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One of the most intriguing attributes in business is sentiment. Sentiment is challenging to identify and even harder to measure. It is the Wild West, an untapped frontier where entrepreneurs can soar and thinkers/analyzers take a back seat. Sentiment is generally defined as an attitude, a thought or a judgment that is prompted by feeling.
Current sentiment-measuring tools are inadequate for that very reason—they are incapable of measuring feelings. Sentiment eludes spreadsheets, marketing hype and algorithms. It isn’t something you measure with graphics, it’s something you feel.
Entrepreneurs, by nature, are intuitive, feeling, gut check people. We resemble athletes in that we can throw the ball without looking and know that another player will catch it and run for our mutual end goal.
We create and move organically as a warrior spirit. Once we are on to something, we check in with our minds. Brains are simply a tool and are no more or less important than our lungs, hands and feet. Academics may think their lives away. But entrepreneurs learn and gain wisdom by getting into the game.
By policy, the product development team in our company (Fishbowl) doesn’t make a move until we feel the sentiment behind it like an untapped fire in the belly that brings us (and our software) to life. When we release a new product version, we are figuratively and literally lighting up a customer like a lightening bolt. Then watch and wait for their sentiment to emerge. Did it work? Did we fry or frazzle anything?
Another aspect of sentiment that is vital to entrepreneurial leaders is the ability to assess the sentiment of our employees. How are they feeling? Do we see sufficient areas of support and belief? If we strengthen our team, they are confident and energized to go the distance for our customers. It is a fine tuned dance that becomes a mastery if you work at it long enough and are careful not to throw in steps that the team doesn’t know.
Accurate assessments may uncover hidden and very relevant skills. For example, our head of development is also a skilled fireman who instinctively knows how to operate during emergencies. Our COO is a long, tall attorney from Texas who can assess the big picture with a calmness that only someone who grew up in the lone star state understands. Sentiment is an untapped and uncharted frontier for developing people and organizations. The good news is that since we haven’t scientifically re-engineered it yet, the responses to sentiment questions are real.
Entrepreneurs often use customer sentiment surveys, but most would agree current offerings are fundamentally flawed. Questions such as “How likely would you be to stay with this vendor?” or “How strong is your desire to recommend them to others?” are certainly helpful pieces of information that dance around the edges of whether customers are genuinely satisfied with your services or not.
But how do your customers and employees really feel about your offerings or about your culture? Are they scared? Feeling locked in? Delighted? Ambivalent? Happy enough to stay with you today but not quite certain enough to commit for tomorrow? Here’s the kicker: Companies often forgets that while we are measuring their sentiment, they are also measuring ours. Sentiment is most definitely a two-way street. (It is the same with employee, friends, etc., as well.)
The question is this: Do we really want to know how someone is feeling or are we just attempting to find ways to get them to do what we want them to do? Of course, we want our customers to like us, but perhaps more importantly we could work to build pathways that lead to respect. A customer that respects an organization stays for life.
John Harrington, in an article for PR Week, pointed out just how difficult sentiment analysis is when as a test he requested a sentiment analysis from five PR agencies about a sporting event. Three of the five groups backed out before the survey had even begun, pointing out the difficulties of detecting sarcasm or ambiguity. A comment like “It was not great” could mean a variety of things, none of which a typical sentiment survey would see.
We can get better at this. Most likely, more efficient assessment tools for measuring sentiment will emerge. In the meantime, we should get in the habit of specifically and authentically asking how our customers are feeling and being open to the responses we receive. People and jobs evolve every day. How we felt yesterday will change today. What we ate for breakfast can change our sentiment. A strong ego at work can stifle process and flow. A weak link can spread negativity. Human beings cannot be statistically categorized, bar-coded and stamped and placed into tight squares.
However, we can remember to ask people on a consistent basis how they feel. It’s so simple most leaders are losing the opportunity right in front of them. It’s also important to remember not to ask a question in a way that manipulates the responses that we, as the requestors, desire.
Of course we want a yes when we ask if customers are happy with our services. But we should also ask searching questions that make it clear we are listening to their responses, and that we really do want to know their thoughts on a topic. “How are you feeling about this program?” is a question that can elicit the many facets of your customers’ responses. “Brilliant.” “Not bad.” “It’s still a little cumbersome, but I like the direction and tone.”
Most surveys tools reveal only a small piece of the puzzle because employees have been conditioned to respond “appropriately” as they vie for new opportunities and career growth. The same applies in building trusting relationships with employees. Learn to ask “feeling” questions instead of reducing human emotions to a simple numerical score. “I’m not yet sure how I feel.” “It’s complicated.” These are the critical subtleties that you want to know.
Finally, entrepreneurs should learn to ask the most compelling question of all: “If this company (or this product) were to meet your greatest expectations, what would that look like to you? Can you describe it to me?”
Within your company, people may come to work with a variety of temperaments, opinions and personalities. Some are overly optimistic and others are a bit rough around the edges. Accurate assessments can allow leaders to look beyond the exterior and focus on the core, which comes down to sentiment, which you can discover by asking the deeper questions such as:
- Why are you building this new product?
- How do you think it will help people and businesses?
Honest, respectful and direct questions yield honest, respectful and direct responses. Sentiment is one of the most important and least understood two-way streets for entrepreneurs. This effort, alone, can set your business apart from all others if you can accomplish it well.
