If you have reason to believe somebody has been bad-mouthing your business amongst various organisations and groups and you have reason to believe they have lost you substantial earnings as an result, what are the proceedures/ steps that one should take?
You need to do more than just believe - you need to be able to prove it as a matter of fact. If a member of one of these organisations will confirm what has been said then that's a good start. You then issue a solicitor's letter and if no joy you issue legal proceedings.
You are probably going to need a solicitor as there are technical issues surrounding slander which have to be clarified.
A member of the organisation has told me. However, I do not know if they would back me up... as they are a new customer of mine and would see they person doing the slandering on a regular basis.
Should I write to or phone the person doing the slandering and warn them to stop?
Something a lot of people forget - it what they are saying is true, there is no defamation.
If it's untrue, but there's potentially an action in slander, if verbal, or libel if it's written. For slander, generally you need to be able to prove an actual loss. For libel you can take an action without having to prove an actual loss.
You need good legal advice tailored to your particular situation. Don't rely on the advice here.