Positive feedback is the pinnacle of what companies are looking for when they are asking for feedback. Often, positive feedback is focused on and negative feedback is swept under the rug. In order to really help people, you need to learn how to give and take feedback in a constructive manner.
There is a real problem with businesses today creating false representations of themselves by exploiting reputation management services. By falsely altering the landscape to bury negative comments without addressing them, the same problems will creep up over and over again.
Why Does Feedback Matter?
There is a saying that ‘you don’t know what you don’t know’. As a business person, being kept out of the loop of what your customers want and need is not a good place to be. So many businesses try to convince people of what the business thinks their customers need versus the reality.
So, why does feedback matter to your business?
• Feedback gives you clarity. When someone communicates to you what they need, then you can proceed helping them. Maybe you are not the best fit for them. Helping others succeed is a way to boost your testimonials for your next sales copy.
• Feedback is free or economical market research. This allows for you to tailor your products and services to need your customer’s expectations.
• Feedback is a motivator to meet the next objective. It gets easier and easier to meet an objective the closer you are to getting that objective met. In other words, it is good to see your progress. In the final stretch of getting a project taken care of, the end goal is within reach.
How To Give Feedback
Giving feedback in a way that will be helpful is sometimes difficult – especially when you think the feedback is negative. It is a good idea to use the ‘sandwich approach’ for making these communications in good faith. The ‘sandwich approach’ is making a positive comment, followed by a negative comment, followed by a positive helpful comment again.
Here is an example:
• When speaking in the office setting, you are fantastic.
• However, sometimes you are doing weird things with your hands when you speak.
• I am sure you can find a way to use your hands rather than keeping them at your side, and if not, I know of some terrific public speaking coaches I could introduce you to.
There is another simple rule for giving feedback. You give people praise and positive feedback in public; this allows for the person to save face and not be humiliated by you. Then, when you have a moment to be alone, then you can talk candidly about the mistakes that person has done while coming up with solutions for fixing those issues.
How To Get Constructive Feedback
Getting constructive feedback is an important step for offline SEO. There is no greater thing that can happen to your website than having traffic come to your site to give you feedback. Whether it is in the form of posted comments, surveys, or contact us submissions, every piece of constructive feedback should be treated as a virtual gold coin. And you want to gain as many virtual gold coins as possible so that you can fine-tune your products are services.
Here are some ways to get constructive feedback:
• Give people incentives to give you detailed feedback about your operation as a whole. For example, the rank and file of your company can be asked to submit anonymous feedback forms for a free company lunch.
• It is important to be your won customer. Order your own products and services to see how well your employees function to meet both the expectations of you (as the client) as well as any deadlines that must be maintained.
• Go to forums and meetups to talk with people about exciting things going on in the industry. This is where businesses often drop the ball. As they are focused on their particular niche, they may not know the status of the industry as a whole.
If you want constructive feedback, you will need to ask for it. Having someone take the time out of their day to give you this information is worth something valuable. If you want people to keep giving you feedback in a constructive manner, award them for it.
Getting Over Negative Feedback Fast
There is a lot of people who shy away from getting feedback because they fear negative feedback from their customers, staff, friends and stake holders. This fear leads to sometimes irrational choices on the part of the company that hinders its growth long-term. While it is nice to hear only good things about your endeavors, it is important to hear the bad stuff, too.
Here are some ways to re-direct any negative feelings:
• Remember that the negative feedback is not personal. It is not about who you are, but rather what your company did or your staff did. Even if it was you making the decision on behalf of the company, the negative feedback is really for the company as you are the representative.
• Spend some time going over inspiring and motivational pictures or other content. You also want to keep a file of pictures on hand of your dream and constantly refer to that when things get tough. It is hard to look at a picture of a fancy sports car that you want and think negatively; it is almost like pictures of sports cars drive us forward.
• Exercise is another way to get over negative feedback. Spending your brain energy counting reps and exerting your muscles makes your body react by releasing ‘feel good’ endorphins into your system.
• Another way of getting over negative feedback is to do something nice for someone else. It is hard to feel negative when you do nice things for others.
• Follow good principles of delegation with any top or middle manager to make sure the strategic outsourcing services staff is getting enough positive feedback; this is how you work as a team.
There is no reason to hold onto negative feedback. It is clear that things are going to move forward as long as you keep trying. At the end of the day, if you have tried your best, then that is what matters.
Customer Feedback Is Gold
When trying to boost your rankings on the search engines, getting customer feedback is as good as gold. In fact, this input give you the opportunity to meet and exceed your customer’s expectations. It is hard not to over deliver when you know exactly what your customers want and deliver those goods and services with a smile.
The tactics of offline SEO for getting feedback are numerous. It is really a matter of being brave. What does being brave have to do with your website? First, you need to be afraid of what might be said about your company, and ask anyway. By asking, you can be enlightened on the opportunities available to you. This is like an extended outreach plan.
