How I Handle Fake Feedback and Genuine Criticisms as a Consultant on the Side
Because they zip by our ears daily
A customer service survey conducted by Microsoft indicated the following.
Globally, 54% of all consumers say that they have higher customer service expectations than they did just one year ago.
That is a very nice way of saying that 54% of all customers are genuinely unhappy with customer service. What does it mean for the consultant on the side?
We can extrapolate that 1 out of 2 clients is unhappy with your work. That’s 50%, baby!
Of course, I am oversimplifying things. But there is some truth to it. Why do I say that?
Because every client you spoke to is happy with your product. They are pleased with your service.
Confused, are you not? Fret not. All we must do is choose one of the following.
- You are an exceptional 1-Man consultant on the side.
- They are lying to you with a poker face.
What does your gut tell you?
A Tale of Feedback, Criticisms, Pluses, and Minuses.
I don’t know about you. I don’t trust positive feedback in its entirety. It is too good to be true.
There are many reasons for that. One, my personal behavior tells me that I lie as a consumer. Okay, maybe not 100% of the time, but it is damn close to 80%.
Why do I do that? Because I want the seller to leave me alone.
Read that again. Take time to think about it.
Putting on my consultant hat, I can tell the reasons are complex.
Maybe I do not want to confront the reality that I made the wrong purchase decision. Or, I do not want the seller to pester me further if I provided genuine, sub-optimal feedback on their products and services.
Makes sense?
Leave Survey Monkey, Twitter Polls, and Google Forms at the door for a moment. The tools at our disposal embrace psychological neutrality.
Consumers can choose to hide genuine feedback from us. And that has absolutely nothing to do with psychological neutrality.
Fake Feedback, Genuine Criticisms, and What to Do with It.
I have bashed that silly (Survey) Monkey to death many months back.
Of course, the digital tool did not die. But I failed to use it to elicit real client feedback. They are almost overwhelmingly near-100% positive.
When I asked clients to rate the quality of my engagement service out of 5, they gave me 5.
When I asked them to rate the clarity of my message during my presentation out of 7, they pressed the number 7 button.
It was a feedback-induced emotional roller-coaster. I went from proud to happy to uncomfortable to suspicious to annoyed.
My suspicions were confirmed one fateful day.
I was at the client’s office, taking a cup of black after meeting with the C-Suite. The meeting was intense as we had a tight consulting engagement timeline. And there were hiccups to be resolved immediately.
I had stars above me as I sipped coffee.
And then, 2 ladies took their seats behind me. They started… talking about me.
“There is a line between confidence and being prideful. Aldric walks the line, and he does cross-over to the dark side. I find him cocky today.”
“He cut me in the middle of my presentation. And he asked me questions I have no answers for. Who is he to embarrass me?”
I will spare you the rest of the details. These 2 ladies spent 15 minutes spanking my ass.
I was annoyed initially. And trust me, I wanted to turn around to defend myself.
And then I decided not to.
I took out the customer survey created on Survey Monkey in print and started ticking the boxes based on what I heard.
Close-Ended Questions
- Rate your service engagement experience with the consultant — 3 out of 7.
- Rate the professional decorum of the consultant you work with — 2 out of 7.
Open-Ended Questions
- Are you comfortable working with the consultant on this project? — No, he embarrassed me.
- Does the consultant deliver tough messages with clarity? — Yes. And he pricked me for immediate answers during a meeting with my bosses. What an A-hole.
I am not kidding you when I say this. I was happy after filling out the survey form on behalf of my clients. Genuine criticisms were captured instead of the usual fake feedback masked within civilities.
It was painful, but it helped me improve as a consultant on the side.
I Took This Feedback-Capturing Approach Forward
No surprise, right?
This is as close as I can get to genuine feedback. Thus, I would invest time in the client’s office with my radar-like ears straight up. I want to capture as much genuine feedback about my work and how I carry myself.
The critical point is this.
Fake feedback is like someone blowing hot air up your ass. You feel good. And complacent.
Genuine feedback is like a mirror. We can check ourselves before we head out.
You need not adopt my approach. But you do need to constantly ask yourself whether the feedback collected is fake or real.
Summary
Remember this. Consulting is a service-oriented business.
We must understand what and how our clients are really thinking. We can pivot to improve our service engagement quality and meet their expectations (if reasonable).
That is how our 1-Man consulting practice can continue to grow our portfolio of clients and retain them for as long as possible.
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.
