The Number One thing your customer WANTS from you

why is receiving feedback so hard?

It's week two in my product development program, which means it's customer interview time for my product idea. I have invited a mix of previous clients, friends and social media followers to not just give me feedback on my idea, but also to ask them how and what it is they would like to learn. 

All good, right?

I approached these interviews with a mix of excitement and trepidation.  For one, this is the best way to get feedback on my idea before I had gone down too far into the funnel of creating my product, secondly I would gain valuable ideas on what may have worked for them in the past in other programs, and thirdly what would they like from this program? 

I put the lens of Desirable, Feasible and Viable over my questions. I was curious about would they want it, would I be able to create it (tech and infrastructure) and can I afford to build and charge for it and make an ongoing profit? 

Why is asking for feedback so hard though?

Ego

Great ideas about what we think is valuable to the market can intrinsically be linked to our purpose, status and identity. There's nothing wrong with having an ego around developing cool ideas that you think will add tremendous value to your customers, your company, the world. However what is holding you back from being open to feedback is to think that that the idea and its feedback DEFINES you.

Fears & Beliefs

Us humans grow up in this crooked way that instills a lot of shitty beliefs into us early on. "I am not enough", " I don't belong", "I'm not capable" to name just a few. This affliction stops us from taking action, reaching out for help and stops us from doing things that matter to our growth and development or make us happy. 

It's totally sucky, but the good news is, once you are aware of them, you are no longer defined by them. Life is about awareness and choice. Like the hero in our hero's journey, we are meant to overcome those limitations and succeed in spite of them.

I recently found out that one of my core beliefs is "I don't matter", my gifts, my talents, my skill and knowledge. The thing is, I DIDN'T KNOW this and it was driving my life big time.  No wonder I was sitting on the fence tons and was afraid to take any action. (You can find out more about my elegant procrastination fence sitting in this blog) 

It's up to us to make that choice to not be bound by our childhood programming. 

After that, feel the fear and do it anyway. Don't let it stop you.

That's me now.  :) 

Feedback then becomes a journey of curiosity and understanding about what truly matters to deliver an outstanding product. Without it you can travel way down the line in the funnel of product development and risk loosing all the time and effort that has gone into it, for no outcomes.  And that REALLY sucks. 

So you wonder, what is it the customer really wants from us? 

To LISTEN. 

Drop your ego, your ideas, your fear and insecurities and shitty beliefs, and listen to what the customer is telling you. They are gold, they will tell you exactly what will work for them, how they will get value from your product.  Listen from the space of curiosity and to truly serve the customer with a product that will delight and add value.

LISTEN.

Who am I?

Christiane is a self proclaimed remote working nerd and human behaviour specialist. She revels in what makes people tick and has invested hundreds of hours of training and coaching to help clients discover why they do the things they do and what makes them happy and productive . She believes that great relationships based on mutual understanding and appreciation of each others uniqueness, become a rich fertile ground for productivity, creativity and innovation.

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