Reputation Management ~ Preacher Diggs Hookers and Crack!

Somebody somewhere is talking about you this very second — could be me, a customer or a competitor spreading lies.

The obvious question is “I wonder what they are saying about me?”

David (name changed to protect his identity) is a guy I have known for a few years… as far as I knew a stand up guy. David has been married for eight or so years and has three children - a son and two daughters.

Well… word has it that not only is he a drug addict — he also runs around on his wife — visits known Hookers and supplies them with drugs; so says my source who saw him “at the scene”.

Can you believe this jerk!

Thing is, none of this is true.

Carol is someone else I know - I have known her for eighteen years (not her real name either).

Carol is married to a local Minister. Both Carol and her husband are very active in the community - most of the people I know would call them “do gooders“. They are very much in love with each other - Carol says they are “Soul Mates” and people cannot imagine how much in love she is with her husband.

They first met in Africa as Missionaries — after going to Seminary. According to Carol, he is the most loving, giving and trustworthy person she has ever known. She knew when they met in Africa they would be married one day.

While Carol spends most of her day running the home base, coordinating donations, arranging deliveries to shelters and taking care of their three children (they have a son and two daughters), her husband David (yea - same David) can usually be found somewhere in the downtown area - taking meals and blankets to homeless people living under bridges, drug addicts and sharing his message with anyone who will listen - yep, even Hookers.

The “Source” got it wrong — like BIG TIME wrong.

The details of how the Source screwed it up and nearly “ruined” the reputation of a righteous man is not important. The only thing that matters is the “conversation” about him was corrected. The “Source” put two and two together and got nine.

David was lucky. Had this bogus information found it’s way onto the Internet (forums, forwarded email, Digg, MySpace, Facebook, etc, etc) — does not matter if it was true or not– this would more than likely have ruined his reputation and destroyed his Ministry if counter measures were not done fast. Not to mention what Carol and the three children would have gone through.

I can see the subject line on Digg now…

“Preacher Diggs Hookers and Crack!”

What does all this have to do with your business

Like I said in the first line of this article. “Someone somewhere right this very second is talking about you”.

What are they talking about? Hopefully, it is not the same as David’s situation.

Stockbrokers…have you ever given someone bad investment advice (not on purpose)… Realtors, ever sold someone a home they later did not want — Loan Officers… Wow!! Where do we start. Did you ever do a Pay Option Arm for a little old lady from Pasadena… Internet Guru’s… how many people got rich reading your “How To Get Rich in 30 Days” manifesto.

Home Improvement Contractor, bet you had a few folks a bit unhappy (not that it was your fault - nature of the business)… and Cable Guy, slept on any of your customers couches lately (this one was on the news)…. the list could go on forever.

The point is, if you deal with the general public in any capacity - chances are you have people saying bad things about you - could be stuff that you did and deserve the bashing, maybe not.

Your Reputation can also be based on “perception“.

While not as devastating as an erroneous bogus “conversation” started about you - the perception people have of you will be detrimental to your business if it is negative - to some degree.

When you arrive to repair someones Air Conditioning unit… do you arrive on time, or do your drag up an hour late smelling like a bucket of dead fish wearing the same stinking clothes from the day before?

That email you just sent out to your list? Just in case you do not know it… info on where to buy something that you receive an affiliate commission on is generally not perceived as useful content or vital information. Besides, I received the very same “important” information from thirty other affiliates of the product.

“You only have one chance to make a first impression” — and along the same lines, “You only have one chance to make a first BAD impression“.

The Impression you make on your customer leads to their Perception about you… and their Perception (what they think) ultimately forms and helps define your Reputation.

If your customer(s) Perceive you to be a worthless - sorry - no good - lying - cheating - stinking - spamming - scamming drug addict… guess what, whether or not you are any of these things - in time it could become your Reputation.

Remember… it is up to you. It all starts with the first “Impression”. Because unlike the off line world, you generally never get another opportunity to correct the first impression you initially made on the Internet.

Sometimes stuff just happens where you do not have control - like the ordeal David went through. He was made aware of the “conversation” and put an end to it quickly. Fortunately, it never made it to the Internet — in time, we could have buried the erroneous information about him into the deep bowels of the Internet - but it would still be available for a period of time.

So, control what you can — first impressions and perception — if something out of your control happens and someone starts spewing off lies and bogus information about you, give me a buzz and lets see if we can bury it deep within the bowels of the Internet never to be found.