Triple Win Property Management Blog

How to Handle Bad Reviews: Tips for Property Managers

Mark Brower is the owner and designated broker of Mark Brower Properties. He has over 15 years of experience in property management and investing, and lives in Mesa, Arizona. Mark is a Second Nature Triple Win Mentor. You’re going to get bad reviews. That’s just a fact of running a business. It’s impossible to please 100% of people 100% of the time, and inevitably someone is going to turn to Google Reviews or social media to air their grievances. But if you know how to handle bad reviews, you can actually turn them into an opportunity. In fact, even the worst reviews from current or former residents can be chances for your business because they can help you grow, improve your level of service, and delight those unhappy residents. With more and more potential residents turning to online reviews for information, it’s business critical to manage them well and see negative reviews as an opportunity for growth. So let’s dive into how I handle negative reviews at my property management company, and how you can do the same. How do negative reviews impact a business? We all know that social proof has an enormous impact on businesses. Prospective customers are looking for evidence about your trustworthiness, reputation, and level of service. Over the last twenty years, people have continuously moved more towards doing their own due diligence before they decide to get on a call with a salesperson, and online reviews have been the key piece of that. People have more information than ever before, and they feel like they can trust it. What makes property management unique is that choosing a place to live is such a huge commitment. It’s one thing to weigh what kind of mattress or computer you’re going to buy. It’s another to decide what home you’re going to live in. And that means that the stakes for property managers are even higher. One of the biggest pieces in building trust is openness and honesty, and that means showing your prospective residents the truth—the good and the bad. In a recent survey of nearly 30,000 apartment renters, nearly 70% said that they look at online reviews to help make their renting decision. Crucially, 86.2% said they were more likely to consider a management company that had mostly positive reviews with a few negative reviews mixed in, rather than all positive reviews. Part of being a strong business leader is being upfront and honest, and that means taking the good with the bad, and taking responsibility for both. A negative review isn’t going to ruin your business, but how you respond to it could. What to do when you get a bad review Bad reviews can be scary. They’re never fun to see, and they can send property managers into a spiral if they’re not careful. Keep your cool One of the most important things to do in response to a negative review is to control your emotions. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have emotions. In fact, you should get emotional! But you need to channel that emotion into vulnerability, and take a critical look at your company to see what went wrong. Personally, my initial reaction to a one-star review is pain. I feel anxiety and pain in my gut as soon as I see it. And that’s because I have a very low tolerance for negative interactions with my company. I want everyone to be as happy as possible with us. So when that doesn’t happen, it hurts. Some people have told me that I should turn off notifications and have someone else on my team deal with reviews. I couldn’t disagree more. As the owner of the company, I need to lead by owning the outcome myself. But when I feel that pain, I always try to channel it inward, rather than outward. It’s not productive to get defensive or argumentative, especially when your response is public. Instead, I let that pain drive me to improve my business processes and look for where we went wrong. Always respond That said, it is important to respond to reviews. Personally, I don’t post a public response immediately. Instead, I call them directly to take ownership of the issue and let them know I want to fix things. Then, while I wait for a response, I look to learn as much as I possibly can about that person and our interactions with them. I’ll spend an hour or more looking through our email correspondences, phone logs, and past maintenance issues. My goal is to truly understand their point of view, see things from their perspective, and make sure I fully understand the situation before I reach out to them. Private vs. public responses I do respond publicly, because people want to see that you’re addressing concerns and taking action in response to complaints. When I call them. I want to see how I can resolve their problem directly. Most times they don't take my call, and then I text them. If I need to, I’ll call and text the next day, too, because I’m not giving up. If I still don’t get a response, that’s when I’ll leave a public comment, because you can't go too long without giving some kind of public reply. Here’s how I reply if I haven’t had the chance to talk directly with the resident first: Apologize: I’m so sorry to hear that this is going on. I never want someone to have a bad experience with my company. Make it clear who’s responding: This is Mark Brower. I wanted to make sure you heard from me directly. Thank them: Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. Ask for more information: I'm going to try to reach out to you because it's important to me that I understand your experience. Here's my cell number, and here's my email address directly. And please watch for my call. I want to learn more about this. The reason that I like to reach out privately first is that not all reviewers are comfortable sharing details publicly. It helps me get more information on what’s going on and learn how things have gone so off-course. But responding publicly helps build that trust that you’re committed to solving problems. It shows that you take ownership and lead by leaning in. Thank the reviewer and take responsibility One of the most important steps I mentioned is thanking the reviewer. People want to feel heard, especially when they’re facing a challenge. When you thank them, rather than getting defensive, you’re showing them how much you appreciate their honesty, and building that sense of understanding and trust. And you should mean it when they thank you, because they’re doing you a favor. They’re bringing a serious problem to your attention so you can fix it. My biggest piece of advice is that you have to start with a premise that people that have a bad experience are reasonable and rational. There is always a reason that they’re unhappy, and treating them as if they’re being unreasonable won’t help anyone. Instead, take responsibility for the problem and assure them that you’re working to make it right. And never throw your team under the bus. Even if there was an error made by one of your employees, you should recognize that, ultimately, it rolls up to you. Blaming someone on your team only creates tension and resentment internally, and gives an unhappy resident a reason to lash out at that person. How to resolve resident complaints It’s one thing to connect with a resident to apologize, and to reply on Google Reviews. The hard part is actually figuring out how to resolve the underlying issue. Make things right Hearing people out and making a direct commitment to address the issue goes a long way. But fixing the problem is really what they’re after. That means taking a hard look in the mirror to find out what went wrong. Maybe the issue stems from a vendor you hired who didn’t reach an appropriate level of service. Time to reevaluate how you’re vetting vendors. Maybe you didn’t clearly communicate expectations or requirements. Time to take a look at how you can be clearer. Maybe your resident didn’t understand how your processes work, and that put them in a frustrating position. Take a look at your onboarding process to see where it can be improved to set them up for success. The key is to take ownership, recognize that it’s your problem to solve, and go solve it. Finally, there’s sometimes controversy around financial compensation. I will say clearly that I do sometimes reward unhappy residents financially, if it’s appropriate. In my view, if my team's behavior caused harm in your life, I'm going to make that right. What I never do is tell a resident, “Hey, I’ll give you $200 if you take down your review.” In my view, that’s inappropriate and unethical. It’s the polar opposite of taking responsibility, and it’s not the right way to do business. Communicate Communication is absolutely essential. Once someone has voiced that they have a problem, you want to over-communicate with them about every step you take. Even if you aren’t getting a response, keep providing them updates so that they know they’re being listened to and that a resolution is in progress. You should be clearly communicating when: You’ve seen the review You’ve uncovered the source of the issue A team member of vendor has been assigned to it Someone has been dispatched to the property, if necessary The issue has been handled Every time there’s a development, keep your resident informed. It helps prevent any further negative reviews, and shows them that you’re taking things seriously. Follow up After the issue has been resolved, make sure that you don’t leave it at that. Check up on them periodically about the problem and make sure that it hasn’t resurfaced. Ask them if there are other problems that you can help solve. Give them special treatment and smother them with customer love. This is where my competitive nature comes out. I make it a contest with myself to fix the relationship with the resident until they decide they want to update their review. I will never ask a resident to change what they posted. What I will do is make them feel so special and so appreciated that they’re driven to change it on their own. There’s no better feeling than someone who left you a bad review coming back and updating it to say, “Hey, I connected with Mark about this. He solved my problem and he’s been really fantastic about it. I really appreciate how responsive his team was.” That is one of the most satisfying things I’ve experienced as a business owner. Should you delete negative reviews? My general advice is not to delete negative reviews. Like I outlined earlier, prospective residents appreciate seeing both the good and the bad. They want honesty and integrity, and deleting reviews is counter to that. The only real way to have reviews deleted is by paying some company hundreds of dollars to do it on your behalf. I never engage with those kinds of companies, and I don’t think you should either. If you’re getting spammed with bad review after bad review, all from the same angry resident, that’s one thing. If they’re just repeating the same complaint, there is a process through Google Business to have duplicates removed. There is an avenue if you want to pursue that. But I think it’s unethical to remove reviews that are accurate and factual. Plus, it hurts your business anyway, so just don’t do it. I have seen business owners—not necessarily property managers—actually threaten people who leave bad reviews. They claim it’s defamatory and threaten legal action if reviews aren’t removed. I think that is a terrible practice, and using legal threats to preserve appearances is the absolute wrong thing to do. Instead, take my approach of trying to delight someone so much that they feel a sense of responsibility to delete their review on their own. Make them so happy that they realize, “hey, this isn’t a fair portrayal of my experience,” and they remove it or update it. But leave that choice to them, don’t make it for them. How to prevent bad reviews You can never fully prevent bad reviews, but there are steps you can take to make them less likely. As a business leader, if you claim to own your outcomes, you should be setting up your business to eliminate 99% of pain points. And in property management, that’s not easy, but it is possible. Understand the most common reasons for complaints Start by understanding where your complaints are coming from. Negative feedback doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. I see the one one-star review as a really powerful signal that something is not only a little bit wrong, but several degrees wrong. If someone writing a one-star review online about us is the escalation path in our business, we've got a big problem. One of the most important steps is to see where your residents are having problems further up the funnel, before they become public complaints. Take a look at your maintenance request history and see if there are common items that need to be addressed more regularly. For example, if a water heater is more than ten years old, you should be taking measures to prevent it from flooding the property. When you turn a property, you should be doing a one-time pest treatment to make sure there won’t be future issues. Get ahead of common complaints before they become bigger issues. Ultimately, your company should have a system in place to prioritize and identify what the biggest issues are that you’re facing, and to address them before they reach that breaking point. Create a great first impression It’s absolutely vital to create a good first impression with your residents. That’s why you need a rock-solid onboarding process. You should include things like a utilities concierge to make move-in smoother and set people off on the right foot. But you should also make sure your overall process is setting up clear expectations for both you and the resident, that you’re giving them the tools they need to have a successful time in the home, and communicating clearly. Think about what your residents and owners need A huge part of being a successful property manager comes down to empathy. You need to be able to put yourself in the shoes of your residents and owners and anticipate their needs. Keep in mind that their needs are going to change based on the specifics of the property, their age and ability, and more. Make sure you’re meeting them where they are so that you can keep them happy and give them a good experience. Regularly gather feedback Your company should have multiple layers of feedback and response for your tenants. You should have an escalation path built into your processes. If a tenant has to write a one-star review in order to get their issue escalated, that’s a business process failure. Your feedback process should be clear and intentional. Resident surveys and digital comment boxes can give you insight into where you’re doing well and where you’re not. And then you need to use that information to take action. You need to have the discipline and willingness to chase down those threads and really get to the core of the issues in your business. That not only unlocks really powerful learning, but also validates residents' experiences. Learn and grow Michael Podolsky wrote in Forbes recently, “Any business with a continuous growth mindset should welcome negative feedback.” Use that feedback to make change and take action. That’s what a true growth mindset and extreme ownership approach are about. Want to learn more about managing your business’s reputation? Join our upcoming webinar.