Newly introduced BadConsumers.com allows business owners to blacklist bad customers. Think of it as a Yelp for entrepreneurs. But instead of looking at customers and stores, the community gives feedback on how quickly a customer pays or how well a customer treats your employees. Better Business Bureau spokeswoman Katherine Hutt told BusinessWeek that “a bad customer list is a bad idea” and little more than a “public device of shame.” “I have 7,000 customers on Long Island and most of them are awesome,” Robideau told Bloomberg BusinessWeek. “But there are a handful of them who are repeat offenders, and they only do it to small businesses because they know you don`t have a room full of lawyers to sue them. They make you wonder why you are in business in the first place. How to deal with anxious customers: Anxious customers take care to trust you because they are haunted by horror stories from the past. First, ask questions to determine if the problem was a one-time problem caused by an inexperienced contractor or if there is a pattern of failure caused by unrealistic customer expectations. If it`s a trend, that person could become your next problem customer. These customers list the many other contractors before you who apparently didn`t know what they were doing.
Even worse, they could boast of firing a contractor for inferior work. My experience is very similar. Most of the entrepreneurs I met were former craftsmen who couldn`t work for a boss. So they drag their shingles and. can`t bear to work for a boss. That`s why word of mouth recommendations are the best way to find a contractor. People will pass it over in silence on Angie`s list, but someone they see every day? They tell you directly. Online reviews are not new. There are also no business-to-business (B2B) review websites that allow businesses to write reviews about their customers. In fact, ForConstructionPros.com already written on such a B2B review site, Nastyclient.com, in 2013.
We have found that asking questions about our real estate agent has led to good contractors. I`ve never had a problem with Frymire, but their prices are exaggerated. However, the website is not meant to be a “blacklist” or a place where customers are simply thrown in the trash. ContractorsCustomers.com developers hope the site will be more of a “rainbow list of reviews about the right customers, potential customers who may not be a good fit for your business, and everywhere in between.” To all owners. This site is for us and if you are not careful and are of bad character. we will blacklist you! Once on the blacklist, good luck trying to find someone to work for you. As a service industry and entrepreneur, we work hard for our families and employees and we are tired of some owners taking advantage of us. Those days are over.
Do not be blacklisted. It`s time to fight back! This website is a searchable database with bad customers. By eliminating bad customers, we can highlight the blackmail tactics of some owners. The goal is to identify owners (since the time of review) who have taken advantage of contractors and service providers who threaten a bad review if we do not give in to their inappropriate requests. This is a private website with a searchable database and forum where we can share our page and notify other companies before being connected or under contract with a bad customer. As BusinessWeek notes, customers who pay slowly are a particularly important issue for small businesses. In a survey of 750 business owners released last month by Citibank, 30 percent said late or unpaid payments were their biggest cash flow challenge. In a separate report from the National Federation of Independent Businesses last year, 20 percent of business owners said defaults were getting worse. Have you visited ContractorsCustomers.com websites or similar websites? What do you think of B2B review sites? Do you think they are beneficial or just a more public way for businesses to beat customers? In 2016, a new B2B exam site arrived on the internet. ContractorsCustomers.com has gained ground over the past two years. The website was designed with the goal of helping businesses avoid customers who may not be suitable for their services.
Contractors can also use the website to find well-rated clients they might want to look for work with. Customer reviews on BadConsumers are private and can only be seen by members of the site, who are all business owners or employees. “The site and database are designed solely for use by companies and not for individuals,” the site says. However, if a company files a complaint and includes a customer`s email address, the website will automatically notify the customer and allow them to post a response to the complaint. By telling all our individual stories and identifying the owners who continue to enjoy us, we will help each other. We can now look for a name or address, and if it is clear that a particular owner repeatedly takes advantage of the contractors, we can simply increase our prices for the offer to make it worthwhile, or if we choose to do so, avoid that customer altogether. The recent lawsuit filed against Jane Perez by Chris Dietz, owner of Dietz Development, has certainly sparked many conversations and opinions on the Internet. I posted a blog about the Angie`s List trial and Yelp Reviews for the first time yesterday and the comments immediately started pouring in. Most came from entrepreneurs who expressed gratitude to Dietz for what he was doing. Many of these entrepreneurs recounted how they too felt mistreated and exploited by unreasonable customers and many as “crazy” customers.
A common theme that I have picked up in the comments on my website and others is the desire for a website where business owners can post reviews about the wrong customers. So I did some research to see what`s out there, and I found two: bad entrepreneurs exist, and people have terrible experiences with them. Thus, a customer who tells you about a bad experience with another contractor is not an immediate red flag. But past problems are a sign to dig deeper! Launched in 2016, ContractorsCustomers.com offers businesses a space to write and read customer reviews A new website wants to help small businesses fight – against their customers. → “I`ve spoken to seven entrepreneurs and none of them know what they`re doing.” Contractors who place change orders based on verbal agreements with customers are asking for trouble. Instead, contractors must document changes to the scope of a project and ask the owner to sign and approve the cost of initiating a change. To make it easier to create and track change orders, you can use construction project management software to automate the change order process. Sharing your company`s success stories and positive customer feedback is a great way to build trust with those customers.
To achieve this, you need an effective reputation management strategy. This includes creating an online presence, actively collecting customer reviews, and responding to negative reviews. Fortunately, there are several red flags that can indicate if someone could become a problem customer during the project. If someone shows one or more red flags, consider passing on the work or charging a higher price so that the inevitable problems are worth it. The way to deal with such clients is to reassure them that they are in good hands. → “We can`t pay the advance, but we will pay the full amount when the work is done. A final word of warning: If you`re not sure how a proposed change might affect your business, contact a lawyer. Otherwise, customers must accept the terms of your contract. “Thank you for your website; As soon as this woman saw her name on her website, she called us and offered to solve it. We were finally paid. Thank you very much! If you ignore the discomfort and accept the order anyway, just make sure that the quote and contract details are written down so that you can refer to it if the customer becomes difficult. How to deal with undecided customers: The biggest challenge to overcome when dealing with undecided customers is the delay or lack of communication.
And while there`s not much you can do if a customer refuses to communicate, it`s helpful to be a little proactive. Submitting permits is not fun and takes time. But you run an ethical business and you want to be hired because people trust you to do a good job. I spent $400 on safety equipment to put plastic myself. .