Negative effects of publicly fighting a critic of your business.

[Etini]

I understand that criticism, especially unfair and unconstructive ones can get to a business owner so badly. The knee jerk reaction would be to fight dirty with the critic, on the same platform that the critic used to tarnish your business. But is that the right thing to do in the face of your business being criticized? No. Let me give you two reasons fighting a critic is a bad business move.

1) It might give credibility to the critic and criticism: When a business defends criticism by going down dirty with the critic, you give breath to the criticism and make public opinion believe that the criticism might be true. Ignore the critic. Don't arrest him. Don't sue him.

2) More scrutiny of the operations of the business: Media people are looking for something to jump on and would not wait to feast on the bad publicity your public response to criticism would generate. Trust me. Negative publicity is not what any business needs. You can let sleeping dogs lie when someone criticises your business instead of damaging your brand by fighting the person.

 

[Ramolak19]

Fighting back against a company critic in public can be bad for your credibility and reputation. Confrontational behavior has the ability to worsen the problem, attract unwelcome attention, and alienate clients.

it could sour relations with investors or partners, who might see it as unprofessional behavior. And it’s almight damage your brand's reputation and impede future business prospects by eroding trust. Retaining a positive image and reputation requires skilled and graceful handling of criticism.

 

[Etini]

When you are seen joining issues with a customer in public, you would give people reasons to believe that there might be some elements of truths in the claims made by the critic. As business people, we should learn to be in control of our emotions. Sometimes, the criticism might be very harsh and almost very damaging. Still, we need to talk privately with the critic instead of allowing things to degenerate publicly. It is not easy to be a business owner but maturity is one requirement and situations like these os where it is mostly exhibited.