Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions So Why Do We Make a Change Based on One Persons Feedback?

One of my mentors Clinton Swaine says that Feedback is the Breakfast of Champions.  What that means is we should be open and hungry for feedback to continue improvement in our business or day to day lives.  We are all human and make mistakes or perhaps we have a great idea and think it will work but when we introduce it to the market, it totally fails because we didn’t take the time to get feedback from our market about their interest.

Feedback lets you know whether or not you are on the right track.  For instance I started teaching negotiation a couple of years ago under one of my other brands and it totally flopped.  The market was confused.  I didn’t do any market research to find out whether or not the two concepts would work under one brand.  Once I separated the brands and introduced Think Like A Negotiator, the market was suddenly interested.  I did a test event at no cost to see if the market would respond to my doing an event teaching negotiation.  The market responded by showing up with about a 70% show rate to those who had registered which is unheard of these days for events.  That told me that my market wanted what I had to offer.

What about those things that people do based on one persons feedback or complaint?  Should we change our business or way of life based on one persons feedback?  It depends on what it is but if we change our perspective or approach based on only one person’s negative feedback, it has more to do with our own confidence level than with the feedback itself.

Of course if the feedback is overwhelmingly negative, you shouldn’t ignore that.  You need to find out why and tweak what you have to meet the markets needs and interest.  If you don’t, you will likely not succeed.

Have you had someone tell you they like your hair better the way you once had it and you consider going back to the old style because of the one negative comment? This is despite the fact that all the other feedback is positive and you yourself feel good in that style.  Perhaps you change your website and a couple people tell you to go back to the way you had it that it looked better that way.

While feedback is good to consider, we shouldn’t be quick to change something based on one person’s negative feedback, especially if the rest were overwhelmingly positive.  I do a short drill routine with a parade rifle in some of my presentations when I speak.  I spoke at a recent Toastmasters event to a standing room only crowd.  They all filled out feedback forms and one person made a negative comment about the rifle demonstration.  Should I take it out based on that?  No, I don’t think so.

Not everyone is going to like your presentation or your product/service or even you.  That’s ok.  We don’t need to be liked by everyone.  You will have your right and perfect clients that are attracted to you and what you have to offer.  Listen to the feedback provided, tweak as necessary and as I have heard it said, take what you like and leave the rest.