To round off last week’s series on feedback here’s a story from my recent experience with the BBC. Prompted by a discussion on Ecademy about the new series of Dragon’s Den I realised I had been really annoyed by the trailer.
I’m a fan of most business programmes, particularly the ones we can watch as a family – my 11-year old son has been addicted to both Dragon’s Den and The Apprentice – but I get more than a bit irritated when the “showbiz” aspects of the programmes overshadow the business content.
The trailer for the new series played up the somewhat gladiatorial nature of the programme (where wannabe entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to a panel of successful business people) and showed a tiny person fending off the “dragons” only to be crushed underfoot by one of them – great mentoring huh? I thought this rather trivialised both contestant and panel and sailed dangerously close to the “human bear-baiting” forms of reality TV currently cluttering the daytime schedules.
I wrote a short piece of feedback via the website making the following points:
- It didn’t serve anyone’s interests – small businesses or people interested in business – to emphasise the negative aspects of the programme
- Perhaps they could focus on the ideas presented not the surrounding pantomime
- Showing the little man crushed beneath the stiletto of the only business woman on the panel didn’t do much for countering popular stereotypes.
Here’s the response I received today:
Dear Mr Bush
Thank you for your e-mail Regarding ‘Dragons’ Den’.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in replying.
We know our correspondents appreciate a quick response and we are sorry you have had to wait on this occasion.
I understand from reading your email that you were unhappy with the trailer for the new series of ‘Dragons’ Den’.
I can assure you that I have made your comments available, through our daily log, to the production team along with senior BBC management. All feedback is highly valued by the BBC and serves to aid in the decision making process on the future of BBC programming and services.
You may find the below link of further interest to you:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/
Thank you once again for taking the time to contact us with the strength of your views.
On the plus side this is a courteous and well-written note that acknowledges the fact that I had taken the trouble provided some feedback. On the minus side I’m left feeling a little bit like the tiny entrepreneur in the trailer: I took the trouble to give feedback but the substance of the feedback is not acknowledged. Am I a lone voice or do other people feel the same way? It may be too early in the process but I don’t know whether someone is going to get back to me or whether my tiny input into the “decision-making process” will subsequently be reflected or not.
The point I’m making here is that large organisations face a challenge with their processes for handling and responding to feedback. There is an opportunity to use the giving of feedback to create or strengthen the connection with the customer but when there is a large volume of feedback this puts pressure on resources. Organisations can choose to do one of the following:
- Invest more time and resource in responding specifically to the customer’s feedback. The upside here is that you create more involved customers who are more likely to recommend you. The downside is that you may get into detailed conversation or argument that consumes more resource.
- Look for new ways of gaining feedback and keeping customers involved. Wikis and discussion fora are tools that are still not exploited well by organisations. In this case I know that the BBC makes extensive use of blogs to discuss its programmes but I wasn’t directed there in the first place or, more importantly, sent there to get feedback from other customers and the BBC.
With the growth of collaboration tools of all shapes and sizes the second option represents the optimum path for organisations genuinely wanting to create involved and enthusiastic customers.
Maybe I should pitch this to the Dragons? 🙂