The recommendation of Wild West 2.0, How to Protect and Restore Your Online Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier in the Denver Post appeared within days of a chiropractor friend commiserating about an irate patient who had left a negative review about his practice on Google. I was curious. How do you protect and restore your reputation on the Internet? Besides attempting to resolve disputes in the real world so a permanent, worldwide record of the incident isn’t created in the first place (not always possible), you’ll want to avoid the Barbara Streisand Effect and know how to build a Google wall.
However, since your primary focus isn’t the Internet, you might want to turn to page 234 and browse Chapter 13. In it, the authors describe the appropriate response to a practitioner’s less-than-favorable review. (And by the way, plan to get some.) The authors assert the same thing I have, that a negative review here and there can actually serve to validate the overwhelming preponderance of positive, glowing reviews.
You are encouraging patients to write reviews about your practice, aren’t you? That dog-eared copy of “Our Patients Speak” in the reception room might be affirming, but doesn’t help persuade a prospective new patient checking you out online who is thinking about beginning care.