“The worst service experience ever! The technician showed up two hours late and never even apologized. His boots were dirty, he left mud on my carpet and the floor drain in my basement is still backing up. DO NOT EVER CALL THESE PEOPLE!!!!!”

“If you are offered a job at this place, run! Do not walk to the nearest exit. This company is an asylum. I have never worked with a more dysfunctional group of people in my life.”

“There are a lot of fake reviews on this site. Anyone who has ever hired these people knows they’re never on time and they’re always trying to upsell you on some expensive repair you don’t need.”

Ouch! Those hurt.

And there it is, right there in black and white for anyone and everyone to see — the naked truth: what someone thinks of your product, your service or your organization.  

Bad reviews can bite, wound and sting. Worst of all, a mountain of them can appear in a matter of seconds. Social media: It’s a wonderful thing, until it turns against you.  

So, what’s a person to do when his or her online reputation is suffering at the hands of others? Plenty.

Step one: Take a deep breath. You can fix it. Not overnight, but you can fix it.

Step two: Get over any hurt feelings or embarrassment, and do it quickly. The people who complained have done you a great favor. It’s now up to you to decide if negative reviews are going to be the kiss of death or a wake-up call.

Step three: Uncover everything that is being said about you. If you found a bad review in one place, there are probably others. You will need to spend a few hours researching yourself online. Start Googling and take notes of what you find and where. A word of caution: Resist the urge to respond to anything. Be strategic, not impulsive. You will need a game plan before typing a word.

Step four: Automate. Sign yourself up for Google Alerts at www.google.com/alerts. If new content mentioning your company shows up online and Google sees it, the search engine will send out an automatic alert letting you know. There are also a variety of free and paid services that will monitor online search terms and any major review sites for mentions, and will quickly notify you if new information about you is posted. If you are serious about managing your online reputation, these services are extremely valuable.

Step five: Once you have a good picture of your online grade, get ready to roll up your sleeves and start problem-solving. If your employees are rude, train them. If your work didn’t meet a customer’s standards, fix it. If people hate working for you, investigate. Unless you are the victim of competitor sabotage, what you are reading is probably based in truth. If needed, revisit step two.

Step six: Involve your team and communicate your improvement plan. You will reach your goal faster if everyone in your organization understands what it is and is working toward it.

Step seven: When you are interacting with people, ask them what they think. You already know some of them have no problem sharing their opinions with the world, so they will probably be willing to candidly tell you the good, bad and ugly. Asking your customers for help can prove extremely beneficial.

“We are working hard to improve. Would you be willing to talk to me for a few minutes? Thank you. What two or three things could we have done differently in order to make your experience with us better?”

If at all possible, have these conversations verbally. You may be surprised by the quantity and quality of information you are able to quickly gather.  

Step eight: Once you have a clear sense of what is going on with your business and are on the road to smoothing out the rough spots, get back to the reviews. It’s time to answer them.

First, thank the reviewer for letting you know about a problem and include something good about yourself, too.

“Thank you for your feedback, and I’m sorry your experience with us wasn’t what you expected. We’ve fixed a lot of plumbing problems in our five years of business, and we want all our customers to be satisfied with our service.”

Second, describe what you have done to prevent the issue from occurring again.

“We’ve taken a few steps to prevent what happened to you from happening to another customer. Since your visit, our staff has had weekly training sessions to improve their service skills.”

Third, ask the person to give you a second chance.

“Please call on us again if any plumbing issues arise. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. My name is Karl. If you ask for me when you call, I’ll make sure you’re well taken care of.”

Resist the urge to be snarky, judgmental or to correct your customers. Yes, some customers are wrong — however, pointing that out will not help. Lots of people are going to be watching how you respond to others. Take advantage of the opportunity to be polite, helpful and solution-focused. People who rely on the reviews can often tell when other customers are being difficult. If you are gracious in your dealings with them, you will win in the long run.

Step nine: Ask your happy customers to post reviews. Over time, your average will improve. Obviously, this approach only works if you are indeed making changes and removing the causes of bad evaluations. If you are not, prepare for more of the same reviews you’ve gotten in the past, because they’re coming. You simply cannot turn off the social media tap.

Step 10: As tempting as it may be, do not post fake reviews or go to a service to get others to do the same. Apart from the fact that it’s dishonest, it’s also dangerous. If you get caught, you will look even worse than you did before. Instead, get busy writing more content to post on your site, press release sites, and other appropriate places. The more that you have out there, the less visible bad comments will be.

Followed closely, this 10-step plan for a reputation overhaul could earn you five stars.