Tag Archive for: product
Negative feedback
is positive
– Urszula Urban
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Today, I read an interesting article on HBR about negative feedback.
I don’t want to copy their thoughts, but I want to add my own.
Negative feedback
We are afraid of negative people, negative feedback, negative emotions, etc. I see it as a “positive trend” that it is not always positive and good for us and our businesses. Of course, there is another trend in social media and online media overall – haters- people who hate everything, comment with anger, envy, etc. We can easily find such examples in our world.
On the other hand, we forget about constructive criticism, which brings development and changes our world in a positive way. All inventions come from a critique of a lack of some needs, fulfillment, and dreams.
I don’t think about the straight critique of people’s work, talents, or traits that can damage a fragile person and stop their development. It has to be done in a very discreet way. Everybody is unique in their skills, talents, and experience. We have to respect each other but also constantly develop our skills. Young people should learn it especially. The competition is increasing. They have to compete with all global generations with similar skills and possibilities.
I think about the critique of company processes, customer service, and products.
Business consultancy is similar: we examine a company’s issues, analyze them, criticize them, and recommend solutions.
Our customers are our consultants very often. We forget about it.
Recently, I had a B2B client who lost 70% of his customers. Of course, he wanted to know why.
After small talks with his team, I learned that all his team members knew about this change half a year before their customers left. Can you imagine?
And they didn’t do anything to stop or find out why. The employees thought their services/products were too expensive compared to the competition. But they didn’t ask their customers straightforwardly if they were satisfied.
This is why it is a positive act if your company gets direct critique or feedback.
You can simply change something faster or prepare yourself for changes ( if they are long-lasting, like a needed investment). If you can help them and solve their problems, you can attract loyal customers.
If the company’s employees I described before shared the information and knowledge with their boss, they would prevent losing 70% of customers rapidly. Maybe they could change their products, price list, internal processes, prepare themselves for new ones, or postpone their leaving. You can imagine how difficult it is to get new customers, how costly it is, and how time-consuming it is in B2B service.
After my analysis, we found that not only was the price too high, but it was also the main issue.
There were other issues:
- lack of flexibility in solving issues
- poor customer service – answering after 24 hours; lack of pleasant atmosphere and simply chatting that customers needed
- lack of regular reviews of customer portfolio: most profitable customers, most demanding vs. cost, time spent
- lack of effort in getting new customers
- lack of regular promotions and marketing activities
- lack of investment in online tools that people prefer now
- and many others
My advice is to take negative feedback from your customers as a gift. It can often reveal an issue in your business before you can notice it in your financials and statistics.
If you plan a long-term strategy, social marketing can help you identify trends for your business. You can learn what people like, what interests them, and how to engage them, even if they are not your customers now because of their age.
I see that your product and service are most important. If you can excel and marvelously present them, you will win. People love unique and well-designed things. Look at Apple, Samsung, and Band oca do Lobo. They have all these parts plus significant operational processes.
I wish you and myself to get to such a level.:)