How do you handle negative feedback from investors or customers?

One thing I found valuable is once the person gets there thought out and you have listened and taken notes Make sure you have access to the Company Strategic Objective and validate what you heard vs the plan to uncover possible variants if it’s systemic If it’s emotional pay attention to you personal DISC profile so you can adapt to the personality your dealing with so by combining these two strategies I’ve been able to keep investor’s satisfaction high and at the same time build long lasting relationships

As an early stage SaaS entrepreneur and sales pro, used to getting hammered by no, you learn when to just shut up. Until you’re in a position to have the trust of the ceo/leadership, and have earned the right to “challenge” them respectfully, arguing simply isn’t the way. Typically it entrenches the buyer in their position, and as humans we’re stubborn creatures. Don’t try to fight your buyer being human. The opp is yours as the sales/commercial pro to do the biggest thing you can do, especially early on: ACCEPTANCE. Don’t argue, fight back, and instead buy time and tell them you’ll revert back to them with some more info that can be helpful regardless of if they choose your solution - or more than likely not. Pause + close loops.

When I was working at startups in Silicon Valley, even though I was in a marketing or business role, I would always volunteer to talk to the angriest customers on the phone. You should too. Sometimes the customer is really angry and wants to yell and rant. Let them. But other times, I gained some of the most valuable insights from these customers that made our product better. Happy customers make you feel great about what you're doing, but the unhappy customers are the ones that help you realize your shortcomings and push you to do better. So be brave! Pick up the phone and call your unhappiest customers. I bet you'll learn something new.

Listening and acknowledging negative feedback is a great first step. I coach and train the technique of *active listening* in leadership, and it's also effective when engaging with frustrated customers. The mindset of active listening is compassion - you don't know what else this person is going through in that moment - and the practice is simply to restate what you have heard them say - very closely. Pro tip: avoid problem solving at this early stage. Frustration is often a need to be heard. Do great work everyone, and lift each other up. :)

If you speak to anyone in product management, they'll say customers are experts in their problems, but that's it. Responses to the question of how you can make something better can be red herrings. I think the next question is key: what are your expectations or goals? The goal can be your north star for solution ideation. For example, people want to get a credit card. People might expect to complete a single form to apply for a credit card. Understand their pain points. Understand their experience. Don't expect them to give you a solution to their problem. Remember Henry Ford built a car, not a faster horse, to solve his customer's pain points.

“Eat the meat, spit out the bones” Most negative responses is just coaching, badly packaged. LACES model works well Listen Acknowledge Clarify Expand Seek agreement (if possible)

To help with this, I'd recommend getting a neutral party (if possible) to conduct the interview or facilitate the feedback session. People tend to take feedback about their work as feedback about them. People tend to think their work is a reflection of them. Things I've found useful: 1. Practice receiving feedback and document it simply: they said this, i asked about that, they said this other thing. 2. Try to keep emotions separate (even theirs) from the feedback: for example in a matrix use a column for what they said, a column for how they feel, a column for how you feel, etc. 3. Focus on their pain points and where your product missed an expectation 4. Create more opportunities for feedback: office hours, workshops, demos

I think it's important to receive feedback and think about it critically. Don't react in the moment. Sit on it. Mull it over. Maybe the appropriate action to take is to do nothing. If the feedback doesn't agree with your long term vision, consider it, and move on. Maybe the appropriate action is to take steps to address the feedback with a plan of action, but it's not the default approach. If the feedback makes sense and you're going to take action, then yeah do the things suggested in this part of the article. Use your best judgement.

Understand feedback as a gift. If a customer, leadership, or investor shares feedback with you, remember that they are doing this because they want you to improve. Every feedback is valid - although, it doesn't mean that just because one person said the wall should be yellow, we will paint it tomorrow. Analyze it, exchange it with others who may be in the same user case, and validate the feedback to create an action plan.

As with most things in life, take the feedback with a grain of salt. I would also recharacterize "negative" to "constructive". Listen to what the feedback is, think about it, compare to other feedback, and determine if it's helpful or not. Feedback is a great thing and it will help you so stay positive!

Whenever I receive negative feedback, the very first words out of my mouth are "thank you for your candid feedback." It can be hard to receive criticism, and it can be hard to give it. But we don't grow at all if we don't hear it. And when feedback is incorrect or coming from a place of frustration or something less-than-helpful, these words can diffuse tension. I've had many times when folks were looking to pick a fight with me, and started with an overt criticism in the hopes that I'd get riled up and respond by raising the tension. "Thank you for your candid feedback" is such a surprising move, it changes the course of the conversation.

Every problem, challenge, complaint or compliment must be seen as a positive. 1. Someone has cared enough, or sees the potential in what you're doing enough to let you know what barriers to acceptance are. 2. It's a process. Is the acceptance or challenge collective singular or plural. 3. Acknowledge all feedback as useful. 4. If it's plural, it's a priority. 5. Act on it.