“Is there anything we could have done better?”
The question caught me off guard. I normally just get the “how-was-your-rental” question when I return my car, but this particular National Rental Car employee was really serious.
I thought about her question for a minute and I mentioned the difficulty in finding gas now that the Milwaukee airport approach was under heaving construction.
“I’ll pass that on to my supervisor. There are a few gas stations on the approach that are easy to find if you know about them, but I could see how it’s tough if you’re not local. We could maybe tell customers about them.”
I was rather surprised. She was not only listening to my concerns, but she was looking for solutions.
As I boarded my flight, I reflected on her question. I honestly haven’t asked it a lot recently. Sure, I’ve reflected on in from a personal level, but seeking out input and critique isn’t something I regularly do.
But I need to.
On Monday, I had the chance to sit down with Nancy, an owner of a speaking bureau who has done some great work with some big time speakers. She had seen me speak the previous day at the Michigan Association of Student Councils convention, and gave me some great feedback on my speech. We also discussed how I could expand to other audiences. She even took a few minutes to look over my website (which is in need of an overhaul) and my promo video (which is almost NINE years old at this point!).
Her input was great. I’ve known I need to update these materials–I’ve known it for quite some time, but Nancy helped me think about what elements to include in that revision. I’m now starting to work on that game plan. I’m hoping you’ll all see a bit of a new look sometime this fall (I need to move the business to San Diego first).
And as I typed that last line, I received a text message from my good friend & fellow speaker, Harriet Turk. She’s an incredible speaker who has touched thousands upon thousands. She’s incredibly talented and skilled, and yet she still asked me this weekend before her speech, to jot down some notes and let her know “if there is anything she could do better.”
She’s far more successful than me in this business, and yet she is constantly looking for ways to further improve her message–she texted me to let me know she was trying out a new enhancement to her message tonight. I know her audience is in for a treat.
So I guess we need to start asking the question:
“Is there anything we could have done better?”
And then find the ways to actually implement the improvements.
Happy Wednesday.