There are some terrible dealerships out there that get lots of bad reviews. If you’re reading this, that’s probably not you, because your dealership is great.

You may be worried about getting bad reviews, because let’s be realistic, bad reviews can really suck. That doesn’t mean that you should forget about Reviews altogether, so here is what you need to know about preventing negative reviews online for your dealership.

1. You need to protect yourself in advance and try to get as many positive reviews as you can before the negative review even shows up. Having a negative review is not so bad when it is surrounded by amazing 5-star reviews.
2. People are more hesitant to write a bad review when all the other reviews are beaming compliments. On the other hand, if there are a whole bunch of negative reviews, it’s a lot easier to jump in and join the trashing party. Nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd.
3. There are some Jerks out there that will write negative reviews no matter what, like “They wouldn’t give me 0% financing on the 5-year-old truck even though my credit is 530. WORST STORE EVER!”. Everyone knows that these jerks exist and you can usually click through to see all the other terrible reviews they have left for other local businesses.
4. Most people write a bad review because they are upset and want to be heard. If they have someone to complain to, the chances of them writing a negative review go down.
5. Keep an eye out for customers that seem less than thrilled and have a place where the customers can come to if they are upset. You don’t have to give in to them but just listening and empathizing can go a long way.

I’ve seen way too many dealerships that won’t give upset customers the time of day. They are pretty much inviting negative reviews.

If you follow these steps, you may not prevent 100% of the 1-Star reviews but you will prevent enough of them from causing problems and scaring off future customers who are definitely reading your online reviews before shopping.

Responding to negative reviews is a whole other conversation that I will be addressing in future posts. If you want a sneak peek (actually a lot more than a peek) into how to best respond to negative reviews, with examples and a usable template, Subscribe to CX in Cars, our FREE Customer Experience Newsletter.