As my feed readers know I blogged about the need for customer feedback a few weeks ago, but Tammi's comment highlights an additional reason to get customer feedback: for your own peace of mind.
Without feedback and the nonverbal signals that are common in a physical work environment, the work-at-home mom may truly not know how she is performing. Add that to the factor of depending on people she's never met and you have, well, the recipe for stress.
Tips to Get Feedback
If you are an independent contractor or a home business owner, it may be up to you to ask for feedback. Some questions you may want ask include:
- How did I do on this project?
- Were you satisfied with my service (or product)?
- What could I do to improve?
- Do you have any similar project that you could use help with?
I have to confess that I've not been as agressive about getting feedback as I should be. Often my request for feedback is a weak statement, "I hope you find the project satisfactory," at the end of an e-mail.
However, I truly believe that most clients are willing to give feedback if asked nicely.
Tips for Those Who Use Independent Contractors or Home Businesses
If you use the services or products of independent contractors or home businesses, you should be aware that feedback can crucial to your professional relationships. Most independent contractors and home business owners will willingly accept suggestions for improvement. A word of praise could even make their day.
Here are a few tips for giving feedback:
- Be specific. Give examples if you can. A lot of times mistakes and errors are the result of miscommunication. If you determine that there was a misunderstanding, revise your instruction for future projects so that they are clearer.
- Be constructive. An angry, hurt tone will not help anyone. If you aren't sure about whether an email is constructive, have someone else read it before you send it. While feedback should be prompt, it's okay to allow a few hours, or even a week, so that you can communicate calmly.
- Be timely. Sending feedback for a project a contractor did a year ago will probably be ineffective. The contractor may not remember the specifics of the work that you are talking about.
- Be generous with praise when the contractor does something right. Unlike a traditional employee who receive regular performance appraisals, a contractor has no way to know that they are doing a good job. Also, so few people even bother to say "thank you" for good service any more, that doing so creates good will.
In one sense, you all are my clients for Work From Home Momma. So, why not leave a comment and let me know how I'm doing? Are there any topics you'd like to see covered?
Leave a comment and let us know.
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