If following them back is going to derail you, it's not worth it at all. Stick with your game plan and strategy.

Ultimately, we don't know someone else's strategy (or if they have one (lots of people don't) or if it's even working), so if you start to switch up what you're doing/how you're doing it because you got distracted by someone else, it could lead you to a dead end.

Keep holding the line with your approach. You're already doing things right by listening to people and giving them what they ask for.