    Time, that is what you need if you have a bad reputation - stick at it and eventually you'll earn yourself good reputation back (unless you're obviously providing a poor service! ).
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  8. #8
    Agreed. Man up and admit to the mistakes. Don't walk away from your mistakes. Learn from them.
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  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by M Bacon View Post
    Agreed. Man up and admit to the mistakes. Don't walk away from your mistakes. Learn from them.
    Definition: mis·take (m-stk)
    n.
    1. An error or fault resulting from defective judgment, deficient knowledge, or carelessness.
    2. A misconception or misunderstanding.

    What you did wasn't any of that. You were repeatedly and explicitly insulting your client (http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/web...tml#post137724), which is generally considered the utmost demonstration of unprofessionalism.

    Reputation is something that takes years to build up, and can be destroyed in a split second. That's exactly what you did, and people just aren't going to forget about it any time soon. Quite frankly, I would be surprised if a reputation driven business would survive after all that..

    I understand that you said those things in the heat of the moment (and it's completely irrelevant whether or not you were right or not), but you just don't say those kind of things. Especially not in writing, on the internet - but also just not in any business whatsoever.

    Reputation is something you need to earn, you won't just "get it back" - once it's gone, it's gone and once you've recovered you can basically start out from scratch. But even then, people are still going to find this stuff in Google, it won't go away. Just to give you an idea.. people are even talking about this matter on foreign forums.

    The only thing you can do is some damage control. Indeed, primarily by admitting you've blatantly screwed up (and not just for forgiveness, but by actually realizing how messed up this was), and also by demonstrating professionalism at all times.

    By the way - I'm just stating my opinion, I do not intend any offense whatsoever.
    Last edited by Apoc; 02-09-2011 at 09:38 AM.
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  10. #10
    Join Date
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    As bear says and just posted on another thread

    The truth will make you free.

    Just expose anything open in public, explain clearly what happened and why it won't happen again.

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  11. #11
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    rebranding your business might help. Learn from your mistakes and do things better. look at bing, seems like its working for them.
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  12. #12
    Join Date
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    Accept what you have done or what has gone wrong, and try the best to make up for it and keep your clients happy.

    Build a close relationship with clients, in the long term it will help you and them, you will grow with many clients who will feel more as friends and will stick by you even when the tough is really tough.

    Honesty and keep up satisfaction.
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  13. #13
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    @M Bacon - I don't think I can tell you anything that you don't already know. We all do stupid stuff from time to time, but when you man up to your mistakes, people are generally very forgiving. You asked what you can do to regain your reputation - from what I saw, work on your communication skills and change your attitude toward your clients (even the ones that make you want to pull your hair out). To your success going forward
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  14. #14
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    This all depends on the actual damage to your reputation.

    Just like in real life, reputation has to be earned.
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  15. #15
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    It all depends on the situation. If your reputation is tarnished in a public setting such as a forums like this or a popular review site it might be hard to recover from. Reason being it will always come up in a internet search for a company. It all depends on the amount of damage done and the severity of it.

    Now if this an issue of word of mouth it might have a little less of an effect in the long run and since there is no documentation you stand a better chance of recovery.
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  16. #16
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    I know of some that simply hid who they were and buried their past, but it eventually catches up to them. Sometimes it's a slip, others a past associate that's gotten mad at them and exposed them...and so on.
    Confession is good for the soul, and is better than getting found out.
    I agree with you , its 100% true.
    I think reputation is how do you treat your client. Many people think hosting business is a quick money making business. But its not like that.
    Be what you are and one should accept mistakes and learn a lesson from them.

    A reputation is like a glass. Once it is broken, it is very difficult to rejoin pieces. Yes you can rejoin, but it will always show the signs of past.
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  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kevin K View Post
    It all depends on the situation. If your reputation is tarnished in a public setting such as a forums like this or a popular review site it might be hard to recover from. Reason being it will always come up in a internet search for a company. It all depends on the amount of damage done and the severity of it.

    Now if this an issue of word of mouth it might have a little less of an effect in the long run and since there is no documentation you stand a better chance of recovery.
    It was certainly a public setting, as posted earlier: http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/web...right-now.html
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  18. #18
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    If you're in this business for a long enough period you'll receive both positive and negative reviews. Regardless of how hard you try you simply will not be able to please everyone. This is the nature of the business.

    I like to think of Hyundai. I remember when they had the worst reputation of any car manufacturer. (So much so that you'd be ashamed to drive one.) How did they fix their reputation? They kept improving. They increased sales 27% last year alone by simply improving their products.
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  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Apoc View Post
    You were repeatedly and explicitly insulting your client (http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/web...tml#post137724), which is generally considered the utmost demonstration of unprofessionalism.
    For some reason I can't imagine anyone coming back from something like that. Perhaps an anger management course as well as some review of basic etiquette could help. But honestly, if someone is going to treat people like that, they certainly shouldn't be running a business.
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by AvailHosting-Jeff View Post
    There's no trick to building your reputation. It's all about giving your customers what you promised and providing quality service day in and day out. If you do that, the word of mouth and reputation will come.
    Indeed Indeed
    Live the day in courage |

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  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by Apoc View Post
    Definition: mis·take (m-stk)
    n.
    1. An error or fault resulting from defective judgment, deficient knowledge, or carelessness.
    2. A misconception or misunderstanding.

    What you did wasn't any of that. You were repeatedly and explicitly insulting your client (http://www.hostingdiscussion.com/web...tml#post137724), which is generally considered the utmost demonstration of unprofessionalism.

    Reputation is something that takes years to build up, and can be destroyed in a split second. That's exactly what you did, and people just aren't going to forget about it any time soon. Quite frankly, I would be surprised if a reputation driven business would survive after all that..

    I understand that you said those things in the heat of the moment (and it's completely irrelevant whether or not you were right or not), but you just don't say those kind of things. Especially not in writing, on the internet - but also just not in any business whatsoever.

    Reputation is something you need to earn, you won't just "get it back" - once it's gone, it's gone and once you've recovered you can basically start out from scratch. But even then, people are still going to find this stuff in Google, it won't go away. Just to give you an idea.. people are even talking about this matter on foreign forums.

    The only thing you can do is some damage control. Indeed, primarily by admitting you've blatantly screwed up (and not just for forgiveness, but by actually realizing how messed up this was), and also by demonstrating professionalism at all times.

    By the way - I'm just stating my opinion, I do not intend any offense whatsoever.
    It's an opinion. Not a fact. It was a mistake. It was an error in judgement. Get your facts straight. You may think it was not a mistake but that's fine. Some people won't be happy regardless what situation you are in and on how you solve a bad situation. You can be angry but not in public. Sometimes no matter what you say it's best to just be quiet and let people run you over because the problem cannot be solved no matter how many times you tell them the truth.

    He is not a client anymore. I can insult non-clients as many times as I like but that's just an opinion.

    I am doing fine. My current clients are quite happy and I am quite happy as well.
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  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by M Bacon View Post
    It's an opinion. Not a fact. It was a mistake. It was an error in judgement. Get your facts straight. You may think it was not a mistake but that's fine. Some people won't be happy regardless what situation you are in and on how you solve a bad situation. You can be angry but not in public. Sometimes no matter what you say it's best to just be quiet and let people run you over because the problem cannot be solved no matter how many times you tell them the truth.
    Even if you are "right" and you are "angry" or "frustrated" sometimes there is nothing you can do to make someone happy and as such it's usually best to just let them go without argument or trying to place blame anywhere.

    No matter how angry you were, there is no excuse for your language and tone. You can call it a mistake all day long where as I personally see it as childish and intentional. Ultimately the best way to "recover" your reputation is not by losing it in the first place but in this situation (if I were to ever somehow put myself in it) I would do my absolute very best to apologize and make it known that I was aware I did something very bad and that I will ensure it doesn't happen again.

    Now don't get me wrong - I'm sure you probably just said what many providers have actually thought from time to time, but most of those that have thought it are smart enough to keep it in their head.

    Quote Originally Posted by M Bacon View Post
    He is not a client anymore. I can insult non-clients as many times as I like but that's just an opinion.
    You're welcome to insult anybody as much as you want, but keep doing so and see where it gets you.

    Quote Originally Posted by M Bacon View Post
    I am doing fine. My current clients are quite happy and I am quite happy as well.
    You're obviously not doing as good as you'd like or you wouldn't have even started this thread. You asked a couple of very serious questions and then tried to play the thread off as though you didn't really "mean to ask". I'm not buying it for a moment.

    You messed up, admit it, and move on.

    Good luck.
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  23. #23
    I messed up and I apologized and I admitted that I made a mistake. That was not good enough obviously. So, what do you want from me? Oh ya. Somebody that's perfect. Good luck with that.
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  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by M Bacon View Post
    I messed up and I apologized and I admitted that I made a mistake. That was not good enough obviously. So, what do you want from me? Oh ya. Somebody that's perfect. Good luck with that.
    I don't want anything from you - you asked a few questions and I gave my opinions. You obviously wanted to hear things that you liked and that's not what you're getting so it's apparently upsetting you.

    If you don't want to hear the answers, don't ask the questions...

    Best of luck.
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  25. #25
    Like I said, it's best to keep your mouth shut than to say anything in a bad situation. I knew I was going to get an answer I didn't like. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out that it always happens in a bad situation.
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