When I worked in large corporate environments, I often sought feedback. Sometimes, the feedback really hurt. But did it make me a better leader? Looking back, I’m not sure. Experience, experimentation, and learning from numerous mistakes were, in my opinion, far more influential.However, this article isn’t about how feedback can sting personally with questionable upsides; I’m actually proposing that companies reconsider relying on consumer feedback altogether.



Because, while it’s commonly assumed that feedback o  ers valuable insights, time after time, reality often paints a di  erent picture. Consider this: in a large Royal Automobile Club (RAC) survey conducted in the United Kingdom (U.K.) in 2017, a staggering 91% of drivers self-identifi ed as law-abiding. However, when comparing this self-assessment to concrete data from traffic cameras, 48% of drivers exceed the speed limits on highways. 



Fortunately, the U.K. government chose to ignore driver feedback and spent billions of dollars trying to fi nd ways to discourage speeding and improve road safety.So why do we often see huge discrepancies between self-reported beliefs and observed behaviors?



Social desirability bias, where we try to present ourselves in a positive light, is one possible explanation. Selective memory is another. In fact, there are many, many reasons why our opinions don’t align to reality.But it’s not just governments that need to be aware of the risk of making decisions based on people’s opinions. Companies do, too.For example, one of the most widely reported new product failures ever, was ‘New Coke’, a slightly sweeter drink that Coca-Cola introduced in 1995.Despite the fact they had feedback from hundreds of thousands of people that they preferred the new fl avor, when it was introduced on to supermarket shelves, no one bought it. 



It just didn’t sell. And people complained in their thousands, which ultimately led to the original version being reintroduced.What’s di  erent from the RAC survey though, is that this was a blind taste test, so bias should not have been a factor.So why didn’t people run out and buy New Coke in droves when those same people had said it tasted so good?Poor marketing? A deep-routed love for an iconic American brand? The fact that taste tests obviously do not align to how people actually consume drinks?



There are many theories, but it’s my view that business leaders shouldn’t waste time trying to unpack the differences between stated preferences and observed realities. Instead, they should focus on understanding what people will do in real-world scenarios by designing and running experiments that test actual behaviors in real-world settings.



The story of Five Guys showcases what I mean perfectly. If you have never had a Five Guys burger, I thoroughly recommend it, although you may need a second mortgage as they are expensive.Jerry Murrell started the burger chain back in 1986 in America by “finding a place where the store is out of the way, and where nobody can see it”. He didn’t advertise, and he only used premium ingredients.No market research. No focus groups. No consumer surveys.



His view was: “If we can put it where it’s hard to fi nd, but we still get people coming, then we know we’ve got something.”



Later on, as they were considering franchising, they tested market demand by placing a sign outside one of their stores, which read: “If you are in a hurry, there are a lot of really good burger places nearby.”Crazy? No, it was genius.Instead of trying to encourage people to eat their product, they actively dissuaded them.



Yet the queues still stretched out the door. And from that simple set of tests, Murrell knew he had a product that could be rolled out everywhere.



Compare and contrast to the likely outcome if he’d taken the more orthodox route and asked people whether they would be happy to pay infl ated prices for a product that was similar to others on the market, just with longer wait times?



Instead, by testing his ideas in the wild, observing behaviors, and adapting as necessary, Murrell was able to create a multi-billion-dollar franchise and develop a new market sector with premium stores in pretty much every major city around the world.So, stop asking consumers what they think. Feedback really does hurt. Start fi nding ways to watch what they do instead.



P.S: When the original Coke was reintroduced, sales rocketed, and it quickly regained its position as the world’s top-selling sugar cola.

Woman Reviews Paperwork in Conference Room

EXPERT-SPEAK: Stop Asking For Feedback. Why It Can Really Hurt

My guests in the office on a warm weekday afternoon in Johannesburg are two sisters, two entrepreneurs from Pretoria, bonded by business and blood.
As we settle for the interview, Zahra Rawjee, the older sister, speaks with a firm voice while Nadia comes across as more bubbly.
The two were raised in a business family, but are now CEOs of a company they both created ground-up. In 1937, their grandfather had set up a food distribution business, a small shop called Hoxies in Marabastad in South Africa’s capital city Pretoria, then passed on to their father, Karim Rawjee.
As young girls, during school vacations, Zahra and Nadia spent most of their time at the shop packing and selling goods, even fish. It was expected of them to be fully involved in the business.
In their growing years, they would prepare weekly reports for their father on where the markets were sitting, and what was happening in the food business internationally.
“Every single Monday, we had a report that had to go into the executive meeting at my dad’s distribution company. Come hell or high water, that report was put in. Through that we learned business development, market research and international markets,” says Nadia.
While at varsity, the pair decided to venture into business and met their first business partners; they were friends, Siphokazi Majola and Mantsadi Mokoane.
The four started SAMAZANA in 2008 developing products and mobile applications for the 2010 World Cup aiming to help people get around using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) because apps were not around at the time. Due to differences, the business dissolved.
After varsity, Zahra headed to Portugal, the country of her birth, while Nadia stayed on to look after the family business full-time. Zahra searched for business opportunities in Portugal but it was 2008, and the global financial crisis was just unraveling.
She spent two years there, returned to South Africa and immersed herself in the family business again looking to expand and diversify. The two sisters took over sales and procurement.
“We started identifying that there were issues with the family business because it had been passed on to management. We saw that things weren’t going well, people were taking liberties. We had to get involved to try turn the business around. We weren’t able to, we got involved too late, and end of 2012, unfortunately, we had to close the business,” say the sisters, who were in their mid-20s and couldn’t turn around the 75-year-old company.
“We were too young and too female, our gender did play against us,” says Nadia.
The sisters had to think of something else, and look into possible sources of funding. That is how they got to understanding the landscape around business development in South Africa through such institutions as the Department of Trade and Industry and Industrial Development Corporation.
With the experience the two gained from SAMAZANA, Hoxies and armed with their passion for small businesses, they decided to create a niche firm focusing on helping businesses access developmental finance. Uzenzele Holdings was born.
“We facilitate access to funding. We help businesses understand what they need funding for. We analyze needs of the business and match that with funding available,” says Nadia.
The sisters had failed to resurrect their family business, but didn’t let setbacks get in the way of their resolve to help small and medium enterprises move on – just like they did.

Tag: business development

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

EXPERT-SPEAK: Stop Asking For Feedback. Why It Can Really Hurt

Blood, Setbacks And Tears