Speaking Badly About A Competitor Is A Poor Reflection on You!

Guest post by: Thomas J. Madden
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IS BIGGER BETTER IN PR? - By Thomas J. Madden

If you speak badly of a competitors, it doesn't make you look good. Also,how will they speak about you?

Placing the emphasis on what you're good at as opposed to on what your competitor is bad at is a much more convincing strategy, not to mention more ethically correct.

It's just not a good ideato ever put yourself in that situation. According toauthor and Virtual Assistance Coach Jeannine Clontz,it's better to always take the high road and speak more about how you can help a client as opposed to how a competitor couldnot. This way youbuild a good strong relationship based on positive support and reinforcement. Also, there's a practical side. If the competitor is indeed unethical or incompetent, they won't be around for long!

My wife, daughter and I operate a growing international PR firm, TransMedia Group www.transmediagroup.comserving clients worldwide since 1981.We are successful as we believe in concentrating on the positive and agree with Clontz and others thathowever one rationalizes it, knocking competitors especially when it concerns their ethics,is ethically unbecoming.

I would add only one exception, however. If a client or prospect is impressed with a competitor's proposal, which is replete with what we believe are hollow promises, I often counter by saying our firm doesn't just make promises, but delivers results. Is this besmearing a competitor? I submit not if it's true. Delivering on promiseshas become a sort of motto of our firm based on a long track record of achievement. So it's fact based, not b.s. based.

I sometimes point outthat many firms, particularly the larger ones, are much better than we are at writing proposal as they assign their top people people in the continual quest for new business, but those people often aren' the ones assigned to work on the account after it's won.

I merely point out a truth that unlike some of our competitors, we assign our top people to accounts, not our junior people as some larger PR firms do. The simple fact of the matter is we don't have any junior people. This is not really disparaging a competitor, but simply stating a fact.

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IS BIGGER BETTER IN PR? - By Thomas J. Madden

About the Author: Thomas J. Madden

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Tom Madden is the founder and CEO of TransMedia Group, one of the world's leading independent PR firms serving clients worldwide since 1981. He has held top executive positions at ABC and NBC,where he was Vice President, Assistant to the President, then Fred Silverman. For his exploits in broadcasting and PR, he has been profiled in Time Magazine, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. Speeches he wrote have been reprinted in The New York Times and Vital Speeches of the Day. Among awards he has received are a "Bronze Anvil" from The Public Relations Society of America. He is the author of SPIN MAN and King of the Condo. email: TMadden@transmediagroup.com 561-750-9800 Ext: 211
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