Found on Facebook

Isn’t there a saying that a person will share a bad experience with 10 people but a good experience with only 1?

Why do we do that?

To ensure our friends and family don’t share the same fate?

Makes sense, sure.

Whey then, do we not share a good experience equally? Why does a bad experience hit us so much stronger, make us more vocal and adamant about telling everyone we know?

I’ve often thought about this phenomenon, since I’m a small business owner and since I work in corporate America.

In my real job, we have a client who loves us. I mean has passed over other vendors because we’ve provided such awesome product and service. She’s gone to bat for us so that we’d get the business she wanted US to have.

And yes, we’ve had the other side. A client or two who is still so angry with us that they continue to ask for concessions on stuff we did even though not 100% of it is our fault.

Do they tell their friends? Do they share the experience within their corporate ranks? How much does it matter when at the end of the day you’re almost kind of a number and not a person?

How about for a small mom and pop shop, where word of mouth is even more important? Where one bad experience for one customer can ruin the very existence of the business. Did you know that CAN happen? That the power of 1 is SO strong that businesses have been ruined from that.

Why?

Have you, however, heard of a business MADE by the power of 1? And don’t count Oprah, though if you do, I’m pretty sure the answer is ‘yes’ (Spanx anyone?).

I realize there’s a LOT of other factors in both cases. Really, I do. It’s the crux, the premise, the cause to the effect that I’m looking at because when we get to the core of it, negativity breeds negativity, right?

Thusly … positivity breeds positivity?

Shouldn’t that be the case?

It isn’t though, is it? We simply love to pounce on negativity. It fuels arguments and keeps them going. Don’t believe me? Look at how negative ads impact political races. Seriously. Look.

Even an attempt at positivity is squashed by negative ones.

Human nature maybe?

Now here’s a flip side of this whole thing. I used to ask my photography clients for direct feedback. From the first phone call to the last interaction picking up their prints. I wanted their feedback and encouraged them to post  their feedback online.

What did I find? Loads of great reviews.

How’s that possible if we only ever talk about what we don’t like?

Because we DO talk about what we do like. We DO talk about positive stuff. It just doesn’t have the same impact.

If we didn’t, none of my books would have any five stars. None of my photography clients would have recommended me. None of my bosses would have loved me enough to promote me over the years.

However (there’s always a catch, isn’t there?) … as they say, like Rome (which took years to build and no time to destroy) … it takes years to build a reputation and only a moment to ruin it.

What am I saying in all this?

To those needing an audience, remember your audience in everything you do.

To those who are the audience, the consumer, the supporter, promote what you love.

What do you think? Share in the comments!

—–