The Magic of Asking for Feedback

"Really, Paul? You want me to respond to them after they've blown me off?" My clients are astonished when I push them to ask for feedback when they receive a not-interested email reply from a prospect. "Of course. I don't mind us getting L's (losses) early in our GTM buildout. But the real crime is not learning from them, Let's wring the towel dry here in an attempt to learn."

Here's the copy I tell them to use when doing so (feel free to steal it).

Hey [FirstName],

Totally understand. We've just removed you from our mailing list.

Just curious…could I ask what made our email not compelling to you?

As a founder, I'm always trying to improve our go-to-market motion. Any feedback you'd have would be invaluable to us.

Thanks much in advance!

Cheers,

[FounderFirstName]

This humble posture from the founder flatters the prospect. They've got a human on the other end who's trying to improve. We don't get responses from this copy 100% of the time. But, once in a long while, we land on a golden nugget. An email that materially changes the way we go to market. It's one thing to put a message out there to the market. It's altogether another to see how this message lands with the prospect. Your email recipient might reveal that the way you intended to communicate the value prop just wasn't clear to them. Or that they couldn't relate to the pain point you led with. This is the type of insight that has you change things up for the better. Without adopting a humble disposition and asking for the prospect's input, you forgo landing on insights like these.

Asking for feedback in any context can yield a lot of fruit. Folks are generally flattered when you come to them with an issue or an idea, and ask for their input. They instantly feel useful and potent. Valued by their audience. Propped up to the role of sensei by a worthy pupil.

It's a great gift we offer someone when we ask for their feedback. The classic example in our circles is asking investors for feedback when raising a round. As the saying goes, “If you want to raise money, ask for feedback.” It does two things. First, it creates an environment where you're not directly asking for money, which can feel transactional. Second, a space is formed for the investor to invest emotionally – before they invest financially – by providing you with their perspective on your business. It compels them to be invested in your cause before they inject their greenbacks into your company.

Asking for feedback can also be a powerful tactic in GTM. Sometimes, it's one of the few tactics that works with certain personas. Years ago, we helped a client build their automated outbound email initiative. Three months in, we were struggling to generate any interest from prospects. An idea emerged. We were already targeting founders as with our campaigns. Why not have it come from our client's founder, and have him ask his prospect – another founder – for product feedback? Our interested replies started pouring in. We were off to the races and never looked back. “You know, Paul, for a while there, I was worried this wasn't going to work out. I'm glad we were able to turn it around”, our founder client admitted.

All due to founder-to-founder copy. Requesting feedback from our targets.

Founders/CEOs feel compelled to perform their duty and provide feedback to other Founders/CEOs. Game immediately recognizes game. Cut from the same cloth, an instant respect exists among founders and CEOs. Being a founder or a startup CEO is a lonely existence. One that takes intestinal fortitude and immense grit. This founder-to-founder or CEO-to-CEO kinship is something we should all consider leveraging if it's appropriate for our GTM motion. A young YC founder who has just raised a seed round could reach out to Brian Chesky, and have a decent chance of getting an email reply from him. Despite the chasm between their respective startup experience and level of success, someone like Brian will see himself as the young founder reaching out. He'll remember walking in those shoes and will, in some ways, feel like helping his younger self. Mix in the tightness of the YC network and Silicon Valley's ‘Pay It Forward’ mantra and your chances of getting Chesky's feedback on your startup's product are conceivable.

Founders and CEOs are not the only personas who thrive on giving feedback. Engineers and product people love to provide product feedback. It feels like their birthright. You get to stroke their ego, by asking for their input. And usually, they're thrilled to jump on a call with you to tell you where your product is strong and where it falls short.

"But Paul, how do I transform this initial interest in providing feedback into a sales conversation? Won't it feel like a bait-and-switch?" A great question, I often get from clients when we discuss this asking-for-feedback option. The benefit of this tactic? It allows folks to let their guard down and not feel sold to. The last thing you want to do is confront them with a transaction shortly thereafter. You want to create a sales process that gradually and seamlessly gets them there.

I'll usually suggest the following. “Is there a way we could put them on a trial of some length where they will fully experience our product's value? A time when we can get them hooked on the product? We'd then be able to say something like this, ‘Listen, based on what I learned about your business, and what I know about our product, I think we should be able to help. What I'd love to do is get your feedback on our product on an extended trial. We can start with fourteen days. If you derive value from it, we can talk about a commercial relationship down the road. My main concern is making sure you get a ton of value. And we'd of course love to get feedback from someone like you. Does that work?’”

The expectations are now set for a potential commercial relationship where money would change hands. But it feels distant. Far from immediate. And our main preoccupations are delivering value to our trial users and obtaining feedback from them.

Now, how should we receive feedback as a founder or startup operator?

With extreme openness and willingness to learn. Feedback is a gift. There's no question about it. But the hardest part is parsing the useful from the non-useful parts. It's essential if you want to maximize the impact of the input you're getting. I'd ask myself the following questions. Is the person giving you feedback understanding you and the problem fully? Are they able to inhabit your world before delivering their input? Are they imparting their opinion on a past version of themselves, or you?

If you believe that the person giving you feedback has good intentions and is willing to put themselves in your shoes, then cherish what you're getting. Even if it stings initially. Good feedback gets us closer to the truth. And allows us to get better. The temporary hurt of reality slapping us in the face is more than worth it. The most successful people I know are constantly seeking input to get better. Even if it means feeling the temporary pain of adjusting their mental models about the world.