How’s the feedback to your business?
“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” — Ken Blanchrd
NOT many of us like to hear what other people think about us or our business – especially if what we are about to hear is negative and they are telling us that we and our service stinks. Yes, feedback when it is not all wine and roses can leave us feeling sucker-punched, but it is one of the strongest part of the communication equation. Without it we are lost and we will not know if our message has landed and hit the right tone.
On the other hand, how much of the feedback that you get should you really listen to? This because if you follow what some people have to say, your product or service will never ever be good enough for anything. If you listen to their advice, criticism and comments in the process of product development, you will end up creating a camel with fifty humps and none of them good for anything. Or, to go to another extreme — you will never ever refine and complete the product. So, there are two sides to the story of business communication feedback. The question is, how much ear should you give to the feedback you get from your audience?
There are some organisations who choose to plod along merrily without the assistance of feedback on their products or services. These few bury their heads in the sand, ignoring the thunder and rains of the rising tide of dissatisfaction about their product. The one hit wonder of a product they created ten years ago is barely holding its own in the marketplace and they refuse to do market research to find out really and truly what people are saying about their product. Until a competitor comes along. The graveyard of the business world is littered with stories of these experiences.
Then there are the companies who say they welcome your feedback with open arms but never ever take it seriously. They send out surveys, terrorise you with questionnaires, probing you about your deepest darkest feelings about their products. Which brings to mind, the very amusing TV advertisement, where the girlfriend asks the guy if her new pair of pants makes her rear look big. Now, bear in mind that men have been treading on this feedback minefield for umpteen years, and no matter what, they will never be able to win if they choose to speak the truth. Well, faithful TV ad Fred decided to take the coward’s way out of that oncoming spat. What did he do? Poor, valiant soul that he was, he stuffed the whole pack of Twixt into his mouth to avoid that squabble. With mouth full, there was no question — argument done. Fear and perhaps the desire for a long and happy life, drove him away from giving what could be possibly have been useful feedback to his sweetie. Does your company ask loudly and constantly for customer feedback but fear the feedback it will receive from its customers about its products or services? How long will it survive if it does this? Your guess is as good as is mine.
There comes a point though when companies have to cut off the responses and opinions they get from their customers, especially if they are like many of us Jamaicans who know the precise liquid measurements for the salve for every wound and the answer to every prayer. As customers, we know exactly what you are doing wrong with your product, and will criticise you even though we know that yours is really not the product for us – but we were just ‘trying a ting’ and will run you ragged trying to fit our square peg into a round hole. Companies therefore have to be very careful how they measure and use the quality of reactions and responses that they receive from their customers. The time comes however, when you have to yell ‘enough’ at the flood of so-called critique which most times come from attention-seeking morons with narcissistic tendencies. Yes, there are persons who anoint themselves gurus of the sacred order of whatsoever product you are selling and will pontificate you to death. Companies who know these individuals who are usually on the fringe of lunacy will ignore them or humour them depending on the weather.
Although there is no substitute for direct feedback from our customers, it is often times worth listening to what employees have to say about the customer experience. Using employee inputs to overhaul your processes, tools, and decision and authority rights has the potential to improve the customer experience, and better positioning your company for growth and long-term success.
An article in the Harvard Business Review (July – August 2010) gives some good food for thought about customer service and feedback. Entitled ‘ Stop trying to delight Your customers’ it pointed to two critical findings from a study of the Customer Contact Council, a division of the Corporate Executive Board. They conducted a study of more than 75,000 people and what emerged should affect every company’s customer service strategy. First, they found that delighting customers doesn’t build loyalty; reducing their effort-the work they must do to get their problem solved-does. Second, acting deliberately on this insight can help improve customer service and reduce customer service costs.
Yvonne Grinam-Nicholson, (MBA, ABC) is a Business Communications Consultant with ROCommunications Jamaica, specialising in business communications and financial publications. She can be contacted at: yvonne@rocommunications.com. Visit her website at www.rocommunications.com and post your comments.