Your first answer to the question posed in this title may be hate. But, Elie Wiesel’s famous quote is really more to point in business and in life.
The opposite of love is indifference. If people don’t love your business, it’s unlikely that they hate it. If they don’t care they just won’t do anything. What I’m getting at here is negative feedback from your clients and prospects. While it may feel hard to accept – I say welcome and embrace it. If you’re not getting any negative feedback, it may not be because all is well, it may in fact be because they don’t care enough to tell you.
Now, I’m not suggesting that you can live on a negative reputation, I’m just saying that a little is a good thing – it means your business is a alive.
The key, of course, is how you handle it.
- People want to be heard – let them be heard
- People want to know why you did something – tell them
- People want to know they have options – give them to them
- People want to understand what you can do to make things better – share
- Lastly, some people just don’t want to be happy – don’t spend your energy trying to save everyone
Here is a recent complaint I received from a reader and my response. I share it only to act as an illustration of my point above.
John,
I’ve always liked your site and your information and I’ve referred you to plenty of others. However, your email frequency has increased to the point of being an irritant, and I’m likely oing to unsubscribe if it keeps up…
Scott
Scott,
OK now I’m paranoid about responding to your message but, I wanted to address it. First thanks for taking the time to share your feelings. As you can see I launched a new product and I do tend to send out several emails around that. I rarely do this as a rule.
It’s tough to keep everyone happy as I receive emails from people asking my why I don’t send more often??
What to do?
Know that while I love to and will keep providing great (and free) information I am also in business to support my family. I try to balance that.
Thanks again for caring enough to send your thoughts.
Regards
John Jantsch
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Steve Mertz
