Slating a competitor on your website?

[bdw]

I've been in other industries (retail) where other retailers would come to me and 'spy'. They even asked why I never went to their establishment to 'check them out'. I told them the same thing...'because I am not remotely interested in what you're doing'. I have had someone put me right out of business by duplicating my entire original idea in a more profitable spot in the town. Did I waste my breath slagging them off? No, I conceded defeat and closed, poorer but wiser.

Seriously? How many people came to you and actually asked this question?

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[darren atkinson]

But you seem to do a LOT more than that. It's simply not something I am interested in.

Not really, I noticed their new pricing strategy and then looked at their reviews as their pricing choices could have a serious impact on my business, I simply wanted to see if they were actually satisfying customers on such low margins, and it took me about 5 minutes of looking at their reviews to notice these issues...

 

[iArtist]

Not really, I noticed their new pricing strategy and then looked at their reviews as their pricing choices could have a serious impact on my business, I simply wanted to see if they were actually satisfying customers on such low margins, and it took me about 5 minutes of looking at their reviews to notice these issues...

There will always be these antagonising people in business, don't be one of them. See my edit above re Kharma.

 

[iArtist]

Seriously? How many people came to you and actually asked this question?

.

Gawd too many

When I was in opticians business, all the local competitors used to visit. It got to be a standing joke that when I saw a fly I'd say 'that's D&A's spy fly'!

I also once had a little shop in Torquay and a few of the local retailers popped in to see what and how I was doing. They all invited me to pop into their places and when I didn't popped back and asked why. There was a local business club too and I was the only one on the street who didn't join. That didn't go down well, but I do my own thing.

 

[darren atkinson]

See my edit above re Kharma.

Yes, I have noticed you have gone back and edited a few of your previous posts...

 

[10032012]

Without trying to start an argument, why on earth wouldn't I care?

They have entered this niche after trying to get business info from me in the form of a potential purchase of my business, they then start advertising everywhere I do (which they never did before) and are selling equipment which on the face of it looks highly similar to my products at ridiculously cheap prices.

That is annoying, and I know they can't sustain it, however the major issue I have is them using fake reviews to trick people.

If they only had their genuine reviews available then hardly anyone in their right mind would spend £1000's with them however they have successfully managed to bury these under a load of fake ones.

I don't really understand why some people here can't see why I'd be annoyed by this behaviour and want to draw potential customers attention to it?

I've even said that I probably won't end up doing that but you can't blame me for sounding off about them can you?

The alternative is to stick a criticism website up about them - and make sure its not associated with your business. The best thing to do is, search them on forums and blogs (use google) for hacked off customers and get them to contribute real reviews etc.

You will need to lie and say you had bad experience too - do not at any chance, promote your business. This is on the website, indirectly by your site linking to them and via private messages (emails etc.). That will get you even and not stick you to an advantage.

The moral aspects of this is no real different than posting (or paying someone to) false reviews. Either keep head strong... or stoop to their level.

 

[darren atkinson]

@darren,
This is just a question as I don't have a clue,
Are they actively targeting you or just your sector in general, also would they not be able to bring this thread up in search results for example. I was always under the impression that people can say anything about someone else provided it is truthful which also means that you could back it up if need be.
As for actively targeting them I would be careful that they do not have enough resources to target you back but bigger and better, for instance I could quite easily destroy someone's reputation if I wanted to and that is the very reason why I prefer to remain anonymous on here incase I upset a weirdo.
I to would be an advocate for just continuing as you are and providing your customers with the best possible service but saying that if they want to be underhanded there are ways of doing the same without actually openly revealing its you
ABOVE ALL, GOOD LUCK

Thanks for the encouragement!

I think they are trying first and foremost to increase their sales, but the fact they made enquiries directly to me and then seemed to have entered this niche soon afterwards gets you thinking that they are deliberately targeting us.

When you search for my business name they have an ad running however my name is a fairly generic term for the types of products I sell so I don't really have anything I can do or say about that.

I have used this to spur me in to look a our business again more closely, I've found areas where we could improve on and certain prices which we could be keener on and have rolled those changes out already.

I'm also looking at our landing pages and supporting materials to see where I can make further gains.

I am seriously considering a price comparison page though, I've not fully made up my mind but think if I can make it look and read okay that it wouldn't be seen as a direct dig at anyone else, more of an exercise in comparing like for like which I know customers struggle with at the moment because there are so many different options and combinations of equipment available from us and the competition.

It's hard to know what to do for the best really, and whilst I agree that I should focus on myself, I can't stick my head in the sand either as at the end of the day it is my business at stake...

Thanks for the kind words though, much appreciated.

P.s. I have already thought of numerous ways of highlighting their fake reviews without them seen to be coming from me in anyway, just not sure if that's the right route to go down either at this or ever.

 

[123Simples]

@darren

Just catching up so forgive me if I make an error in my post (I promise you it is not fake)

I do understand what you mean when you say about being annoyed. It's because you have been professionally offering a service for however long, and now some smucks come along and spout off whatever, and somehow you feel (probably rightly so) a bit indignant and annoyed. It happens.

It has happened for a long time in my own business - I've seen all the crap come out the woodwork and claim this and that, and offer services so cheap that it makes me wonder why they would even work.

Your main points (having ran through the posts quickly)

How do you get across that we are cheaper than the direct competitors in the US and offer much better systems, support and customer service than this UK competitor???

Get your reviews - its the only way really. You can build pages as much as the competitors do about how great you are, but only your customers will truly say it how it is. Also don't work on how cheaper you are. But rather concentrate on service, support and customer dedication. Any monkey can churn out something cheap, but you should be proud of price and quality

the issue I have is they are using dishonest reviews and stupid pricing to gain an advantage and mislead customers...

Sorry about the foolish customers then, but then that is not your fault. An advantage is only gained if they can supply again and again and again, otherwise it is a short lived game. Whilst it may annoy your principles (and again I can understand that) it is something you need to live with, and just rise above, otherwise it will consume you.

 

[darren atkinson]

@darren

Just catching up so forgive me if I make an error in my post (I promise you it is not fake)

I do understand what you mean when you say about being annoyed. It's because you have been professionally offering a service for however long, and now some smucks come along and spout off whatever, and somehow you feel (probably rightly so) a bit indignant and annoyed. It happens.

It has happened for a long time in my own business - I've seen all the crap come out the woodwork and claim this and that, and offer services so cheap that it makes me wonder why they would even work.

Your main points (having ran through the posts quickly)



Get your reviews - its the only way really. You can build pages as much as the competitors do about how great you are, but only your customers will truly say it how it is. Also don't work on how cheaper you are. But rather concentrate on service, support and customer dedication. Any monkey can churn out something cheap, but you should be proud of price and quality




Sorry about the foolish customers then, but then that is not your fault. An advantage is only gained if they can supply again and again and again, otherwise it is a short lived game. Whilst it may annoy your principles (and again I can understand that) it is something you need to live with, and just rise above, otherwise it will consume you.

Thanks for the words.

It's not so much that I'm annoyed they are now in direct competition, they are not newcomers to business and have been around for longer than I have, however they used to serve the general market and now they are heavily advertising in my niche. Again, I don't have a problem with competition, it would be nice not to have any but then that's just not realistic!

It's just how there pricing choices are making everyone, not just me, look really expensive when we genuinely aren't, and the fact that they are lying. Over the long run they will not be able to sustain this in terms of pricing or unsatisfied customers, I realise that, however the flip side is any customers lost because of their dishonest practices will likely stay lost to us (and our competitors) for a very long time due to the high cost of the products we specialise in.

If you spend £1,000 - £2,000 on something and receive poor customer service but are unable or don't want to return it, then you are not going to write it off and spend a similar amount again with a different company.

That's the annoying thing about the whole situation.

I know that I can't fixate on them as it will be to the detriment of my business however I've tried to use this thread as a sounding board to gather ideas and opinions on it all.

I have already made some changes to my offerings and have some new products just around the corner which should really make a difference to the quality and competitiveness of my offer as a whole.

 

[darren atkinson]

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone who has commented and offered the opinion and advice on this matter.

It's really helped and whilst I haven't agreed with all views it has been useful to gauge reaction to my situation from a variety of different viewpoints.

I'll get past it, I know we offer a great product and service and this will end up being a blip only in the grand scheme of things.

It's just that blips don't seem like blips when your slap bang in the middle of one!

Thanks again,

Darren

 

[iArtist]

Yes, I have noticed you have gone back and edited a few of your previous posts...

I always have to edit my posts, usually due to typos...it's my dyslexic keyboard and while doing so new thoughts pop into my head.

 

[bdw]

Best of luck Darren.

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[iArtist]

I have used this to spur me in to look a our business again more closely, I've found areas where we could improve on and certain prices which we could be keener on and have rolled those changes out already.

I'm also looking at our landing pages and supporting materials to see where I can make further gains.

This is the best thing ever, you've turned a negative into a positive and that's the best way forward.

Meanwhile I have a simple solution to your desire to 'out' this company.

Detail your findings subtly and only ever refer to them as a competitor (no names)

for example:

"Beware of competing firms who have bogus reviews...a way of checking if the reviews are genuine is to..." then offer tips and so on...

Perhaps do it by way of a blog post. Anything else....may get you into trouble, not worth it.

 

[liongroup]

Rather than criticise competitors, a better strategy is to focus on yourself and your customers.

 

[iArtist]

Did you know Anthony that there are no competitors at all in your niche on freeindex so you'd immediately be the only one listed?
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/searchresults.htm?searchtype=directory&k=multiple_monitors&l=&locid=

Meanwhile if your competitor has reviews on a site like freeindex you can always report your suspicions to the site host. They can tell if reviews are bogus too and often have a system for dealing with it.

 

[internetspaceships]

Hi Darren

As the other guys have said, it really does look bad if you slate competition on your website. I wouldn't even think about doing it.

If I may be so bold, when you're looking at how low you think their margins are you might be surprised. It may well be that they are actually sourcing their components for less than you, hence they are making reasonable margins.

I was often in the same situation with competitors "apparently" making very little and then I discovered how to make more margin by buying better.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that you're bad at buying, but maybe a little out of the box thinking is required?

If you've still got my email drop me a line and I'll throw you some pointers, if not drop me a PM and I'll mail you mate.

Jon

 

[123Simples]

Good luck Darren - hope all works out well. On your post you said if someone spends a £1000 or £2000 then finds it is rubbish, they are not going to want to spend that money again. That's true - but if the customers make a mistake of investing their money with a business that fails them, then sadly that is their problem, and not yours.

Yes I understand that they will not then buy from you but then it won't be your company that gets the negative feedback either