How to react to criticism of your business

"Apparently you're not doing well at all," "you are nothing like ChikenBlues and MustangAutoProm," "my neighbor Afanasiy developed a better technology, he just hasn't patented it" - whatever you do, you're going to get haters. There won't be any only if you don't do anything. In business, they love saying: if you don't get criticized, you don't get noticed.

But it's easy to ignore the haters only through lip service. After all, you put your soul into your work, you try for the good of all people, you want your work to be appreciated, feedback is important to you. Moreover, criticism is not necessarily destructive, sometimes it helps to look at familiar business processes from an unexpected perspective - and improve something.

How do you distinguish constructive criticism from destructive criticism? How do you respond to both? Let's turn to expert advice.

1. Figuring out what kind of criticism you're facing is easy. Ask yourself the question: what is its goal? Did the man want to help you? He didn't, did he? So the criticism is destructive. Constructive criticism is NEVER expressed in an aggressive and offensive manner.

2. It is better to take destructive criticism as a challenge. This does not mean that you have to respond in the same way. You were just given a chance to stand up for yourself, to stay true to yourself, no matter what. You can safely prepare your ammunition - arguments.

3. It's always better to be prepared for criticism. You shouldn't expect only to be praised. You can premeditate your reaction to many situations.

4. You don't have to answer right away. It's better to give yourself time to think.

5. Most importantly: don't get defensive! You have nothing to justify, you have done nothing wrong. If the one criticizing you is unfair, your attempts to justify yourself will only increase his or her desire to attack.

6. Now it's time for the arguments. You have already prepared them and can respond with dignity to criticism. You will find examples of how to do this in the second chapter of "Partner Work Methodology" - "How to Interact with Customers"

7. If nothing changes after your arguments, the conversation is over. A critical statement is a feedback loop. Your arguments will continue it or bring you back to the first point: criticism becomes destructive - this dialogue is not worth pursuing.

Even when you are very experienced in business, it is useful to heed criticism, because there is always something to work on. And vice versa - if you're just starting your business, you certainly have strengths, you should find them and remember, no matter how much you are criticized.

And then there is the universally disarming word: thank you. For your opinion, in this case :)