Getting feedback from your staff, customers and clients can be a tricky business. Beyond figuring out an approach to structure and collect the feedback, how can you build a framework that will give you meaningful insights without creating a whole lot of emotional fluff and general discord?
What are the right questions to ask, and where should you be putting your attention? After all, we all know the hodge-podge responses we get when there’s no system in place for asking them.
Thankfully, it’s not rocket science. In fact, we’ve helped many clients face down this challenge and have seen, time and time again, the effectiveness of the process we’ll share with you right now.
A Simple, Successful Process
The approach we’ve seen our clients use successfully is what we call the “Stop, Continue, Start” process. It revolves around asking three simple questions:
- What should we stop doing?
This questions explores where your business is not meeting expectations. It reveals what you’re not doing very well, or the things you’re doing that are hampering the relationship.
- What should we start doing?
This question probes for opportunities to improve upon what you’re doing and also acts like an answer to the previous question, giving you a tangible course of action you can take to improve your business and your offering.
- What should we continue doing?
You wouldn’t be in business if you didn’t do anything right! This question not only reinforces and encourages positive things you’re doing well, but can reveal perceived benefits from your staff, clients and customers you weren’t even aware of. As you seek to improve and impress, don’t lose sight of the things you’re already doing that people love to see from you. This is a big part of your identity, and should be preserved and, if possible, improved even further.
It’s All About Authenticity.
Remember, it is your people who power your profits. When you can enter the conversation from the standpoint of always wanting to improve the relationship (instead of an interrogation), you let these people know you care about their insight, their feedback and ultimately their satisfaction. What a positive message to send!
See our video on this topic by clicking here (new window).
