It’s easy to feel offended when a customer leaves a bad review about your location. Say they criticize your staff or claim the service you offered wasn’t valuable — your knee-jerk reaction may be to argue.

Step away and count to 10 before you respond. Your online reputation is more important than proving who’s right and who’s wrong. The fact is your customer had a bad experience, and your first priority should be changing their opinion.

The best way to do that is to respond promptly and courteously, apologize for their bad experience and offer to make things right. Ask them to contact you offline, so you can discuss the incident in detail.

Nearly 90% of consumers say they’d give companies a second chance if they feel their concerns are addressed adequately. So what have you got to lose? You’ll demonstrate publicly your commitment to customer service, and you may save a customer, too.

Read this blog to learn about how to get great reviews online.