There is no criticism more raw than that of an angry customer. You will get all sorts of customers as you start your business and as you continue to grow. Initially you may sell to family and friends and get loads of positive feedback through reviews on your site or simply word of mouth. Now, don't get me wrong, hearing positive feedback is great! You finally get some validation that your products and services are providing value to an audience. However, true growth comes from listening to negative feedback and not letting your ego get in the way.

It's so easy to see a bad review or get a direct complaint and just blame the customer. "They are probably having a bad day", "It's okay, it's just one bad experience". Sound familiar? I HOPE NOT! Whatever they are telling you is 100% true and you have to perceive it that way. Even if what they are saying is completely wrong, their image of the experience is what truly matters because that is what can drive your reputation up or burn it to the ground. With that said, not all negative feedback is like this. There is definitely constructive criticism with actual issues that could be fixed.

If you let yourself get too hung up on the good reviews and praise from your loyal customers, you may become negligent to legitimate issues. Next time you have a customer bring a bad experience to you or a bad product review...LEARN FROM IT! Especially as a small business, you are nowhere near perfect and there is always room for improvement. "The Market never lies" applies every single day to your business because even if you think you are operating perfectly, your customers could disagree. At the end of the day, your personal beliefs cannot affect how others feel and the best way to deal with customer feedback is to learn a lesson from it. Even if that lesson is never work with that customer again, that's still a lesson (we all know the type of customers I'm talking about...).

Overall, here is the advice I want to give to all of you. DON'T LISTEN TO THE CHEERING OR THE BOOING!

If you allow yourself to always be neutral to feedback and evaluate it from an educational perspective you will always be moving in the right direction. If someone gives you 5 stars and says "this is the best product I've ever used" think of that as an indicator that the product performed well and give yourself a pat on the back. However, don't get caught up on it and let it feed your ego because that will make hearing the "boos" even worse. We all experience thoughts of doubt and worrying what people think, so the best way to get over this or avoid it entirely is to take all feedback and use it to progress and get better.

I hope this article helped you in any way when it comes to Learning From Your Customers and progressing as a small business :)