Hug Your Haters: How will you use what we've read?

[Pesso]

Hey Readers,

We’re finishing up reading Hug Your Haters by Jay Baer, so here’s our last discussion thread for the book!

Let’s talk about what you learned and the impact this book has had on your business, and whether or not you'll hug your haters.

We’d love to hear your answers in the comments:

• How are you going to handle online complaints and comments moving forward?
• What benefits have you seen from responding to complaints? 
• What didn’t go well when you responded? 

Don’t forget, Tuesday September 26th is our Live Discussion video chat for this book, so RSVP and tune in to chat about what we’ve learned!

View and Subscribe to all threads about this book. 

Happy reading,

Pesso

[mpmpmp22]

Great book! I love the mindset shift of using feedback to help grow the business instead of making it a negative thing. 

Using online complaints and comments is helpful in catching what went wrong that we might have missed and how we can plan better for future use cases. For example, when first learning how to ship some products nationwide we did a lot of trial and error. But through complaints and feedback, we took that knowledge and applied it to better equip us for how to handle shipments going forward and now we have seen a huge improvement in quality. 

Also, when people complain it usually means they care because otherwise why would they take the time out of their day to say something? I do get that some people might just complain for the sake of it, but the majority of people who are giving feedback do care and we should value that to improve how we operate. 

If we're not learning and growing, we're not getting better!

[Pesso]

Thanks so much for sharing, @mpmpmp22 !

That change in perspective from defensiveness and anger to acceptance and information is definitely one of the key tenets of the book. So great to hear that you were able to get so much out of the early reviews and feedback, took it to heart, and made changes to improve the customer experience! That's absolutely huge. 

You're totally right there too -- feedback means they care, are engaged, and want you to do better, which is so much better than the alternative of indifference and just leaving. 

Thanks again!

[Doran]

I agree.  It kind of opened my mind to using complaints as a way to grow and get better with pain points I may not have even been aware of.  

[Pesso]

So glad to hear that, @Doran ! That's definitely the goal and one of the main threads of the book, so it's great that this landed and resonated with ya!

[CareyJo]

So.... this book annoyed me and bored me TO DEATH.  He just kept repeating himself and quoting stats.  I gave up.  I didn't finish.  I could not find value in this man's opinion.  However, I did read at least enough to know that I do need to consider complaints as being more important.

I learned that I'm not actively looking for them.  We only get Google or FB reviews and FB notifies but Google doesn't.  So I have to be looking for them.  I will check more regularly from now on and address them.  I've always addressed them, but I'm going to change my tactics a little bit.  I'm going to shift my focus from being angry because they're an **bleep** and completely in the wrong and I don't need customers like that, to I want to at least end the relationship kindly.  As I mentioned before, we typically don't get reviews at all and we've only had a couple of bad ones, both of which went to legal because they were completely out of line.

What's funny is we had one come up during this time and I dealt with it better.  It was off-stage - on email - and I figured out how to answer kindly while still pointing out the problem and offering a solution.  This is another instance where I would get legal involved because someone tore up their floor and expect us to pay for the damage.  We didn't cause the damage, yet I still offered a small compensation even though this is their fault.  I got no reply.  So either they've dropped it because they're in the wrong or I'm doomed to get very bad news soon and will be contacting our attorney.  

In any case, I'm looking forward to the next book and I'm donating this one to the library!

[Pesso]

Thanks for sharing as always, @CareyJo !

I think it's really amazing that you pushed through and still took something away from the book despite how much it overall did not resonate with you. That's huge of you!

I love that callout to actively look for complaints and reviews out in the internet. I had a weekly ritual of searching for my business on google with the filter of "within the last month," and bookmarked all of the online review sites so I could easily find them.

That is a wonderful focus shift away from anger and into care and trying to be the bigger person. Even if the relationship didn't work now, as you've said, they may still refer others to you, and maintaining kindness can help that. 

That's so huge that you used the strategies already to handle one in a better way. It's a really difficult balance to do that, even if they ended up not responding. I'm hoping that they just drop it as a result of your response and that the strategies came to the rescue here!

So thankful for your ever-thoughtful responses and for giving the book a shot -- you rock!

Looking forward to hearing your ideas on the next one too-

[Bronze_Palms]

Complaints are tough but really help us grow long term.

I have made the mistake of responding to clients who are unruly and trying to work with them on a solution, when that is not in fact their goal. Some people are just unhappy and that is okay, but it is important as business owners to protect our own peace. I attempt to find a solution, then I move on but I don't let it define me or the business.

We focus on the great clients we have!

[Pesso]

Thanks @Bronze_Palms --

Complaints can definitely be tough to hear, and really hard to not take things personally. I absolutely agree that they're helpful too!

It can be hard to tell the difference between well meaning complaints and the rest. I think that was definitely a big point in the book, to respond to all of them to try to give a solution, but fall back when they shift to just blaming and not solution seeking. 

Love the focus on the good ones too!

[CareyJo]

I am of the same mindset.  I would much rather focus on the great clients we have than wasting time on someone who cannot be made happy and is dragging us down.  If we can't fix it, move on!

[Bronze_Palms]

Agreed! Do you reply to the negative feedback and try to come to a resolution or do you just move on?