Talk to Customers, Validate Ideas, Build the Right Product

Talk to customers so YOU will listen
and THEY will buy:
Market Discovery and Validation

Top 3 reasons why
businesses and
products fail:
1.  Out of touch with customers
2.  Lack of product differentiation that resonates with target
customers
3.  Value propositions are not clear, concise and compelling
eileen@concentricfocus.com 949-374-8674

Let’s discuss:
•  Secondary research – the foundation
•  Customer interviews
–  Three levels and the information you need from each
–  Where to find potential prospects to interview
–  Ways to structure questions to get the answers you need
•  Assessing the results of your customer interviews

The ideal process
Secondary
Research
•  Trends, challenges, market conditions, pain points
•  Market segments and growth projections
•  Competitive and substitute products
Gaps,
opportunities,
target segments
•  Validate research and assumptions
•  Determine urgency of problems/
demand for your solution
•  Select best target market segments
Conceptual
solutions
•  Market-driven
•  Reduce risk
•  Streamlined
development

The typical process
Product ideas &
market assumptions
Attempt to sell -
get poor results
Build
Then figure out
what customers
really need

Research first
•  Industry/market trends and
challenges, and operational
impact
•  Current solutions
•  Sales and distribution channels
•  Government regulations
•  Competitive landscape
–  Market positioning
–  Products/features
–  Top customer segments
•  Market segments
–  Un- or under-served
–  Growth or decline
–  Decision makers (buyers vs.
users vs. influencers)

Resources
•  Search
–  Be open to discovery
–  Go beyond page one of results
•  Social media
•  Conferences and Trade Shows
–  Listen to questions asked
•  Government agencies
•  Industry associations, bloggers, analysts
–  Beware of spinning
•  Competitors

Next Step: Validate Assumptions and
Identify Market Pain
No product or company discussion!
This is not a pitch.

The objectives:
•  Determine if pain points are urgent and pervasive
•  Accurately assess market interest and demand
•  Uncover the right target markets
•  Create a better business model
•  Deliver a market-driven solution
Important
interviewee
data
to
gather:

ü  Consumer:

Age,
geo
loca1on,
income,

children,
etc.

ü  Business:

Posi1on,
company
size,
industry,

decision
making
authority,
etc.


Interview methods and finding prospects
•  Use a combination of face-to-face and phone interviews, and
online surveys
•  Survey platforms (e.g. Survey Monkey Audience)
•  Conferences and Trade Shows
•  Industry publication subscribers
•  Industry association members
•  Social media

Formulating interview questions:
•  Open ended and build on information
•  Probe:
–  Why? Tell me more? How would that work?
•  Don’t assume – ask and be open minded
•  Ask respondents to rank products, features, options – use
force ranking when appropriate
•  How does the customer define the problem? How they are
trying to solve the problem today?
•  Look for keywords and stories, not just statements

•  What are the top three trends
impacting your industry and your
company?
•  What’s the impact of these trends on
your department?
–  Time, revenue, profits, productivity, growth
objectives?
•  How are you solving these problems
today?
•  What would the ideal solution look
like?
–  What would be different?
–  What would be the result?
Broad market
assessment

ü  Validate assumptions
ü  Understand market
pain – urgency and
pervasiveness
ü  Evaluate existing
solutions

•  Think of your current [technology
platform or product]. Please walk me
through the process (observe if possible)
–  What additional resources did you need?
–  What was most frustrating? Most useful?
•  What was the purchasing process
and criteria?
•  Of the following features/services,
which 5 are most important?
–  Drill into the “why”
•  What would prompt you to change
solutions today?

Drill down

ü  Evaluate the gaps
ü  Find consistent
responses among
target segments
ü  Narrow potential
product concepts
and target segments

Compare these interview questions:
Limiting questions
•  Are you experiencing a
lack of skilled talent when
recruiting?
•  Do you attend industry
conferences to learn about
new products?
•  Are you satisfied with your
current electronic medical
records software?
Better questions
•  What are your company’s
top three recruiting
challenges?
•  What resources and
channels do you use to
research new products?
•  On a scale of 1 – 10, how
satisfied are you with your
EMR software?

If you build it, will they buy?
Presenting your product concept

•  Does this solve the problems
we’ve discussed? How?
•  What’s your biggest concern
with this solution?
–  Beware of “hmmm, that’s
interesting”
•  If this were available today,
would you purchase it? Why?
•  Is this solution worth $X? Why?
•  How would you describe this
product/solution to your friends/
colleagues?
ü  Conﬁrm
market
segment

pain
and
your
solu1on
ﬁt

ü  Determine
if/how
much

they
will
pay

ü  Establish
posi1oning/UVP

Final Concepts

The results
Clear
problem

deﬁni1on
–
urgent

and
pervasive

Market/industry

segments
to
target

Problem-‐Solu1on

&
Product-‐Market

ﬁt

Streamlined

product

requirements

Compelling

posi1oning/UVP

To learn more:
•  Four Steps to Epiphany, Stephen G. Blank
•  If You Build It, Will They Come? Three Steps to Test and
Validate Any Market Opportunity, Rob Adams
•  Tuned In, Craig Stull, Phil Myers & David Meerman Scott

THANK YOU!
Eileen Licitra, Principal
Concentric Focus
eileen@concentricfocus.com
949-374-8674
LinkedIn.com/in/eileenlicitra

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