Managing Your Online Reputation

Originally Written in Dec 2024 as part of the Holiday Advent Series – Letters to Santa.

We all believe that Santa is good guy, why? Because generations of people have told us so. He’s got a pretty good reputation, features on some really positive advertising, has thousands of happy customers and has a raft of advocates across the world singing his praises.

Reputation matters when it comes to business, whether you’re an arctic-based global manufacturer and logistics business, or a local cafe.

Your Business Reputation Matters

In today’s world, existing and potential customers have an array of ways to find out about your products and service, so its worth knowing where to look and how to manage your own reputation. 

Your online reputation will:

• Convert casual or undecided browsers into active customers.
• Affect customer loyalty.
• Show how you stack up against competitors.
• Help you get ahead of customer service or product issues.
• Tell you what matters most to your customers.
• Build trust in your brand in cluttered marketplaces.
• Build traffic by sending people to your website or into your store.
• Affect whether other businesses want to partner with you.

Even at Portman, customer reviews and your reputation matters to us when we are reviewing a business’s application to become a finance partner/affiliate (not an application for finance where trading and credit strength of the business is key).

Jenna Warren, Client Relations Executive Advises:

“Reviews are the first thing we look at when a customer enquires about being an introducer with us. Adverse media, negative articles and customer reviews, particularly from Trustpilot and Google, reflect a business’s reputation and are a good indicator of the type of service a business provides. This in turn affects our brand. If we see anything that causes concern, we would have a conversation with the business and organise ongoing reviews to check things are improving.”

Understanding your reputation

How do you get a handle on your current reputation? Other than talking to your existing and maybe past customers, where do you look?

1. Business Reviews
Take a look at your: Google, Bing Places, Trustpilot, Feefo, Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp, Tripadvisor, G2, and Amazon, entries. If you don’t own the entry, take ownership and manage it, if there is no entry, where relevant, create one.

2. Specialist Reviews
Depending on your industry and more prevalent in the business-to-business there are many trade magazines and specialist directory sites that are worth being featured in, even at a small cost. Construction.co.uk and Business Magnet for example allow you to showcase your business to particular sectors. Open a search engine type ‘find a [your type of business]’ and see what comes up.

3. Business Directories
Again more common in business-to-business circles but take a look at zoominfo.com, bizify.co.uk, and localpages.co.uk to see if you are featured or whether you should be.

4. Employer Review Sites
To aid your future recruitment process and satisfy the odd curious customer, take a look at your profile on recruitment websites such as Glassdoor and Indeed. Again, create one or take ownership of anything that you don’t have so far. When potential employees are looking for a place to work, it’s increasingly common to look at this sort of site.

5. Your Phone Number
Believe it or not, phone numbers now have reviews and reputations. Check your phone number appears on these websites, is correctly assigned to you and what you do is properly represented. Check out: Who-called.co.uk, tellows.co.uk, shouldianswer.co.uk, telguarder.com, whocalledmeuk.co.uk.

So how do I manage reviews?

What you want is honesty from your customers and your customers want honest replies. Make review management someone’s responsibility, have a quick check-in each day and make sure that person has access to the mailboxes that will receive notifications when a review is left. Take a look at what is being said and respond fairly and professionally to any negative reviews. Make sure you’re quick, the longer it takes to reply, the less genuine the response can appear. If you get positive reviews then thank the reviewer. 

People reading the reviews want to know there’s real people behind the business, we all make mistakes, but what are you doing about it? You can always provide a separate email address or phone number for a reviewer to contact you directly if there’s an issue that needs tackling 1-1.

If you would like more reviews, then typically you can send links to the page with your customer emails or get some business cards printed and encourage people to go online and do them.

Do not submit fake reviews or ask your staff to do them in order to bump your ratings. This can get you blocked and Google and Bing in particular can hit your overall website ranking.

Some Portman Examples

At Portman, we believe in transparency, and that includes being open about our customer service experiences. Whether the feedback is glowing, critical, or somewhere in between, we take it all seriously. Here’s a look at what our clients have shared with us, and how we handle it, to help us grow and improve every day.

Where we got it right

It’s always a pleasure to hear positive feedback. We’ve been fortunate to receive some great reviews, especially from clients like Mark, who took the time to share his experience on Trustpilot:

“5 Stars – Trustpilot – Mark

We’ve had the pleasure of working with Daniel at Portman Finance over the past few years, and I must commend his exceptional service. Daniel has consistently been helpful and proactive in addressing our company’s financial needs. His holistic approach ensures he gathers ample information to provide tailored solutions to any request we bring to him.

What truly sets Daniel apart is his courteous and supportive manner. He keeps us informed with timely feedback before, during, and after securing and finalising a finance deal. This proactive communication has been invaluable.

Date of experience: 30 October 2024

Mark’s feedback highlights exactly what we strive for: exceptional, personalised service and proactive communication. At Portman, we aim to understand each client’s unique financial needs and offer tailored solutions. This isn’t just our job; it’s our mission to be a business that clients can rely on and trust.

Where we got it wrong

While positive feedback is fantastic, we know not every experience is flawless. We take every review, positive or negative, as an opportunity to learn and improve. Thomas, a recent review on Trustpilot, had a less-than-ideal experience with us:

“1 Star – Trustpilot – Thomas A.

Portman Finance are regular visitors to our spam traps. Would you trust someone with your money who uses unethical marketing?”

Date of experience: 04 November 2024

Ouch, that one stings. We understand that trust is critical when it comes to handling financial matters, and we’d never want to tarnish that. We take complaints about marketing practices very seriously, and we always strive to communicate transparently with our clients. We’ve taken steps to refine our marketing methods and ensure we adhere to ethical standards in all communications. We genuinely value feedback like this because it keeps us on our toes and reminds us that our customers’ trust is paramount.

How a business can learn

Not all feedback is glowing, and sometimes, things don’t go as planned. One of the more challenging reviews came from Emma, who had a frustrating experience with a delayed response and a decision that took longer than expected:

“2 Stars – Trustpilot –  Emma Irvine

Not a great experience. We were advised that a CBIL would be forthcoming and took the time to send a lot of information but the decision to decline sat on the desk for probably over a week whilst we chased for a response by email and phone. Great that they have helped other businesses we found it a waste of time and slightly frustrating in the end.”

Date of experience: 19 February 2021

We deeply regret that Emma’s experience wasn’t up to the standard we aim for. Delays are never acceptable, and we’ve since reviewed our internal processes, recruited more staff, improved our administrative procedures and added some automation to ensure timely responses. 

While we always try to manage client expectations and deliver the best possible service, sometimes things slip through the cracks. That said, Emma’s feedback was invaluable in helping us improve our communication and efficiency.

Continuous Improvement

Be committed to learning from all feedback, not just the positive. Every review helps refine customer service, improve response times, and ensure you’re offering the best possible service. Understand that not every experience will be perfect, but always strive to be better, just be honest about what happened, why and what you’re going to do about it.

Take every piece of feedback seriously – good, bad, or somewhere in between – and use it as a stepping stone to become even better.

To all our customers, past, present, and future: thank you for your trust, your feedback, and for helping us become the best finance provider we can be. It goes without saying that we promise to keep working hard for 5-star moments in the future!

At Portman, We Understand

We’d love to hear from you! Whether it’s a positive review, a suggestion for improvement, or just some constructive criticism, don’t hesitate to reach out.

At Portman, we appreciate how challenging it can be for business owners to navigate the world of finance. Our expertise can find the right solution for your project, whilst you continue running your business.

Asset Finance is perfect if you need new equipment or vehicles, but can also be used for a huge range of interior fixtures, fittings and works. Its secured nature often means rates are better than a loan for the equivalent situation. Our short-term finance and business loan solutions can then provide the funding you need to cover operational costs. Email us today or call 01604 761276 to learn how we can support your business growth.

Written by Saul Michelson

Head of Marketing

Degree and Post-Grad qualified with 23 years business-to-business experience, Saul is a well-rounded senior professional. A previous winner of Marketing Week’s ‘Best B2B Campaign’ award and two Construction Marketing Awards, Saul enjoys finding out what makes businesses tick and writing articles that get straight to the point.

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