From Fire Hose to Chinese Menu
Requesting feedback and “constructive” criticism puts you in a tricky place.
First, since you asked, you have to listen. Second, since you asked, you have to take it in. And third, since you asked (and assuming you didn’t ask gratuitously) you have to be willing to do something with the information you hear.
That’s where the hard part comes in.
This spring I led the 1.0 version of Think Create Sell. This program was designed to provide business owners with specific action steps to get their knowledge out to a larger audience, in the form of an information product, and get paid for it.
After a fascinating personal journey this program was born from my desire to be of service to a specific group of my ideal clients. 31 of them joined me for this class for which I spent many hours brainstorming, creating and packaging my content to share with them.
At the end of the course, I asked for feedback. I really wanted to know what I could do to improve the experience for everyone since I had visions of bringing this course and its information to a larger audience.
One of the participants, a friend and client, invited me to lunch because she had so much to share with me.
Her initial words were that she received much more than she’d expected. She loved the depth of my content and the quality of the templates I provided. She appreciated the interactive forum and my enthusiastic teaching style.
While I soaked this in, and basked in her words, I could feel a “BUT” looming in the air.
And then it came.
“BUT Kim you actually gave too much in too short a time. I wanted to sign up for your next program but I still haven’t digested all that you gave me. It was a lot of material to compact into three classes. Kim, learning from you is like drinking from a fire hose. I want it all, I just can’t take it in that fast.”
As big a girl as I am, I could feel the tears welling up. It was as if I didn’t hear anything she’d said before the BUT.
And, then the next day, I spoke with another woman who’d taken the class and her words were similar.
In the words of Charlie Brown – UGHHH!
The key thing is I LOVE these women. I value their insights and I trust them. They exemplify my ideal clients. In a previous post, I spoke about sippers vs. slurpers. I’m guessing these women are sippers.
Once the shock of their feedback wore off, I could acknowledge how much I appreciated their candor and their support. The part about feedback is that if you don’t do anything with the information, what’s the purpose of having asked for it? We’re in business to be of service, which means listening to what others need from us, even if it’s not exactly what we hoped for.
After masterminding with my coach and business girlfriends, I figured out how to apply what I’d learned to improve my program. I would lessen the flow of the fire hose with a Chinese menu. I don’t want to take any content away from participants but I do want to give them the power to choose WHAT information they want and need at the moment. They can focus in on the learning they want right now (and later on they can come back for additional content).
I’m running Think It, Create It, Sell It this summer and I expanded what was three weeks into a more digestible eight-week program – each week participants will get a manageable bite-size piece provided in different formats—written/audio/video. This way you can learn WHAT you want (in your learning style) WHEN you want and even WHERE you want (you can even take the illustrated handouts and download the audios to your iPod and sit out by the pool!).
Check it out at and let me know what you think. I’ll definitely pay attention to your feedback.
Here’s the truth, we’re on an entrepreneurial journey and our growth is contingent about learning, changing and growing along the way.
Tags: Being of Service, receiving constructive criticism, Think Create Sell
