When the competition speaks badly of you

What do you do when someone from another company spreads malicious rumours or tells outright lies about you to your clients?

Unfortunately it is a position that most of us have been in. The first thing to look at is why this is happening. Usually it means that your competitor is threatened by you, and therefore seeks to devalue you in order to get an advantage with your clients.

Some companies and individuals do this routinely, and will seize any opportunity to drop a negative remark about a competitor. "Oh, you're using Company X? I didn't realise they were still going after their managers left..."

Sometimes an individual will have a particular grievance against you or your company. Perhaps you outperformed them, perhaps you fell out, perhaps you fired them. Whatever the reason, sometimes it is personal.

It's horrible to find yourself on the receiving end of such behaviour. It can be hurtful, embarrassing, and it can have a very real impact on your business.

So what do you do when you become aware that a competitor has been saying bad things about you?

Look to the positives

They view you as important, because they are talking about you. This often means that you are currently being successful in what you do, and that you are relevant to them. If clients already thought badly of you then there would be no need for your competitor to bring you down.

It is likely that you found out about this because at least one of your clients confided in you. That means they respect you and trust you enough to tell you what is being said.

Your clients are not stupid. Lies can be insidious and cleverly delivered, but it is usually patently apparent to all when someone is trying to run down the competition. Think about it. If you were buying a car, and the sales person dropped a few clangers about another showroom, would you not know exactly what they were trying to do?

Some lies can be proved to be false. Things such as "John says your company will never work at that margin" or "John says your company is closing" are both things that will make John look pretty silly when you demonstrate that's not the case. John has now done you the double favour of helping your relationship with that client deepen (as you both have a chuckle about the situation) and made the client not trust the next thing that he says.

Get the facts

What is your competitor saying? Is there any truth to it? There is a difference between an opinion and defamation. If the lie is such that it damages your reputation and your credibility then you may well have legal recourse.

Make sure you have all the facts at hand in case you decide to follow this path. Document all information, keep written evidence or phone records, and make dated notes of any correspondence about the issue. You may decide not to bother pursuing legal action now, but that may change later - so act as if you will and keep the evidence at hand for when you decide to take action.

Make sure that you know exactly what has been said. It may not be enough if you have "John said you were a bit shady", but your case would definitely improve if you have "John said that you stole XYZ from Company X".

Decide what to do

If you have only just been made aware of a problem then you may shrug it off. However, if clients are repeatedly telling you of what your competitor is saying, or if the problem is such that it is harmful from the outset, you may need to take legal recourse to stop it.

Consult with a lawyer for further advice about your case if you decide to proceed.

You may, however, decide that - while distasteful - your competitor's gibes are unlikely to harm you or your business and, instead, may be working to discredit them in the industry. That being the case, you may decide that legal action is unnecessary. It may still be worth discussing with a lawyer, to ensure there is nothing you have overlooked.

Dealing with the issue without a lawyer

So, someone tells you that a competitor has said something bad about you or your business. How do you react? If you have never encountered this situation then take a moment to think, as when it happens you are likely to feel shocked, upset, flustered, and defensive.

Take a deep breath. The best recourse you have is to address the issue head on, in a calm and professional manner. It's okay to let the client (or person in question) see that you are shocked and upset. This is a very normal response, and one which helps show your client that the allegations are false.

Ask for clarification. Ask exactly what was said, by whom, when, and in what context. Write it down. If you have a good relationship with the client, and you feel it appropriate, ask them to put that in an email or letter to you. You will keep all records of such things in case you need them in the future.

Address the point at hand. If the rumour is that the company is going under/ no longer operational then, assuming that is false, say that it is untrue. If you suspect why your competitor is saying such a thing (e.g., you made someone - possibly even them - redundant) then explain this to your client, but reiterate that it is not true.

If the claim is outlandish, and bears no relation to truth, then tell your client so. Explain that you have no idea why your competitor would have said that, but there is no foundation for it.

If the client wants to talk about it then be open and honest. To say 'no comment' can look suspicious. However, do not stoop to your competitor's level in engaging in a war of words. Never say anything negative about your competitors, nor infer anything negative. Things like "John only says I stole something because he's been thieving from the company for months" or "Well, I guess business can't be good for him, so he has to come out with this stuff" won't win you any favours.

Don't give your detractors the time of day. Don't talk about them, and don't be seen to be giving them any value at all. They are, quite simply, not worth your time or energy.

The most important thing now is to build on the relationship you have with your client (and others). If one has heard something then others probably have too. Make sure you are talking to them often and that your relationships are good. People are much less likely to believe false accusations about people they know than those they don't.

And keep doing the good job that you must already be doing for everyone to be talking about you!

It's not that hard

I'm not sure when recruiters began to feel as if we had to be perfect. It's a problem endemic to most sales roles, and can leave us feeling as if we have to always say the right thing, and always promise the earth to our clients and our candidates.

That's great when we deliver on those promises, but most of the time we simply can't or don't, and that leaves everyone feeling a bit sour about the whole experience.

There are lots of things that we can do to make others like us and want to do business with us. However, a lot of it boils down to just one thing.

Do what you say you will.

That's it. That's all most people want. Most people want to feel that they can rely on you to deliver what you say you will, and to be honest and transparent in your communication. That may sound like 2 separate points, but it's all wrapped up in the same thing.

If you have promised your client that you will deliver something and then - for whatever reason - you can't, you need to make sure you are continuing to tell them what you will (or now won't) be doing.

Sure, they may not be happy with you, but they will be a lot less happier with you if you fail to deliver and then sidle out of the back door without so much as an explanation.

Unfortunately, this scenario is one we see time and time again in recruitment. Our candidates tell us that their biggest bugbear with recruiters is that we get their hopes up and then we just disappear. We don't return their calls, we don't tell them what happened, and we effectively just sidle out of the door. (And please note here that by 'we' I mean a generic 'we' - the recruitment industry at large - rather than this being my confessional of poor practice.)

We don't do what we have said. If you say you will ring someone at 5pm, then ring them at 5pm. It doesn't matter if you thought you would have news for them and don't, or if someone more interesting and more placeable comes up. If you said you would do it then do it.

If you tell your client that you will find them someone and then discover that you can't, tell them so. Call them up, or meet up in person, and say that you have undertaken the work but not been successful. Don't leave them wondering what happened to you, or why they spent so long giving you all that information for you to just disappear.

Yes, it's a horrible conversation to have, but it's vital. Your client will hold you in higher regard for fronting up and confessing that you can't help them, than they will if you go AWOL and then contact them a month or so later, hoping they've forgotten (they haven't).

It's a simple principle, and it's one most of us apply without needing to think about in our personal lives. Most of us don't arrange to meet a friend and then not turn up, or tell a partner we will pick up the milk and then hide from them for a few days rather than tell them we forgot. Sometimes we cannot do what we said we would do, and if that happens then we need to communicate that to those who are waiting to hear what we've done.

The best option is to avoid raising people's expectations too high in the first place. Don't tell your client that you will have a candidate for them by the end of the hour/ day/ week. Tell them that you will endeavour to have someone for them, that you will be working on their role, that you will prioritise their work - and that you will talk to them again later today/ tomorrow/ by Friday to review where you are up to.

Don't tell your candidate that you will have something for them. Tell them that you will come back to them at a certain point to talk about where you are up to.

And then diarise those calls and make them.

Doing what you say you will do doesn't mean achieving everything that is expected of you. It means managing those expectations to make them something that you are more likely to be able to deliver.

It's not about being perfect. It's about being realistic, open, and honest. People have respect for those things, and can tolerate mistakes or failures to deliver (which, let's face it, are things we all experience sometimes) if they know that  you are doing the things you said you would.