Recently I’ve been working alongside some very successful people – including a handful of business coaches and other freelancers and marketing professionals. I’ve noticed a common theme running through our conversations: – the value of objective outside advice.
It really doesn’t matter which way you look at it, there is a lot to be gained by having a qualified outsider look over various aspects of your business and give their unvarnished opinion. Often, we are in such a hurry to reach our destination that we don’t spend enough time and energy considering alternatives. This is why courses and resources that promise FAST results are so popular. (SPEED is another business accelerator, so I’m definitely not opposing that!)
5 Reasons to Get Feedback From Outside Your Business
- Objectivity;
- Originality & Freshness;
- Criticism;
- Clarity;
- Courage.
Why Could an Outsider Provide More Valuable Insights?
Outsiders have a degree of objectivity. They were not involved in the creation and setup of existing ideas and procedures, so they can often see more clearly.
We are all so closely connected with our own business that sometimes we can’t see the wood for the trees. Over time we know so much about our customers, pricing, and products that we stop asking the questions our prospects and clients ask and we assume they know as much as we do. I can’t tell you how often I’ve been talking about my services or online authority, when someone will stop me and ask a basic question like, “What is Google+ Authorship and why does it matter?” – a key piece of knowledge that I’ve assumed they have. On the other hand, I have also lost count of the number of times I’ve been in conversation with someone and thought I understood what they were saying, until finally they said something that demonstrated that they were using a term or concept in way I misinterpreted. I suspect you’ve also been on both ends of those conversations.
An outsider will ask those fundamental questions about your product or service whereas your own staff are probably as familiar with it as you are. This gives you the chance to step back and look at everything from a different angle. It’s often the stimulus for incredibly profitable change and expansion.
Copywriters use external feedback all the time to test their assumptions and make small changes that create dramatic results. That’s why most of them are engaged with a peer review team to evaluate their own marketing copy, and to review project work as well. We all get so involved in the work we do that we forget how others, who are not part of the process, see the same things.
Why Not Just Get Internal Feedback?
Internal teams make assumptions even when they are assembled to discuss or brainstorm. Yes, there are more people involved, but you always get a certain level of ‘group think’. People on your team are usually following the same trainers and formed by the same philosophy – this means that everyone is less likely to ask key question that challenge your assumptions. It doesn’t take long for new members to learn ‘the way things are done’ and to adopt the culture. This is good from a cultural perspective – but a healthy culture also has mechanisms that stimulate criticism and innovation so that you can retain your key cutting edge strengths.
You absolutely need to discuss things within the organisation, but you’ll often find fresh approaches when you call in an outsider to contribute – and when you shrink back from their suggestions, that’s probably a sign that you are becoming rather parochial in your point of view and desperately need to climb out of your comfort zone.
This applies to everything from presenting your marketing message to making decisions on growth, change, advertising, equipment investment … With a business everyone has a vested interest in the success of the undertaking, but they might have conflicting priorities about expenditure. I was recently working on a Workplace Safety intervention campaign. Clearly the CEOs and CFOs would welcome the improvements it delivered, but Return to Work officers might see it as a threat to their job security – in purely internal discussions you face conflicts like this all the time and some external advice helps you put everything in perspective.
Priorities, Decisions, and Momentum
Valuable ideas are also sidelined every day because there is no-one around to look at their priority and take responsibility for creating momentum. We all have limitations in our capacity. In fact, most business owners are so busy that they don’t have time to evaluate their own ideas, let alone the ones other people put forward, but that’s where we make a mistake.
We all have our blind spots, assumptions, and habits. A savvy business owner acknowledges this and sets up processes to make sure those things don’t hinder their business growth. They know that if you have blinders on and just look straight ahead there’s a strong probability that you will be caught out in our rapidly-changing world.
Experimenting with new approaches and ideas is an important part of business growth. Dan Miller (http://48days.com) sets a target every year of dropping 15% of his projects to make room for new ones. He does that in consultation with himself, his wife, and his coaches and mentors – and he sets specific criteria that apply. His attitude is that he want to keep doing what is essential and productive, while also experimenting and challenging himself.
You may not want to go that far, but if you get external input from an experienced business coach or other specialised expert, you are sure to uncover new opportunities, and to find some practices that it’s time to abandon.
Who Might You Ask to Help?
I’ve mentioned business coaches already, and they’re often the first person someone things of when they’re looking for outside advice. The only thing I’ll add here, is the question you must ask them: “Do you have a business coach?” If the person you are talking to says “No,” then don’t hire them – they have just demonstrated that they don’t value their own service.
External Marketing Companies are another key resource. If you stop marketing your business you’re dooming it. A growing business should be investing around 40% of its resources into marketing. You may already have an internal marketing department, but they need some coaching to generate new ideas and to make sure they don’t abandon old campaigns just because they’re tired of them. This is a big mistake many businesses make – just because you are sick of your offer or campaign doesn’t mean you should dump it while it’s still working. It’s a big world and there are still many people who haven’t seen it yet.
Copywriters are another resource (funnily enough). A quality copywriter can help you focus your message on your prospect, rather than your business, and that will attract more leads and convert them. I talk to many businesses who assume that just because they are quite good writers and know all about their business, they are the best people to write the text. More often than not they aren’t – because they think about everything from their own point of view, rather than their clients perspective.
Graphic Designers face the same issues many copywriters do. The reality is that investing in a great graphic designer can transform your results. I can’t over-emphasise this enough, because so many businesses think that they can take a few images and an editing program and create a fantastic brochure or logo. It’s just not true. It actually hurts to see how much money businesses spend printing brochures when they’ve ‘saved themselves’ the price of professional design. The end result is dramatically different when you use an experienced professional, and so is the response you get.
You may already have the resources you need within your business or company, but external advice can make them even more effective – and after all, why would you let a false sense of security jeopardise your growth?
Due Diligence is Key for External Advisors
As you can see, I believe that the benefits of external feedback and advice are enormous. I actually believe that if you are working with a comprehensive business coach – the kind of team that has a proven track record and expertise in all aspects of general business then you have a great resource.
BUT…
There’s a danger.
I’ve noticed that all of a sudden the members are following the same party line, using the same vendors, and abdicating their own innovation and responsibility. This is particularly challenging when the Coaching Company actually owns (or is paid a commission by) their recommended resources. It erodes their independence. Often these members are all in different industries, so it’s not the similarity of tactics that worries me, it’s the unquestioning acceptance – and that acceptance is often unnoticed.
As a business owner, it is YOUR responsibility to keep right on challenging what you hear and checking that against global and local realities. You should have a philosophy for every department of your business and you must test what you are being told against that philosophy. My suggestion is that once per quarter you bring a different expert into your business – one who is independent of you and of any coaches you have simply to look at what you do in that area, question it, offer ideas, solutions, and affirmations for what you are doing well. It’s best if that person has no vested interest in the outcome – if you make it clear that you will NOT be hiring them to fix things, you are paying them for their eyes, ears, and brains.
You can cycle through the following areas quarter-by-quarter:
- Financial Management & Structure
- Administration & Process
- Systems, Training, & Documentation
- Customer/Client Engagement & Delivery of Outcomes
- Marketing Strategy, Tools & Implementation
- Sales Strategy & Tools
- Human Resources and Skill Development
- And other areas that are relevant to your own business…
These experts should share your core philosophy on each area, but they should be outsiders in every other way so you maximise your benefit from this external feedback.
