Seth Godin had a great post a few days ago about critics. Here's my take on what he had to say.Criticism and critics. We've all experienced it and them. Whether it's a blog comment, or a person at church who criticizes us. We could get 98 positive comments and 2 negative comments, and we will still dwell on the 2 negatives. Why do we do that?
Godin says dwelling on criticism and critics is a shame: "The critics are never going to be happy with you, that's why they're critics. You might bore them by doing what they say... but that won't turn them into fans, it will merely encourage them to go criticize someone else."
Godin's words ring true. When was the last time that you turned one of your critics into a "fan"? In my experience, that rarely, if ever, happens.
But Godin takes it a step further and says that not only should we not listen to your critics, we should also not listen to our "fans."
Godin continues…
"Your fans don’t want you to change, your fans want you to maintain the essence of what you bring them but add a laundry list of features. Your fans want lower prices and more contributions, bigger portions and more frequent deliveries."
So, who should we listen to?
According to Godin, and this is his term, we should listen to our "sneezers."
We should listen to the people who tell the most people about us. Listen to the people who thrive on sharing your good works with others. If you delight these people, you grow.
