Reputation Repair: 6 Tips To Fix a Bad Reputation

Everything you do affects your reputation.

You may think that other people can negatively affect your reputation, and while that may be true, in most cases, the only person who can positively or negatively impact your reputation is you.

Years ago, at one of my events, someone introduced themselves to me. When I responded and indicated that I knew exactly who they were, because of one of my clients, this individual immediately assumed that I knew the worst about them.

This was a defining moment for that person. They told me it shook them because they wanted to be known for good reasons and they were embarrassed to think that I might have known something about them that they were ashamed of.

It is really important to note that they didn’t try to explain what went wrong, rationalize what happened or make excuses for the situation that had gone poorly between them and a client of mine, instead they owned it and decided they wanted to drastically improve their reputation – and they did.

You are in control of your reputation, you can build it, destroy it and with enough time and effort, repair it.

6 Things To Keep In Mind When It Comes To Your Reputation:

If your reputation is good, heed this advice. If your reputation needs repairing, put all 6 of these recommendations into practice right away.

1. Do What You Say You Will Do

If you say you will be somewhere at a specific time, or you will deliver an outcome by a deadline – do it. If you engage in someone’s services, always follow through and pay for what you owe.

When something happens and you can’t do what you say you will do, you must communicate proactively and manage expectations. You can not sit back and wait for your reputation to improve – you must be an active participant.

2. Treat People Well

How you engage with others and the relationships you build are a key driver of your reputation. When you treat people well, they are more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt when something goes sideways, because it’s not your normal behaviour.

And even when someone else speaks ill of you, others will defend you because they know it’s not the norm when it comes to your reputation.

Treating people well does not mean being a pushover, or a doormat. It means being respectful and clear in your communication.

3. When You Make A Mistake, Fix It

You may have recently read my blog about normalizing failure. What I failed to mention in that blog was everything I did to try and make the situation right for that client.

I offered to help them myself, and I offered to provide our services for two months at no cost to them to regain their trust. I did this because the mistakes were our fault, and when you are responsible for a bad outcome, you’re also responsible for doing whatever you can to fix it. This is how you rebuild trust and your reputation.

4. Don’t Avoid Difficult Conversations

Often, when things go wrong, people want to avoid having conversations that are necessary to repair a relationship or business arrangement because they are hard.

Hiding doesn’t help. Avoiding or ghosting clients is never a favourable thing to do. You have to learn to manage the discomfort in order to be in control of your reputation.

5. Be Mindful Of What You Say When You’re Triggered

The world is full of keyboard cowboys who bravely assert their adversarial opinions on social media. The way you express yourself online, especially when you’re upset, is directly tied to your character, emotional stability and reputation.

Be mindful of how you conduct yourself and remember, even when you delete a post, there is always a screenshot somewhere. Every contribution you make to this world is either building your reputation or tearing it down.

6. Underpromise And Overdeliver

The majority of people aim to please, which leads to promising to do things that you don’t want to do or are unable to do. If you’re really trying to strengthen your reputation, do the opposite.

Under-promise and over-deliver.  

If you say it can be done by Friday, deliver what you said on Thursday, and if you say you’ll be there at noon, arrive at 11:45. If you say you’ll respond by end of day, do so by 3 p.m.

When you do this, you will become a person with a stellar reputation. You will become someone who does what you say you will do, when you say you will do it, or you will proactively communicate otherwise.

This is a person with a stellar reputation. Starting today, make that person you.