You both know it ended bad, maybe there wasn't enough communication before you got started. Maybe you took on a client who's interest just didn't mesh with yours. Whatever the reason, sometimes we might end up with a negative review tarnishing our positive and fun loving image as escorts, pro-dommes, or masseuses (or any pornstar or adult entertainment provider, really). Don't stress too much. Follow the advice below and make bad reviews a thing of the past.
The customer may almost always be right, but when personal boundaries are involved this grey area can get tricky. Here are a few customer service tips to help you avoid negative reviews in the first place and minimize them if they crop up after the fact.
1. Communicate: Talk to your client before, during and after your session. Make sure you have a good idea of what they want and you also enjoy these activities. If you get the feeling that their main desires involve activities that you do not provide, don't fake it or try to distract them so they forget, instead talk to them about your boundaries and suggest including another provider who can suit their needs in your session. Sometimes you might be better off to cut your loses, and let them know that the session probably won't work for you.
Let them know the activities you enjoy and see if you can come to a common understanding and still make for a fun session. This goes for activities that they might not enjoy as well, make sure to ask them their hard stops or strict no-nos. Make sure you negotiate fully with your client and be sure to ask what their limits are. The last thing you want is to trigger a negative response in the heat of the moment.
2. Apologize: If something goes wrong and you can see that your client is not happy after your session is complete, ask them about it. Let them know you care about their experience and even though this time wasn't quite right, you're interested in helping them to have a better experience next time. Ask what they liked about the session, and if they are upset talk with them about what brought them down. If they mention an activity that is outside of your limits offer to recommend another provider and even give them a good reference (if they deserve it) to facilitate the connection. Offer a discount on a second chance to get it right or just sympathize with their experience and try to understand the frustration.
If they still end up writing a negative review:
3. Bury it: Reach out to your favorite clients and friends and ask them to write you more positive reviews about your times together. The one negative review will get buried under all the light and sunshine of real positive experiences.
4. Forget about it: This is going to be the main thing you'll need to do. Some people feel very strongly about being heard, and client reviews are one of the only places clients can talk about their experiences with sex workers. Sex workers might have communities where we can share our bad experiences, but a client is less likely to have someone to talk to. His review might be the only way he can vent. The best thing for you to do is to take the constructive criticism, learn from it and move on. Figure out the best way to communicate with your clients and make sure that whatever happened with the situation sparking the negative review never happens again. This too shall pass.
The best way to deal with bad reviews is to ignore them. Talk about it with your support network, but it's usually best not to draw attention to it. Cut off contact to the reviewer and let them have their opinion.
Remember opinions are like assholes, and assholes have the most opinions.
5. Contact the site: If the review is erroneous or hateful you should be able to contact the site administrator and plead your case to have the review removed. If someone is going above and beyond to callously effect your business it's not a bad idea to reach out to see if you can convince the site admin to take the review down. I make no promises that this will work, but it's always worth a try. If anything, this will calm your conscious to know that you're doing everything you can in your power to quash an untrue or excessive review.
6. Respond and embrace or flip it: With the ease of social media sites, like tumblr or twitter, you can turn this negative review into positive feedback and make it work for you. Joke about the review in social media, "Maybe he's not the 'one'..." or respond with an explanation of what went wrong and take the opportunity to tell your side of the story. Your friends and fans will come to your defense and give you a nice little boost of confidence as they explain away your concerns. Joke about the review and make lite of the situation.
7. Review them: If you received a bad review after a bad experience you don't have to let a bad client get away with it. Spread the word to other providers that this client is difficult and could lead them to negative reviews themselves or even worse. If a client is hostile, violent or doesn't respect your boundaries you should put him on blast and warn others. If he retaliates, remind him that others might have a different perspective of the situation.
"Just because the Internet allows you to say things about a person you'd never say to their face, doesn't mean you should."
Take the opportunity to learn and grow with your client's feedback, take note of their concerns even if they seem petty or personal. No one is perfect and all positive reviews are not necessarily even believable, be a real person and don't sweat it.
You are more than just one bad review and one bad review will not break your career as an escort.
Wait! Should you allow reviews in the first place? Read one writer's perspective here.
