March 13, 2024 • 21 mins
This week we discuss the inevitable challenge of receiving negative reviews and criticisms in business. Learn strategies for handling bad feedback, addressing negative reviews, and turning them into opportunities for growth. Discover how even renowned figures like Shakespeare are not immune to criticism, and gain valuable insights on maintaining mental resilience and strength in the face of negativity.
Takeaways:
- How to deal with negative reviews
- Even Shakespeare has bad reviews
- If you're pleasing everyone, you're boring
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of Success in Mind.
Today, let's talk about reviews, criticisms, how to deal with really bad feedback
or with people who are just mean.
You're listening to Success in Mind, the show for high-performing leaders,
changemakers, and entrepreneurs ready to take your life and business to the next level.
(00:24):
If you're ready for whole life success, keep listening. Have you ever dreamed
of launching your own podcast, but maybe you just don't know where to start?
I have created the Podcast Launch Strategy Checklist, and it is free for you to grab.
From brainstorming your show's concept to launching and promoting your show,
this checklist guides you through everything that you need to consider.
(00:47):
So why wait? Don't let the uncertainty hold you back any longer.
Grab your free Podcast Launch Strategy Checklist today by visiting terriholland.ca
forward slash pod launch checklist.
The link is in the show notes to make it super easy for you.
It is time to turn your passion into a powerful podcast that the world can't wait to hear.
(01:08):
I have recently had several conversations about how to deal with negative reviews online.
And whenever that happens in my life, whenever I start to have these repeated
conversations with clients and with friends, I know it is time to do a podcast about it.
And I don't know if you guys know this, but many of my podcast episodes are
(01:30):
inspired by such trends I see coming up with my friends, my family conversations.
Co-workers, colleagues, clients.
And so today we're talking about bad reviews and how to deal with them.
Bad reviews are inevitable. You're not going to please everyone.
There will come a time when you're going to get a negative review,
(01:54):
whether that's on your YouTube channel, on your podcast, whether that's a Google review.
You can't please everyone and you certainly can't please everyone all the time.
I remember my first negative review of this show, this very show you're listening to right now.
And I know you're probably thinking, Terry, that's impossible.
(02:15):
How could you possibly get a negative review?
Well, I remember it. It was several years ago and it was my first negative review.
Thankfully, my only negative written review so far. By the way,
that's not a suggestion to start leaving me more.
But I got a negative review. And it wasn't even really that bad, to be honest.
(02:37):
It was someone saying that I talk too fast for them, that they live down in
the South, Southern US, and that they talk a lot slower down there.
That was it. That was the negative review. And I think that person left me four stars. That's not bad.
Now, I've certainly had some one-star reviews on the podcast.
(02:59):
And that kind of shocked me at first.
But then I started looking at the people that I really admire,
like Brendan Burchard and Lewis Howes, big, big podcasts.
And they have one-star reviews and two stars, and they have people who don't
like them. You can't please everyone all the time.
And I remember at the time when I saw my first one-star review,
(03:20):
and I mentioned it to a friend of mine, and he said, congratulations,
you're a real podcaster now.
Because when you start to get those lower star
reviews there's it's like it legitimizes your
business somehow as long as you have all five
star glowing reviews it looks like
a small business there are probably some reviews from friends and family I mean
(03:42):
that might not necessarily be the case but often that indicates you're newer
or you're smaller because if you are around for a long time there's going to
be somebody who doesn't like you and that's going to be reflected in a review at some point online.
And so I looked at it a little differently. Like, yeah, this does legitimize
my podcast. This makes me a real podcaster now.
(04:06):
Now along this topic, by the way, shout out to Australia. Australia has a 1.5 star rating for me.
I don't, what is going on Australia? If you are in Australia and you're listening
to this show, maybe you can tell me why.
Just reach reach out and tell me why I rate so poorly in Australia.
(04:26):
Because what's weird to me is I get a ton of downloads every month in Australia.
Now, granted, those stars are from two people, there's a one one star,
there's one two star review.
It just caught me off guard because Australia is always in my top,
at least my top 10 countries for downloads, if not in my top five.
So what's going on Australia? Why don't you like me? Why don't you like me?
(04:52):
So I thought that was kind of interesting. And by the way, if you are in Australia
and you enjoy my show, can you leave me a review, a five-star review, a good review?
Just help a girl out. No, really, it's all good.
It's just funny to me because in every other country that I have a rating in,
it's like I rate 4.8 to 5 stars in any other given country where I have some sort of rating in.
(05:15):
Except Australia. I don't know what's going on down there. I don't know.
I always thought Australians were very similar in sort of personality type and
culturally culturally close to Canada, but I'm wondering if maybe we're not
so similar because Canada likes me.
Anyway, back to what we're talking about, these negative reviews.
(05:37):
It's the longer you are in business, the more likely it is that you will have
a less than five-star rating.
Now, we shouldn't be seeking out to get low ratings or one-star reviews,
but it is likely going to happen.
Now, when I think of myself as a consumer, when I look at products online and
(05:58):
I read reviews, if I see only five stars, I start to wonder how legit those reviews are.
So I do think that there's a little bit of credibility when we start to see
that not everyone likes the product or the service.
I was talking to a friend recently who said that she was worried about asking
(06:18):
for reviews because because she was worried about getting a four star review.
And she didn't want to ruin her perfect five star rating. And I get that because
I've had that thinking myself.
I totally get that it's nice to have five stars, but it's not sustainable over
the long longevity of your business.
So first of all, I asked her, why do you think someone would leave you less than five stars?
(06:40):
Is there an area of your business that you're worried that you're not really
showing up in the way you want to be?
Maybe take that as feedback for yourself to correct those issues now instead
of waiting for the bad review.
And who says that someone's going to leave you a bad review anyway?
Now I think the best way to deal with a negative review is simply by addressing it.
(07:01):
When I'm looking for a product or a service, I love to read the bad reviews
because I want to know who wasn't happy with the product and why weren't they happy with it?
I mean, especially if I'm buying clothes it was online. I want to know,
was the fabric really thin? Did it not wash well?
Did it start to fray after the second wearing? What was the problem with it?
(07:22):
And so I will always read the negative reviews. But what I really like to see
is how does the business owner respond?
Because to me, how they respond is more important than the review itself.
So if a business owner leaves a really thoughtful response and corrects the
issue, that has a greater impact on how I perceive that product or service than
(07:43):
the negative review itself.
Recently, I was listening to an Amy Porterfield podcast, and she was talking
about this very concept about how reviews and people's comments online negatively
affect her to the point where she just doesn't read the comments anymore.
She stays out of them. She has her team read the comments for her and respond
(08:03):
to things, and they'll pass along the good information, but they keep her away
from the bad stuff or the the really rude negative things.
They will involve her on anything she needs to address.
But they keep a lot of the troll comments away from her because it gets in her
head. And I think that's a great way to deal with it.
So if you have people in your business on your team, who can filter that information
(08:25):
for you, then do that. Do that.
Because if it's going to negatively affect how you operate your business,
if it's going to get in your head and stop you from showing up authentically
as you because you're worried about the reviews, then stay out of them. Don't read them.
She told this great story. This is something that really impacted me.
(08:45):
She told this great story about how she got a bad review on something.
And her husband said, well, her husband had her look up the reviews of her favorite
coffee shop and read the negative ones. And there were ridiculous negative reviews.
And this got me thinking about how true that is, right? Like you have your your favorite places.
(09:08):
And if you go and you read the reviews, there are other people who don't love
that place and it doesn't make it less special for you.
So I did this as a point of reference for myself.
I looked up my favorite coffee shop and I went to their review section and I
went right to the lowest reviews.
(09:29):
Here's one. Here's some right here.
I'm just scrolling going through to get the good ones. Here's a one-star review
for my favorite coffee shop that I love going to.
One star and the only comment is expensive.
Expensive? Like compared to what, dude? Or this one.
(09:51):
Here's another really good one. Slow service. I was in line with two people
ahead of me. The barista messed up every order.
All three of our orders had at least one thing remade.
15 minutes to grab a coffee is ridiculous.
Did not like the beans they used. Coffee was bitter. Okay, you didn't like it. Like, oh well.
(10:14):
Ordered a dark roast coffee in a small medium. It did not taste like coffee at all.
Okay, like you didn't like the coffee.
But you know what? But for all the negative reviews on here,
there are so many more positive reviews.
And I think what we tend to do as business owners is we zone in,
(10:35):
we focus in on those negative reviews and let them affect us and get to us.
There are so many more positive reviews.
So then I was talking with another friend and she was having similar concerns
in her business about negative reviews.
And so I got even more curious and I went to Goodreads. Goodreads can be ruthless
(10:58):
when it comes to reviews for writers for books.
And I looked up Hamlet, William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Did you know Hamlet only has a 4.02 rating on Goodreads?
4.02, one of the finest pieces of literature ever, considered to be a work of
(11:19):
literary genius, and he has 4.02 stars on Goodreads.
Let's look at some of these negative comments here.
And by the way, there are 17,477 one-star reviews of Hamlet.
The first one is ridiculous. I'm not even going to read it because it would
take the rest of the show to read it.
(11:41):
It is so long. It is so convoluted. He includes images images, images in his review,
little gifs where he completely breaks apart Hamlet and then basically says
that he does not like it. He just doesn't like it.
Okay, but here's here are some of the fun ones. One star.
(12:02):
This play made me wish that I had drowned in a river instead of Ophelia.
Here's another one. Another one star review. Hamlet was so whiny.
The best part was when everybody kills each other at the end.
Oh my goodness, another one. Men are so dramatic for no reason.
This one is one of my favorites. One star review. Hamlet is a little end of story.
(12:27):
Are you kidding me? What does this one say?
Oh, this one is just like a bunch of random, random words. Okay, we will skip that.
Probably a bot, which by the way, that happens too. Not all of your reviews
are going to be real people.
Not all of your comments on social media are real people.
We have bots trolling people and posting mean things and they're not even real.
(12:51):
How much weight can you put into a negative review if you don't even know if that's a real person?
Let's read this one. Here's another one-star review of Hamlet.
Would not recommend for any revenge killing.
Indecisive. Zero initiative. Way too slow.
Any taxi driver could have gotten the job done in 20 seconds in broad daylight by accident.
(13:14):
Do not recommend. Neither Hamlet as a hitman nor taxi drivers as drivers.
Oh my goodness. Here's another great one. One-star our review for Hamlet.
You know what I wish? I wish that whiny-ass characters in Hamlet would shut up for once.
Just shut up, I wanted to yell by the end. Shut the hell up.
Stop talking. I'm sick of it. And I am. I'm sick of it.
(13:38):
Shakespeare's contribution to the English language is irrelevant,
as is the obsession of teaching and acting his plays for centuries after his death.
I'm reviewing Hamlet based on the work itself. And the work is schlock. Utter schlock.
Oh my goodness and then goes on to write an entire
essay paragraphs after paragraphs
(14:00):
after paragraphs of why why Hamlet is so awful another person left a one-star
review and said I don't even know what I just read like are you kidding me Hamlet
this is Hamlet guys it's like they don't even know what they just read this
person says this is so bad I want to give it a zero but I I can't.
So I'll give it a one. Did I actually read this? No.
(14:23):
Did I understand anything that happened? No.
Well, I mean, how can you understand it if you didn't actually read it? But okay.
I am definitely not qualified to rate or review this book, to rate or review
this, but this book was so bad and I hated every second we had to read and analyze this in class.
Okay, but you didn't read it. So how did you analyze it?
(14:44):
Another one says, bruh, I could have written this. I don't think you could have, but okay. Okay.
So you get what I'm saying. And I could go on and on and keep reading these.
They are hilarious, but this is one of the greatest literary works of all time.
And these are the kind of reviews that Shakespeare's getting.
So if Shakespeare can't make everyone happy with his piece of work with a brilliant
(15:07):
masterpiece, how could we mere mortals ever expect to make everyone one happy.
Are you ready to unlock your team's full potential?
I'm Terry Holland, and I specialize in igniting passion, boosting morale, and driving results.
Whether it's a corporate event, team building workshop, or a keynote address,
I'll leave your audience energized and empowered to achieve their goals.
(15:30):
Let's inspire greatness together. Visit terryholland.ca forward slash speaking
to learn more and schedule your event today.
I'm reminded of a quote, and I've shared this quote so many times on this podcast,
you might be sick of hearing it by now.
And as always, I'm paraphrasing it because it's something I heard Chelsea Handler say on her show.
(15:51):
I've never found the quote in print, so I just paraphrase it.
But she said something to the effect of, if you are making everyone happy,
or no, if you're trying to please everyone, you are vanilla. You're boring.
Vanilla ice cream. I think she said vanilla ice cream. You're boring.
You know, think about when you have a craving for ice cream.
(16:12):
And if you don't like ice cream, think about some other treat you like.
But when you're craving ice cream, do you just want plain vanilla ice cream?
Like it's a safe choice. Vanilla is a very popular flavor, but is that what you really want?
Or do you want like salted caramel fudge or rocky road or I don't know,
(16:33):
some other like lavender honey ice cream? Or do you just want vanilla?
Vanilla is boring. It's safe, but it's freaking boring.
So think about this. When you get a bad review or someone says something negative
about you, even Shakespeare is getting negative reviews on the internet.
(16:54):
You can't please everyone. You can't make everyone happy.
Apparently, I can't please Australia and make Australia happy. happy.
All jokes aside, I love you, Australia. I'd love to come visit you one day.
So we can't, we can't go about our business, especially if you are a personal brand business.
If you are the face and the voice of your business, you will never make everyone happy.
(17:19):
And those reviews online can often feel personal and like a reflection of you,
but they're not a reflection of you.
Most often they're a reflection of that other person.
Now, are there ways that we should look at these reviews and consider them?
Yeah, sure. You know, like.
If you get a negative review, see if you can have a conversation with the person.
(17:40):
So as I mentioned earlier, address it. Always address the negative review and
see what you can do to correct it.
But if you can take that conversation offline and have a personal conversation
with that person when possible, that's even better.
You can provide in the review your contact information for that person to reach
out to you for you to correct it.
(18:01):
Negative reviews can be treated as a way of reflection and looking at your business
for a Where is there room for improvement? What can you do differently?
Take it as feedback.
Now, not all feedback is going to be valid. Sometimes people just leave really
stupid comments like that the coffee at my favorite coffee shop is expensive.
(18:22):
Well, it's not as expensive as Starbucks, right?
And don't buy it then. Make your own coffee at home. But if you want to go into
a nice, cozy coffee shop and you want to be treated with warmth when you walk
in in the door and you want to sit and have a delicious cup of coffee,
you're going to pay for that. Otherwise, just drink your coffee at home.
(18:43):
So not all feedback is going to be valid feedback, but some of it will be.
So some of it might point out where there's holes or gaps in your product or service.
So the point of all this I'm sharing with you is that you will never please everyone.
Don't sweat it if you get a negative review, do what you can to correct it.
(19:05):
But at the end of the day, that is not a reflection of you as a person.
And really celebrate those negative reviews because they're legit,
like that legitimizes your business.
It shows that it's not just your mom and her friends using your services.
You know what I mean? Like there are real people out there who have no personal
(19:25):
association with you, using your products and services, watching your videos,
listening to your podcast.
So there's some legitimacy in having a less than five-star rating.
If you are pleasing everyone all the time, you're probably not standing for anything.
And remember, our good friend William Shakespeare can't even get a five-star rating on Goodreads.
(19:49):
Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
And as always, speaking of reviews, if you enjoyed this episode,
leave me that five-star review, you, especially in Australia.
Come on, Australia. I see you downloading tons of episodes every month.
Give me a five-star review.
All right. Thanks for listening today. I hope you have a fantastic day and I'll
(20:12):
be back again next week with a really special guest. You are not going to want to miss that episode.
If you want to improve your mental toughness, if you want to know what it takes
to succeed in life, you are going to want to listen to next week's guest interview.
I have on Leah Goldstein, and she is a powerhouse, my friends.
(20:34):
You're going to learn all about her next week, but oh my goodness, she is a force.
And well, I'll give you a little sneak peek right now.
When I read her book, I read her book in 2019, I think it was the first time
that I read it again about a year ago.
I never felt so lazy in my life.
(20:55):
This woman is so extraordinary that if if we could just if we could accomplish
one percent of what she does mentally our lives would be drastically different
so if you want to improve your mental toughness and your resilience,
listen to this interview and she's also incredibly funny you're going to enjoy
(21:16):
it so that's next Tuesday and I don't know if you guys have noticed but lately
I'm doing two episodes a week one one interview, one solo show,
let me know if you like that.
The best way to let me know and to reach out to me is on Instagram at the Terry Holland.
That's it. Come find me on Instagram, hang out with me there.
(21:36):
Give me your feedback on the show. If you're liking this two episodes a week,
if you're liking the interview and then a solo show, let me know.
All right. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you have a fantastic day. Bye for now.
Welcome back to another episode of Success in Mind.
Today, let's talk about reviews, criticisms, how to deal with really bad feedback
or with people who are just mean.
You're listening to Success in Mind, the show for high-performing leaders,
changemakers, and entrepreneurs ready to take your life and business to the next level.
(00:24):
If you're ready for whole life success, keep listening. Have you ever dreamed
of launching your own podcast, but maybe you just don't know where to start?
I have created the Podcast Launch Strategy Checklist, and it is free for you to grab.
From brainstorming your show's concept to launching and promoting your show,
this checklist guides you through everything that you need to consider.
(00:47):
So why wait? Don't let the uncertainty hold you back any longer.
Grab your free Podcast Launch Strategy Checklist today by visiting terriholland.ca
forward slash pod launch checklist.
The link is in the show notes to make it super easy for you.
It is time to turn your passion into a powerful podcast that the world can't wait to hear.
(01:08):
I have recently had several conversations about how to deal with negative reviews online.
And whenever that happens in my life, whenever I start to have these repeated
conversations with clients and with friends, I know it is time to do a podcast about it.
And I don't know if you guys know this, but many of my podcast episodes are
(01:30):
inspired by such trends I see coming up with my friends, my family conversations.
Co-workers, colleagues, clients.
And so today we're talking about bad reviews and how to deal with them.
Bad reviews are inevitable. You're not going to please everyone.
There will come a time when you're going to get a negative review,
(01:54):
whether that's on your YouTube channel, on your podcast, whether that's a Google review.
You can't please everyone and you certainly can't please everyone all the time.
I remember my first negative review of this show, this very show you're listening to right now.
And I know you're probably thinking, Terry, that's impossible.
(02:15):
How could you possibly get a negative review?
Well, I remember it. It was several years ago and it was my first negative review.
Thankfully, my only negative written review so far. By the way,
that's not a suggestion to start leaving me more.
But I got a negative review. And it wasn't even really that bad, to be honest.
(02:37):
It was someone saying that I talk too fast for them, that they live down in
the South, Southern US, and that they talk a lot slower down there.
That was it. That was the negative review. And I think that person left me four stars. That's not bad.
Now, I've certainly had some one-star reviews on the podcast.
(02:59):
And that kind of shocked me at first.
But then I started looking at the people that I really admire,
like Brendan Burchard and Lewis Howes, big, big podcasts.
And they have one-star reviews and two stars, and they have people who don't
like them. You can't please everyone all the time.
And I remember at the time when I saw my first one-star review,
(03:20):
and I mentioned it to a friend of mine, and he said, congratulations,
you're a real podcaster now.
Because when you start to get those lower star
reviews there's it's like it legitimizes your
business somehow as long as you have all five
star glowing reviews it looks like
a small business there are probably some reviews from friends and family I mean
(03:42):
that might not necessarily be the case but often that indicates you're newer
or you're smaller because if you are around for a long time there's going to
be somebody who doesn't like you and that's going to be reflected in a review at some point online.
And so I looked at it a little differently. Like, yeah, this does legitimize
my podcast. This makes me a real podcaster now.
(04:06):
Now along this topic, by the way, shout out to Australia. Australia has a 1.5 star rating for me.
I don't, what is going on Australia? If you are in Australia and you're listening
to this show, maybe you can tell me why.
Just reach reach out and tell me why I rate so poorly in Australia.
(04:26):
Because what's weird to me is I get a ton of downloads every month in Australia.
Now, granted, those stars are from two people, there's a one one star,
there's one two star review.
It just caught me off guard because Australia is always in my top,
at least my top 10 countries for downloads, if not in my top five.
So what's going on Australia? Why don't you like me? Why don't you like me?
(04:52):
So I thought that was kind of interesting. And by the way, if you are in Australia
and you enjoy my show, can you leave me a review, a five-star review, a good review?
Just help a girl out. No, really, it's all good.
It's just funny to me because in every other country that I have a rating in,
it's like I rate 4.8 to 5 stars in any other given country where I have some sort of rating in.
(05:15):
Except Australia. I don't know what's going on down there. I don't know.
I always thought Australians were very similar in sort of personality type and
culturally culturally close to Canada, but I'm wondering if maybe we're not
so similar because Canada likes me.
Anyway, back to what we're talking about, these negative reviews.
(05:37):
It's the longer you are in business, the more likely it is that you will have
a less than five-star rating.
Now, we shouldn't be seeking out to get low ratings or one-star reviews,
but it is likely going to happen.
Now, when I think of myself as a consumer, when I look at products online and
(05:58):
I read reviews, if I see only five stars, I start to wonder how legit those reviews are.
So I do think that there's a little bit of credibility when we start to see
that not everyone likes the product or the service.
I was talking to a friend recently who said that she was worried about asking
(06:18):
for reviews because because she was worried about getting a four star review.
And she didn't want to ruin her perfect five star rating. And I get that because
I've had that thinking myself.
I totally get that it's nice to have five stars, but it's not sustainable over
the long longevity of your business.
So first of all, I asked her, why do you think someone would leave you less than five stars?
(06:40):
Is there an area of your business that you're worried that you're not really
showing up in the way you want to be?
Maybe take that as feedback for yourself to correct those issues now instead
of waiting for the bad review.
And who says that someone's going to leave you a bad review anyway?
Now I think the best way to deal with a negative review is simply by addressing it.
(07:01):
When I'm looking for a product or a service, I love to read the bad reviews
because I want to know who wasn't happy with the product and why weren't they happy with it?
I mean, especially if I'm buying clothes it was online. I want to know,
was the fabric really thin? Did it not wash well?
Did it start to fray after the second wearing? What was the problem with it?
(07:22):
And so I will always read the negative reviews. But what I really like to see
is how does the business owner respond?
Because to me, how they respond is more important than the review itself.
So if a business owner leaves a really thoughtful response and corrects the
issue, that has a greater impact on how I perceive that product or service than
(07:43):
the negative review itself.
Recently, I was listening to an Amy Porterfield podcast, and she was talking
about this very concept about how reviews and people's comments online negatively
affect her to the point where she just doesn't read the comments anymore.
She stays out of them. She has her team read the comments for her and respond
(08:03):
to things, and they'll pass along the good information, but they keep her away
from the bad stuff or the the really rude negative things.
They will involve her on anything she needs to address.
But they keep a lot of the troll comments away from her because it gets in her
head. And I think that's a great way to deal with it.
So if you have people in your business on your team, who can filter that information
(08:25):
for you, then do that. Do that.
Because if it's going to negatively affect how you operate your business,
if it's going to get in your head and stop you from showing up authentically
as you because you're worried about the reviews, then stay out of them. Don't read them.
She told this great story. This is something that really impacted me.
(08:45):
She told this great story about how she got a bad review on something.
And her husband said, well, her husband had her look up the reviews of her favorite
coffee shop and read the negative ones. And there were ridiculous negative reviews.
And this got me thinking about how true that is, right? Like you have your your favorite places.
(09:08):
And if you go and you read the reviews, there are other people who don't love
that place and it doesn't make it less special for you.
So I did this as a point of reference for myself.
I looked up my favorite coffee shop and I went to their review section and I
went right to the lowest reviews.
(09:29):
Here's one. Here's some right here.
I'm just scrolling going through to get the good ones. Here's a one-star review
for my favorite coffee shop that I love going to.
One star and the only comment is expensive.
Expensive? Like compared to what, dude? Or this one.
(09:51):
Here's another really good one. Slow service. I was in line with two people
ahead of me. The barista messed up every order.
All three of our orders had at least one thing remade.
15 minutes to grab a coffee is ridiculous.
Did not like the beans they used. Coffee was bitter. Okay, you didn't like it. Like, oh well.
(10:14):
Ordered a dark roast coffee in a small medium. It did not taste like coffee at all.
Okay, like you didn't like the coffee.
But you know what? But for all the negative reviews on here,
there are so many more positive reviews.
And I think what we tend to do as business owners is we zone in,
(10:35):
we focus in on those negative reviews and let them affect us and get to us.
There are so many more positive reviews.
So then I was talking with another friend and she was having similar concerns
in her business about negative reviews.
And so I got even more curious and I went to Goodreads. Goodreads can be ruthless
(10:58):
when it comes to reviews for writers for books.
And I looked up Hamlet, William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
Did you know Hamlet only has a 4.02 rating on Goodreads?
4.02, one of the finest pieces of literature ever, considered to be a work of
(11:19):
literary genius, and he has 4.02 stars on Goodreads.
Let's look at some of these negative comments here.
And by the way, there are 17,477 one-star reviews of Hamlet.
The first one is ridiculous. I'm not even going to read it because it would
take the rest of the show to read it.
(11:41):
It is so long. It is so convoluted. He includes images images, images in his review,
little gifs where he completely breaks apart Hamlet and then basically says
that he does not like it. He just doesn't like it.
Okay, but here's here are some of the fun ones. One star.
(12:02):
This play made me wish that I had drowned in a river instead of Ophelia.
Here's another one. Another one star review. Hamlet was so whiny.
The best part was when everybody kills each other at the end.
Oh my goodness, another one. Men are so dramatic for no reason.
This one is one of my favorites. One star review. Hamlet is a little end of story.
(12:27):
Are you kidding me? What does this one say?
Oh, this one is just like a bunch of random, random words. Okay, we will skip that.
Probably a bot, which by the way, that happens too. Not all of your reviews
are going to be real people.
Not all of your comments on social media are real people.
We have bots trolling people and posting mean things and they're not even real.
(12:51):
How much weight can you put into a negative review if you don't even know if that's a real person?
Let's read this one. Here's another one-star review of Hamlet.
Would not recommend for any revenge killing.
Indecisive. Zero initiative. Way too slow.
Any taxi driver could have gotten the job done in 20 seconds in broad daylight by accident.
(13:14):
Do not recommend. Neither Hamlet as a hitman nor taxi drivers as drivers.
Oh my goodness. Here's another great one. One-star our review for Hamlet.
You know what I wish? I wish that whiny-ass characters in Hamlet would shut up for once.
Just shut up, I wanted to yell by the end. Shut the hell up.
Stop talking. I'm sick of it. And I am. I'm sick of it.
(13:38):
Shakespeare's contribution to the English language is irrelevant,
as is the obsession of teaching and acting his plays for centuries after his death.
I'm reviewing Hamlet based on the work itself. And the work is schlock. Utter schlock.
Oh my goodness and then goes on to write an entire
essay paragraphs after paragraphs
(14:00):
after paragraphs of why why Hamlet is so awful another person left a one-star
review and said I don't even know what I just read like are you kidding me Hamlet
this is Hamlet guys it's like they don't even know what they just read this
person says this is so bad I want to give it a zero but I I can't.
So I'll give it a one. Did I actually read this? No.
(14:23):
Did I understand anything that happened? No.
Well, I mean, how can you understand it if you didn't actually read it? But okay.
I am definitely not qualified to rate or review this book, to rate or review
this, but this book was so bad and I hated every second we had to read and analyze this in class.
Okay, but you didn't read it. So how did you analyze it?
(14:44):
Another one says, bruh, I could have written this. I don't think you could have, but okay. Okay.
So you get what I'm saying. And I could go on and on and keep reading these.
They are hilarious, but this is one of the greatest literary works of all time.
And these are the kind of reviews that Shakespeare's getting.
So if Shakespeare can't make everyone happy with his piece of work with a brilliant
(15:07):
masterpiece, how could we mere mortals ever expect to make everyone one happy.
Are you ready to unlock your team's full potential?
I'm Terry Holland, and I specialize in igniting passion, boosting morale, and driving results.
Whether it's a corporate event, team building workshop, or a keynote address,
I'll leave your audience energized and empowered to achieve their goals.
(15:30):
Let's inspire greatness together. Visit terryholland.ca forward slash speaking
to learn more and schedule your event today.
I'm reminded of a quote, and I've shared this quote so many times on this podcast,
you might be sick of hearing it by now.
And as always, I'm paraphrasing it because it's something I heard Chelsea Handler say on her show.
(15:51):
I've never found the quote in print, so I just paraphrase it.
But she said something to the effect of, if you are making everyone happy,
or no, if you're trying to please everyone, you are vanilla. You're boring.
Vanilla ice cream. I think she said vanilla ice cream. You're boring.
You know, think about when you have a craving for ice cream.
(16:12):
And if you don't like ice cream, think about some other treat you like.
But when you're craving ice cream, do you just want plain vanilla ice cream?
Like it's a safe choice. Vanilla is a very popular flavor, but is that what you really want?
Or do you want like salted caramel fudge or rocky road or I don't know,
(16:33):
some other like lavender honey ice cream? Or do you just want vanilla?
Vanilla is boring. It's safe, but it's freaking boring.
So think about this. When you get a bad review or someone says something negative
about you, even Shakespeare is getting negative reviews on the internet.
(16:54):
You can't please everyone. You can't make everyone happy.
Apparently, I can't please Australia and make Australia happy. happy.
All jokes aside, I love you, Australia. I'd love to come visit you one day.
So we can't, we can't go about our business, especially if you are a personal brand business.
If you are the face and the voice of your business, you will never make everyone happy.
(17:19):
And those reviews online can often feel personal and like a reflection of you,
but they're not a reflection of you.
Most often they're a reflection of that other person.
Now, are there ways that we should look at these reviews and consider them?
Yeah, sure. You know, like.
If you get a negative review, see if you can have a conversation with the person.
(17:40):
So as I mentioned earlier, address it. Always address the negative review and
see what you can do to correct it.
But if you can take that conversation offline and have a personal conversation
with that person when possible, that's even better.
You can provide in the review your contact information for that person to reach
out to you for you to correct it.
(18:01):
Negative reviews can be treated as a way of reflection and looking at your business
for a Where is there room for improvement? What can you do differently?
Take it as feedback.
Now, not all feedback is going to be valid. Sometimes people just leave really
stupid comments like that the coffee at my favorite coffee shop is expensive.
(18:22):
Well, it's not as expensive as Starbucks, right?
And don't buy it then. Make your own coffee at home. But if you want to go into
a nice, cozy coffee shop and you want to be treated with warmth when you walk
in in the door and you want to sit and have a delicious cup of coffee,
you're going to pay for that. Otherwise, just drink your coffee at home.
(18:43):
So not all feedback is going to be valid feedback, but some of it will be.
So some of it might point out where there's holes or gaps in your product or service.
So the point of all this I'm sharing with you is that you will never please everyone.
Don't sweat it if you get a negative review, do what you can to correct it.
(19:05):
But at the end of the day, that is not a reflection of you as a person.
And really celebrate those negative reviews because they're legit,
like that legitimizes your business.
It shows that it's not just your mom and her friends using your services.
You know what I mean? Like there are real people out there who have no personal
(19:25):
association with you, using your products and services, watching your videos,
listening to your podcast.
So there's some legitimacy in having a less than five-star rating.
If you are pleasing everyone all the time, you're probably not standing for anything.
And remember, our good friend William Shakespeare can't even get a five-star rating on Goodreads.
(19:49):
Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed this episode.
And as always, speaking of reviews, if you enjoyed this episode,
leave me that five-star review, you, especially in Australia.
Come on, Australia. I see you downloading tons of episodes every month.
Give me a five-star review.
All right. Thanks for listening today. I hope you have a fantastic day and I'll
(20:12):
be back again next week with a really special guest. You are not going to want to miss that episode.
If you want to improve your mental toughness, if you want to know what it takes
to succeed in life, you are going to want to listen to next week's guest interview.
I have on Leah Goldstein, and she is a powerhouse, my friends.
(20:34):
You're going to learn all about her next week, but oh my goodness, she is a force.
And well, I'll give you a little sneak peek right now.
When I read her book, I read her book in 2019, I think it was the first time
that I read it again about a year ago.
I never felt so lazy in my life.
(20:55):
This woman is so extraordinary that if if we could just if we could accomplish
one percent of what she does mentally our lives would be drastically different
so if you want to improve your mental toughness and your resilience,
listen to this interview and she's also incredibly funny you're going to enjoy
(21:16):
it so that's next Tuesday and I don't know if you guys have noticed but lately
I'm doing two episodes a week one one interview, one solo show,
let me know if you like that.
The best way to let me know and to reach out to me is on Instagram at the Terry Holland.
That's it. Come find me on Instagram, hang out with me there.
(21:36):
Give me your feedback on the show. If you're liking this two episodes a week,
if you're liking the interview and then a solo show, let me know.
All right. Thanks so much for joining me today. I hope you have a fantastic day. Bye for now.
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