We have a robust debate going on within Tower Systems at the moment about whether we should respond to a competitor who publishes untrue statements about us and our software.
My view is that we need to correct the record when this happens and provide commentary about why they might be doing this.
Some of our sales team, Tim, Nathan and Luke, want us to ignore the comments. Their view is that small business owners don’t like to see competitors at each other’s throats in public.
Our Marketing Manager, Andrew, says we should ignore them based on their market share.
While I think they are right, my concern is that silence gives these claims credence.
We are trying to find common ground inside Tower Systems on this. Even though I own the business, I see everyone on the team as a stakeholder and therefore holding an opinion which needs to be considered.
This is why we have not responded as we might have to the attacks over recent days.
While we are not done with this debate yet, the lack of tit for tat blog posts from us shows that the team is likely to win.
I’d be interested in what others think. Should a company respond to untruthful comments published about them? Or, should we, as they say in cricket, let these comments go through to the keeper. In this analogy, the keeper is our customers and others who stop by this and other blogs.