Dear Direct Response Letter Subscriber:
One of my inviolate rules of business and personal conduct is:
don't give unsolicited advice.
Why not?
Many people think that by giving someone unsolicited business or
personal advice, they will be helping the person, building a
relationship, and creating a desire in the other person to want
to become more involved with them.
In fact, the opposite usually takes place.
Nine times out of ten, giving unsolicited advice does not help
the people on the receiving end of your pearls of wisdom.
It annoys them and drives them away from you, rather than bring
them closer to you.
And it creates in them a desire to avoid you, rather than become
involved with you.
So ... should you give unsolicited criticism?
Most of the time ... no.
In her book "The 7th Sense" (William Morrow and Company), Doris
Wild Helmering presents criteria to differentiate constructive
criticism from "inappropriate" (petty, denigrating, and useless)
criticism.
According to Helmering, constructive criticism has three
components:
1. There is a contract between the people involved. The person
who is making the critical comment is involved with the project
or product, has some authority, and has been invited to do so.
Examples include customer complaints ... recommendations from
fellow team members ... and suggestions from experts you have
retained to advise you.
2. The negative feedback addresses a specific issue (e.g., "This
advertisement ignores the current slump in tech stocks" vs. "This
stinks").
3. There is direction for change (e.g., "Why not talk about why
now is a time to pick up good stocks at bargain prices before the
market picks up again?").
To be constructive, your criticism must have all three components
present.
Inappropriate criticism, on the other hand, has one or more of
the following characteristics:
1. It is uninvited. There is no contract. It is unsolicited.
2. The feedback is nonspecific or broad based.
3. The commentary is without direction for change.
A recent Dilbert comic strip gives a tongue-in-cheek illustration
of inappropriate criticism:
Boss: "Everyone says our Web site is ugly."
Dilbert: "Really? Every person on Earth said that? Even Tibetan
monks?"
Boss: "Maybe it was just one person."
Dilbert: "And you confused him with the entire planet?"
If we follow Helmering's guidelines, you have a right to voice
your opinion about a product to the company from which you
purchased the item.
You have a duty or obligation to criticize wrong thinking when a
client has hired you for your ideas, expertise, and track record.
You do NOT have the right to voice an opinion about a service
you've never used ... or a product you've never owned ... unless it
somehow interferes with your activities or freedom.
Even when you are entitled to voice criticism, there's a right
way and a wrong way to do it.
Here's the right way:
When giving negative criticism, say what you like about the work
before you say what you don't like.
This preserves the recipient's ego, softens the blow, and ensures
a positive working environment.
In a course I took while an employee at Westinghouse, my boss
Terry Smith taught the following method for criticizing creative
work.
First say, "Here's what I liked" and recap at least three
positive points.
(If you look hard enough, it's impossible not to find at least
three good things to say about almost anything.)
Then, say "Now, if it were mine to do...." and proceed with your
list of specific criticisms.
The phrase "if it were mine to do" implies that what you are
telling the recipient is your opinion, and not an accusation of
incompetence or shoddy work on their part.
If someone gives you inappropriate criticism, especially comments
that attack you as a person or demean you as a professional, say
to that person, "Is there a reason you are saying this to me in
this way?"
This alerts them that you are aware of their demeaning tone and
you want it to cease.
Also keep these points in mind:
* In marketing, the most useful criticism is based on knowledge
of what's working in your marketplace right now, based on recent
test results the critic may be unaware of.
* The second most useful criticism is based on knowledge of what
has worked in the past for your offer, based on your years of
test experience.
* Beware of sources offering you unsolicited advice, the gist of
which is to say that your current marketing stinks and they have
great ideas for improving it. If they're so smart, why do they
spend time going around to people and giving free advice?
* If a major campaign element is a point of contention -- free
gift vs. no premium; list price vs. discount -- consider an A/B
split test to get the answer.
I'm a direct marketer. As a group, we like to brag that our
discipline isn't subjective like general advertising because test
results prove what works.
But the process of creating and determining what to test in the
first place is loaded with subjective decisions at every step --
from initial copy and concept through design and list selection.
By giving criticism more effectively during the creative process,
we can help ensure a campaign or direct mail package that has the
best chance of proving successful in the test phase -- and
therefore the best chance of being rolled out profitably.
Sincerely, |
