Before we get into the article, I want to point out that yesterday we introduced a brand new program!It’s for folks who have progressed a bit along the business path and are confronting the 3 unsexiest, and yet most critical, topics of business if you want to accelerate your growth.
Check it out here: Foundations3: Accelerating Growth
Listening to Feedback from your Business
What do you do when one, two, eight, six hundred or ninety-thousand things you’re trying so hard to do to get your business humming along, just don’t seem to work?
I remember back when I was first starting my own coaching practice, I was trying all sorts of things. I had a LOT of free time on my hands because I didn’t have a job, very little other responsibilities, and so I was able to work 60+ hours just developing my own business. However, in the beginning, nothing I was doing was working. I spun my wheels for quite some time. It was very frustrating to me. I almost quit many dozens of times. However, in hindsight, I learned something that was really interesting.
Here’s a list of some of the things I was doing and the results I got:
- I went and got business cards because that would help me grow my business. Nothing.
- I spent much of my time developing a slick website and told everyone about me and was super clear about how I would help them. Nada.
- I wrote all kinds of programs that would revolutionize people’s business. Zilch.
- I emailed a bunch of people to try and set up meetings. Zip.
- I tried going to networking meetings to get my name out there. Diddly-squat.
- I created all kinds of amazing tools and techniques to improve my coaching and help support clients. Goose egg.
I could go on.
Ever experience something similar? You’re working your tail off and you get nothing? OY! So frustrating.
Where was I stuck? Why was this stuff not working?
I wasn’t listening to the feedback from my business.
You see, there’s nothing inherently wrong in any of those things I was doing. I just wasn’t listening to the true feedback.
I developed that website, and it didn’t do anything. So, I refined the pages to read differently. And then when nothing happened, I re-wrote the home page. And then when nothing happened, I installed a pop-up. And then when nothing happened, I paid a bunch of money for some fancy graphics. And then when nothing happened, I got a web designer to help me re-do the whole site.
I wasn’t hearing the feedback. What was the feedback? NOBODY WAS ON MY PAGE. I was changing all kinds of things, making it better, but I was totally missing the point – focusing on the wrong thing. I simply had no traffic. I needed to listen to the real feedback.
Had I listened the the true feedback – it would have changed everything. I could have focused on activity that would actually help shift things.
Does that resonate? As you stop and think about places where things aren’t working for you, can you identify any areas where you’re taking action, but aren’t clear on what the real feedback might be?
Identify & Listen to Your Business Feedback
What steps can you take to really hear the feedback your business is telling you?
Take a minute to write down where in your business something isn’t quite working – you’re not getting the result you wanted. Then, give some consideration to the action that you took, in an effort to create that result.
As you sit with it in your heart, what is the feedback coming to you? What is the truth of the situation? Is it really that the action is the wrong action? Is it possible that some aspect of the action was “off” or wonky somehow? Was your energy while performing the action out of whack? What facet of the action didn’t work? Did you not actually take action, but instead did a lot of thinking about taking action? There are many different things to look at.
Sit with this in Remembrance – with sincerity and willingness in your heart. Notice what comes up. Ask in your heart – what is the true feedback here? And be willing to listen.
Years ago, when we were first developing our Spiritual Development Program, it wasn’t really selling the way we thought it would. There was lots of interest, but it just wasn’t being received. We wondered about a lot of things. And, there were many things we could have adjusted: price, length, content. We could have sent more emails, marketed harder, created bonuses. Lots of potential for us to stay stuck and spinning our wheels.
The team spent some time in Remembrance, and what we realized is that we needed a greater focus on how the program could impact business. Even though the program was focused on spiritual development, the feedback our business gave us is that we are a company focused on helping people develop business in a heart-centered way. We heard the feedback, added in more connection to how spiritual development can impact business, and the program filled. Amazing. It would have been so easy to miss the feedback.
Now, it doesn’t always happen so easily. Feedback from your business isn’t always so clear.
So… what then?
True clarity comes only after taking action.
Write that one down. it’s a biggie.
True clarity comes only after taking action. It’s one of the laws of the Universe. We just don’t know till we know. Even when we think we know, we don’t really know.
So… sometimes you have to try stuff to see how it works. What we try and how we try it depends on the true feedback we get after taking an action.
I could have revised my website till the cows came home, and it wouldn’t have made a difference – because I wasn’t listening to feedback. Had I heard the feedback – no visitors to my website – then, and only then could I take some action to fix the problem.
But, which action is the right action?
True clarity comes only after taking action.
In other words, I had to try stuff.
That doesn’t mean I had to poke around in the dark by myself to find something that worked…. thankfully, I found Heart of Business which helped guide and steer me in all aspects of my business. But, I didn’t know what worked for me and my business until I tried taking action.
Very often we run down an entire path before listening for feedback. What I encourage my clients to do is to take a small step – then stop, listen, and adjust. Take another small step, listen and adjust. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
It’s the small steps, and listening for feedback after each, that keeps things headed the right direction. Over time, you’ll learn to develop the skill of listening for feedback along the way. At first though, it takes some practice.
What situation is not working for you right now? What feedback is your business giving you? What small action do you take based on that feedback?
I’d love to hear your comments below.
And, if you’re needing some support, some guidance or some direction on what steps to take to accelerate the growth of your business, please check out our new program,
Foundations3: Accelerating Growth.
If you’re not sure what kind of help your business needs, try our free Readiness Assessment.
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9 Responses
Did Mark Silver get a facelift? That doesn’t look at all like him, but it says it’s by him and nothing in the article or email to suggest otherwise.
Joe, you didn’t read to the end of the article. It was signed off With kindness,
Steve Mattus, Director of Education & Community Manager . Mark has a team.
Hi Joe! Jessy is right. That’s my handsome mug you see there. I’m the Director of Education, Community Manager and a Coach Practitioner with Heart of Business. And, I take it as a great compliment that looking like me equates to “getting a facelift.” ha ha ha (Hopefully not one of those botched facelifts!) 😉
Beautifully written! Just one small step at a time and listening a lot… simple but highly effective!
Right on, Karen. 🙂
Thanks for the perspective, Steve. I was just curious about how your story turned out. After reading the long list of things that did not work, I was expecting to see what ended up being the breakthrough step/action. Cheers!
Hi Rich! Ah ha! Great observation…. thanks for bringing it up! I was actually sharing in our Community group what the next step was for me. 🙂
I got out and did some face-to-face relationship building. Some would call it “hustling.” I did a road-trip around the country and met with folks in-person. I set up some group meetings for continued connection and relationship building. Some of those folks – from years and years ago – are still clients today.
In short – I moved into a focus on building relationships. Totally changed everything. And made all the other stuff way more fun! 🙂
So helpful Steve!
If things aren’t happening, I often try more, different, more more more. So good to remember to slow down and really listen. Thanks for spelling out the many ways of “listening” to business – in remembrance and also in just reviewing, what is my purpose? Why do people think they’re coming to me? Does what I am offering clearly apply them? (in a way that they recognize that it does!)
Such wise guidance, Steve! I love how you listed the things you were doing previously and the, um, “results”. Also love your example illustrating what a pivotal difference listening to your business feedback can make in the course of things.
I have a bit of an addiction to feeling “productive” and “getting things done” (even though I’m super-clear that pausing…followed by a few simple, thoughtful, focused steps…is far more valuable than a bunch of busyness).
My ongoing work with Heart of Business courses, coaching and community has really helped shift my sense of “needing to do this, that and the other,” with regards to networking and such. It’s also helped me see the many, many ways networking can look–including ways that align with my introverted, quiet nature.
And yet, I still feel some sort of internal pressure to be doing something different–and more, more, more–when it comes to in-person networking that will support my business. Your post was yet another wonderful reminder that: No, I do not need to do more, more, more. I need to pause and ask: Where is my next step? Where do I need to show up this week?
This week, asking this has led me to reach out to and arrange meetings with two very different business owners in my local community–both people whom I genuinely admire and want to get to know. They are so clearly succeeding in their businesses…and so clearly moving from a place of creativity, passion and heart-centered connection.
I have no idea how these connections will unfold or how they’ll affect my business. But I have huge faith that only good things can come of them, regardless of whether that translates into “immediate results”…or something far more subtle and winding. Thank you for the encouragement to keep listening along the way!