Ethical Elicitation

“We provide technology companies with information and comprehensive analysis to beat the competition.”www.cascadeinsights.comsean@cascadeinsights.com
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When in Doubt:
Ethical Elicitation Techniques thatGather Actionable Insight

The Goal:ActionableIntelligence
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Disclaimer
We are not attorneys…
Therefore considering any of the following slides as legal advice would be a mistake on your part.
That said the slides that follow are based on a certain degree of wisdom gained from the practice of doing CI over an extended period of time.
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ElicitationDefined…
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ElicitationThe Candidates
The Happy Customer
Willing to talk at length
Willing to extol the virtues of your product
May be a “bit” blind to the demerits your product carries with it.
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The “Not So” Happy Customer
No so willing to talk at length
Top of mind answers as to why they don’t like your product/solution.
May not be aware of mitigating product benefits.
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The “Crowd”
Willing to talk, just maybe not about what you’re interested in.
You’ll need to travel to see them as much as they’ll travel to see you.
Easy way to find the “agnostics” you need to reach.
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The “folks” you work with…
Willing to talk, just maybe not always what you are interested in.
They are right at hand.
Have to be careful of who and what you ask in some situations.
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ElicitationInternal Resources
The “Field”
Establishing relationships with your field can be one of the most beneficial “networking” activities you can engage in.
Some elicitation candidates:
Sales Engineers
Account Managers
Targeted Industry “Sellers”
Engagement Managers
Engaging with the field let’s you leave the “ivory tower” of marketing.
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The “other team”
Partners
Resellers
Customer Service Reps
Help Desk
Trade Show Staff
And OSI…
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Elicitation “Candidates”Virtual Recruits
LinkedIn
Profiles
Groups
Q/A
Facebook
Xing
Ning
Interviews with company representatives
SlideShare.net presentations
Book Authors
Article Authors
Twitter
Online Technology / Enthusiast Forums
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When do CI Professionals pick up the phone?
When they need to their own customers better
When they need to understand more about “clogs” in the sales “pipe” first hand.
When they want to know customer pain points “first hand.”
When they want to understand what customers want from their company’s next release
If they want to understand how their partners or channel sells them.
If they want to gain an understanding of how competitor solutions are landing in the marketplace
If they want to understanding competitor pricing, strategy, or sales techniques
When they want to understand what the competitor’s customers are doing, hearing, or reacting to in the marketplace.
When they want to understand what the competitor is saying a company and its offerings?
When they want to talk to industry experts who have knowledge about your competitors offerings.
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“In Market Research you’re trying to generalize across a population, in competitive intelligence you're trying to get an answer”-Rob Wiltbank – Willamette University MBA Professor
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Elicitation
Is not…

And neither is it 24…“Jack Bauer doesn't need to search the internet, he just stares a computer down until it gives him the information he needs.”“Jack Bauer does not run out of ammunition. He simply lets everyone else have their moment to shine.”
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The issue of…
Ethics

EthicsSCIP Code of Ethics
To continually strive to increase the recognition and respect of the profession.
To comply with all applicable laws, domestic, and international.
To accurately disclose all relevant information, including one’s identity and organization, prior to all interviews.
To fully respect all requests for confidentiality of information.
To avoid conflicts of interest in fulfilling one’s duties.
To provide honest and realistic recommendations and conclusions in the execution of one’s duties.
To promote the code of ethics within one’s company, with third-party contractors and within the entire profession.
To faithfully adhere to and abide by one’s company policies, objectives, and guidelines.
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EthicsQuestions to ask
Legal Guidelines
Do you understand the legal implications of the research you are about to undertake?
Do you have legal counsel to turn to in case a questions comes up?
Personal Ethics
What “code of ethics” are you following as you elicit information?
Company Guidelines
What guidelines does your company already have in place on the subject of qualitative research and/or elicitation?
Do these guidelines differ if you are researching information about a competitor or your own company?
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Elicitation
IN the field

“If you're not practicing, somebody else is, somewhere, and he'll be ready to take your job.”Brooks Robinson

Elicitation – In the FieldBefore the Call – Research, Research, Research
The “Quick” Scan
Step #1 – LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook - Profiles
Step #2 – Their company’s web site.
Step #3 – Internet Wayback Machine (i.e. archive.org)
Step #4 – Any public quotes the interview has given in the past or any interviews that they have participated in.
Step #5 – Twitter or Blog Feeds
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Elicitation – In the FieldBefore the Call – Research, Research, Research
The Deeper Scan
Book’s they’ve written or reviewed
Amazon, Visual Bookshelf, Library Thing
Presentations they’ve given
SlideShare.net, Conference Speaker Searches
CV’s they’ve made publicly available
Google Maps Sat view of their location
Office Park, Home Office, The “Glass Tower”, Downtown, Rural, etc.
Searches tied to a “nation bound” search engine path
i.e. www.google.ca not www.google.com
Forum Searches
Google Groups, LinkedIn Groups / Q/A, Industry specific or technology specific groups, etc..
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Elicitation – In the FieldThe First 20 Seconds
Build Shared Understanding
It similar to “good” Business Development rapport building
Match Tone and Pacing
Don’t say “trite” things
Don’t say “cute” things
Don’t make a “joke” to start things moving
Show real interest in all the aspects of the person you are interviewing
Be appreciative of them giving you time to do the interview but remain an “equal” in the conversation
Do ask if this is a good time / Do reschedule if it’s not.
State briefly (1 sentence) what you are attempting to accomplish
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Elicitation – In the FieldThe first 2 minutes
Conversation:
Does not have to be followed by the name of the company you are doing research for.
Does have to be followed by a disclosure of the company you work for.
Does not have to disclose the purpose of the study.
Does not have to divulge the details from other similar calls
Although this many be helpful to do so in some limited ways.
You have to be interesting in order for the “shield to fall” in the next 10 to 20 minutes.
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Elicitation – In the Field2 Minutes to the 1 minute before the end
Shared expertise first and more rapport second.
Shared Expertise - Business, Industry, Organizational, Management, etc.
Interviewees need to clearly understand that they will gain some insight as part of the process
Interviewees need to understand that you alone can provide this insight
Not your company, not a “final report”, etc.
Driving past the important points from the interviewee’s perspectiveis death to the calland the goal of generating worthwhile information
You have to be an interesting person to talk to.
Open Discussion vs. Questions
Interviewee should not be aware you are working “off a list” of questions.
Balance Advocacy and Inquiry
Be willing to advocate a contrary point of view
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Elicitation – In the FieldBefore Goodbye
Sincerely thank them for their time
Ask them if you can follow up at a later date if you have a question.
Ask them (if the call went well) if they know others with similar expertise, feelings, or understanding about the marketplace you and they were talking about.
Get off crisply and cleanly.
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So where do you put the challenging bits?
Not at the beginning or at the end, but in the middle…
Displacement Theory
Peterson & Peterson (1959) found that 90% of STM information was forgotten after just 18 seconds without rehearsal.
Get it right the first time because you don’t want to ask it twice
Miller showed that forgetting starts once more than 7 + / - 2 items enter STM
Prevents encoding into memory
We all forget and that’s a good thing for us all…
Memory Inhibition – the ability to not remember certain things
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A few Elicitation “Modalities”
Ego Gratification
Opposing Views
Mutual Interests
Silence
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Ego GratificationWho doesn’t want to be seen as an expert?

Incorrect or Partially Incorrect Statements…I’ve just said something obviously wrong so…
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Mutual InterestI also…
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Silence“The power of the pause”
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“We fill the silence with our own insecurities”
“Keen Eddie”

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Elicitation is one whole of two halves...

BizDev, Qual Research, and Elicitation in CI
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Every company will leak
Others will elicit intelligence from your field, your channel, and corpemployees

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Making it MatterCompetitor Customer ListsProduct FuturesWhy you’re losing (or winning – in case you don’t know…)?Field AwarenessKnowing what’s happening in your partner channel.You need to know what you should launch next

Contact Us / Our Book
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Register for our newsletter and get a free copy of our book:
www.cascadeinsights.com/newsletter
sean@cascadeinsights.comscott@cascadeinsights.com

Contact:
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Email: sean@cascadeinsights.com / scott@cascadeinsights.com
Twitter: @sean_campbell / @scottswigart
Phone: 503 898 0004
Web: www.cascadeinsights.com
#gobeyondgoogle –Twitter Hashtag

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Appendix

Ethics and Elicitation
From: “Competitive Intelligence Ethics: Navigating the Gray Zone”
On the impact of the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) of 1996.
From the restatement of Torts,1939
“The privilege to compete with others includes a privilege to adopt their business methods, ideas, or processes of manufacture. Were it otherwise the first person in the field with a process or idea would have a monopoly which would tend to prevent competition.” (Section 757)
“It is the employment of improper means to procure the trade secret rather than the mere copying or use which is the basis of liability under the rule in Section 757.”
“The EEA does not fundamentally change what was and was not considered “improper means” under pre-EEA trade secret law.”
“The added risk the EEA poses is that the potential criminal is that now trade secret theft subjects the perpetrator to both federal criminal law and state civil law penalties. This added risk is of no consequence, though, to the professional who has been practicing CI in a legal manner all along.”
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Source: “Competitive Intelligence – Navigating the Gray Zone, Richard Horowitz

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Ethical Elicitation

by Cascade Insights on Nov 04, 2009

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Ethical Elicitation — Presentation Transcript