Have you ever thought of asking a trusted friend or acquaintance to come along and critique one of your home parties? It can be really valuable to get some honest feedback on the good and bad points of your presentation. Two events this week got me thinking about this.
Firstly, I participated in a focus group. For two hours I got to give my good, bad and sometimes ugly opinions about one of the local big-box stores. I had many things to praise about their operation, but several ongoing concerns as well. It struck me how useful this information could be to them, assuming they were able to get past the natural desire to get offended at the criticism and instead see it as an opportunity to review their practices. Especially if they heard the same concern from several respondents, it might be time to consider a change.
Secondly, a friend of mine recently attended an in-home party. Upon returning home, she got straight in touch with me to tell me about how awful the presentation was! The company shall remain nameless – however, I will say that it was a cooking demonstration, and leave you to fill in the blanks. The consultant was, to put it nicely, lacking in charisma. She suffers from severe food allergies and as a result hasn’t tasted any of her company’s food products and couldn’t provide feedback on them to the guests. She kept pushing a dish made with chicken broth on a vegetarian, even when it was politely and repeatedly declined. When anyone expressed the slightest interest in any of the products, she jumped on them to ask for a booking. My friend said the consultant seemed simultaneously desperate and disinterested – an odd combination. She ended her rant with a lovely compliment to me: “Now I’ve been to a few of your parties, I know what makes a good one!
I got me thinking: What if the consultant knew how people were really feeling after her presentation? What would she do with that information? Has she ever asked anyone for feedback? Would she go on the defensive, or be able to take a good look at what was working and what wasn’t? Something to internalize and ponder….
