This kind of stuff will happen more and more. When you're successful you become a target. We grow our network everyday and not everyone we talk to is going to love us.

I look at this as good news.

Negative reviews can stem from any number of reasons, but they usually fall into two categories: factual and opinions.

Factual reviews are critical, but they focus more on the technical issue.

Opinion reviews are often much more emotional and frequently use hyperbolic language.

We aren't going to be able to please 100% of the people 100% of the time, but this is okay.

Credible negative reviews can help us learn about flaws in our product and areas we can improve.

Negative reviews also make our positive reviews seem more credible. In a recent study, users trusted a brand twice as much when they were presented with mixed reviews as compared to when they were presented with only positive reviews.

Let's talk about how marketing handles negative reviews and our online reputation.

When we're notified of reviews, we do our best to find as much context about the reviewer as possible. It's good to get as much of the story as possible so we can understand where the customer is coming from. It also determines if we respond publicly or privately.

If the review is a fraud, we can petition to take it down.

In life, we often remember negative experiences more vividly than positive ones. The same goes for business -- writing positive reviews is not top of mind for our busy customers. We're working on finding ways to encourage our customers to reviews us on a variety of channels - social media, yelp, referrals, and of course, testimonials.

This is not directly related to our reputation, but it's important nonetheless. The more original, high-ranking content we create, the further down in the SERPs these reviews will live, making them harder to find.

Also, content creation continues to boost our reputation as an industry thought leader, which establishes a solid place in the marketplace for us.

Our goal is to prep you as best as possible so you never feel caught off guard with a customer on the phone. (more on this later)

Tell us! The sooner we are alerted to negative feedback, the sooner we can manage it.

Inhale, then exhale.

It's really easy to get fired up while reading a negative about our company. Take a deep breath, read it in it's entirety, and take another deep breath.

Then remember, even if it seems like it, that it's not a personal attack.

If a potential customer brings up a negative review with you, first say "thank you." It sounds silly, but this person is obviously interested enough in the company to do their research and probably doesn't share the opinions of the reviewer.

It's very easy to discredit a review, but it makes us look just as bad. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and our product, for whatever reason, did not work for them.

As soon as possible, shift the focus away from the review and back onto the customer.

Highlight again that everyone has different needs, and focus on what this customer is trying to accomplish, and how we CAN do that.

Show off what we can do. This time is a great opportunity to focus on growth, where we have made changes and how quickly these happen.

Point them to places where our success flourishes: customer testimonials, live customers, our social media channels, and our blog.