How to shut your customers up

Don't like what your customers are saying about you? Want to tell them to put a sock in it, but not sure how? Then maybe you should become a customer of a new company started by Dr. Jeffrey Segal in North Carolina.

Dr. Segal has decided that the best way to make sure you have a happy customer is to put a gag order on all of the unhappy ones. To do that, his company creates a EULA that prohibits patients from writing reviews about the service, treatment, or other care they receive from a doctor. You read that right. If your doctor is one of Dr. Segal's customers, you will not be allowed to write anything online about the care or lack thereof that you received.

Seriously Dr. Segal and the rest of the medical community? That's how you decide to embrace, or not embrace, social media. How about taking steps to insure that all of your patients are happy. And if they're not, allow them to voice their valid concerns and displeasure however they deem appropriate. People who don't hear criticism never learn from their mistakes - see the last 8 years of George W. Bush's presidency.

So for all of you other business owners out there, this is not the way to listen to your customers. Instead, try embracing social media and interacting with your customers as a great way to get feedback and learn from your mistakes. Yelp and other similar sites can be powerful tools if they're used correctly. Sure you'll get your fair share of negative reviews, but that's all part of the experience and is truly the only way you'll get better.