Want a Lead Generation Strategy for Dealing with Critics? Let them Pay

Lawrence Anderson

No, it’s not ‘make them pay.’ It’s ‘let them pay.’ Because if you nobody ever noticed, all critics ever do is actually make claims that counter the claims of your marketers and lead generators. And like you, it takes a lot to maintain their position. Why not structure your lead generation strategy to let them pay that cost instead of silencing them?

There’s a difference between permitting unrestrained, unsubstantiated criticism and allowing it to fall on its face. That difference lies in your decision to silence your critics with marketing schemes instead of the actual value of your products.

When you spend so much looking for ways to prevent critics to publicize their opinions or excess PR control, you risk taking away spending on core business processes. Put on a personal level, it’s like caring more about what other people say about your science project instead of actually focusing on said project. So many brand and celebrities pour out their money just to file libel charges or prevent defamatory website domains. This isn’t necessarily a healthy trend when you could actually put your money where your marketing is instead of essentially going around acting like a censor.

• You could be helping people say good things instead of hunting those who say bad – It sounds cheesy but it’s surprisingly rational. When you work on creating more positive experiences, the return is two-fold. You create happier customers. Happier customers are more likely to renew contracts and spread word to counter the defamation. You don’t need to spend so much on just fostering more resentment among your critics.

• Critics don’t hold the complete answer – Critics might be real sharp when it comes to finding out your bad decisions. However, don’t give them credit for knowing everything. You’re still in charge of your business and you are supposed to be the one who knows more about it than anyone else. It only follows that you’ll still have all the keys to answering your business’ main challenges. They’re still on the outside looking in.

• Critics have their own credibility and need to save face – An easy way to tell a good critic from a bad one is that the latter depends on you being sucky. So if someone comes to you with a problem, you solve it, and they’re still intent on ‘exposing’ your organization or supporting competitors, that someone is not worth marketing to. Even an newbie lead generator wouldn’t waste time trying to convert a bad lead. But most importantly, it’s on them to deal with the consequences of being wrong about your organization. In fact, the same people who buy things like defamatory domains for critical purposes will be the same people paying the price tag for them.

Again, there’s no need to ‘make them pay.’ They’ll be paying already when you take their heat and use it to improve customer experiences that will eventually run counter to their opinion. Of course, you’ll be too busy focusing on the core of your business to ever care and that’s actually even better.

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