Elon Musk, controversial engineer and entrepreneur, became the  20^th richest person in the world thanks to a series of industry-disrupting products.  Among them PayPal, Tesla Auto, , SpaceX rockets, Solar City, the nation’s 2^nd largest provider of solar power,  and SolarGlass a company aimed at installing glass solar roofs on the worlds’ houses.

In reading a piece on Musk in Inc. magazine Musk I was struck by the writer’s focus on a Tweet recently issued by Musk promoting his solar Glass Roofs.

This Tweet not only encapsulates much of the reason why Musk has been so successful in creating disruptive killer products, but it also holds an important lesson for all fundraisers.

Here’s the Tweet.

“Please let us know what improvements we can make to any aspect of Tesla SolarGlass roof!

Critical feedback is much appreciated.”

Most Agitator readers are aware of the importance and value we place on asking for donor feedback. We’ve even gone so far as to call donor feedback the ‘silver bullet’ of fundraising. ( Newer readers can check Agitator Archives where you’ll find scores of posts on the subject.)

HOWEVER…the one area of feedback we haven’t banged away at frequently and intensely enough is the power of seeking critical or negative feedback—all neatly summed up in those 5 simple words in Musk’s Tweet: “Critical feedback is much appreciated.”

Those five words are backed by tons of behavioral science research as well as practical hands-on experience.  The ability to benefit from and act on negative or critical feedback is what behavioral scientists call “emotional intelligence”.  Quite simply, it’s the ability to resist having your emotions high jacked and fall into a defensive position where you ignore the often valuable criticism that’s being offered. [There’s a goldmine of insight and practical information on emotional intelligence in Jason Baris’book  EQ Applied.]

We see it often in our sector.  Rather than seek out and view critical feedback as the rare and valuable jewel it is—spotting and correcting bad donor experiences–  the majority of nonprofits seem to take one or more of the following default positions:

• Don’t bother to even seek it
• Ignore it
• Go on the defensive
• Minimize the problems uncovered by it
• Shift the blame to some other department or silo

Failure to actively encourage negative feedback is a costly omission.  Without it our donation pages are more cumbersome, clunky and frustrating to donors….our donor service efforts fall far short of meeting donor expectations…our messages and comms programs drive folks away…and on and on.

Here are a few  previous Agitator posts that illustrate why you should capture the potential of critical or negative feedback:

• Level One Donor Feedback: Fixing Things for Individuals
• Level Two Feedback: Using Feedback to Fix Your Systems

If you’re looking for easy-to-use tools to seek and receive donor feedback, you’ll also want to check out:

• How Donor Feedback Can Drive Results for Your Organization
• Forever Free Feedback Widget in Agitator Toolkit

Five simple words—”critical feedback is much appreciated”—could be your magic words into vastly improved fundraising.

Roger

P.S.  The points of this post not only pertain to nonprofits, but also to the vendors /consultants who serve them.  When’s the last time your CRM asked for critical feedback—and acted on it?  Your agency?  Your printer or mailhouse?

The same goes for us here at the Agitator|DonorVoice. We Welcome Your Feedback appears at the bottom of our homepage.