Getting Feedback is Both Helpful and Risky

Hi

Just wanted to share with you a recent experience, where I learned a valuable lesson.

I have been considering whether it would be worthwhile setting up an internet-based offering to help small business owners/managers with financial management. From talking to a couple of people in business it seemed as if there may be some interest in having a site where you can get access to helpful tools, resources, templates, checklists and courses, coupled with the availability of someone like me on the phone or by email. It seemed a good way of giving access to financial management help much more cost effectively.

So I followed some advice. I thought, before I design and develop this I'm going to ask people what they want, and find out what they would find useful. So I designed a survey using my free SurveyMonkey account!

I then sent a link to the survey to CF&M subscribers. I also posted the link on three discussion forums on LinkedIn.

The feedback I got was so varied, it shocked me and depressed me for a little while at least. This is the first time I have done a survey, so I kind of expected that I wouldn't have done it perfectly. But I was still a little disappointed with my efforts when a couple of people very helpfully pointed out one or two glitches. I was still very grateful to those people for pointing them out though, as it gave me a chance to correct them straight away.

On the LinkedIn forums feedback was very direct. One person complained that the survey was "rubbish", which then led to others jumping to my defence and pointing out that that person had not read the survey correctly or gone into it with the right attitude. On another forum the survey was described as "well-conceived"! Interestingly, whilst I was quite hurt by the "direct" comments in the first, it actually generated so much discussion that it spun off lots of really helpful ideas, and was the most active of the three LinkedIn discussion threads.

So, what are my learnings?

First, it's good to get the ideas from your target market before diving in to develop something new. The survey is not closed yet, so I haven't fully analysed what it tells me, but so far it has thrown up some pleasing confirmation of the idea, and a quite different idea of what would be more or less valued.

Second, when you "put yourself out there" you are taking a risk. You have to take the rough with the smooth. Some people are going to love it, some people will hate it. You have to learn from all the feedback, not just the bits you like. It doesn't mean you have to agree with it, but just listen to it, understand it, assess it and decide what it tells you.

Third, when surveying it is best to test the survey first with a close and controlled group. Their specific remit is to give you feedback on the survey itself, as well as completing it. They should hopefully find where there are glitches, and where the questions are not clear or easy to address. Once you have listened to, and addressed this friendly feedback, you are in a much better position to collect the views of a wider group.

Finally, strangely, controversy is not necessarily a bad thing. I'm not, at this point, sure whether creating controversy deliberately would be right. That seems a bit manipulative, and lots of people would see through it. But certainly don't be put off if you make some waves. "There is no such thing as bad publicity" is a bit of exaggeration (witness Gerald Ratner!), but there is a grain of truth in it. One of the secrets of harnessing those waves would seem to be to continue to conduct yourself with integrity, and to use the engagement with people wisely to both show your professionalism, get your point really heard, and get as much useful feedback as possible.

I hope that's helpful.

If you want to take a look at my survey, and help me out if you are the owner or manager of a small business, here's the link:

Click Here to take survey