Customer Discovery: Interviewing Tips and Techniques

CRAASH Presentation Template
Customer Discovery:
Interviewing Tips and Techniques
CIMIT CRAASH
http://cimit.org
Joel Weinstein
Acknowledgement: Pre-Agile Methodologies: A Tactical Guide to Not
Building The Best Wrong Thing.

My Background
 35 years experience in med device development, sales,
marketing
 BE (EE), MBA

OmniSonics Omni
Wave® Vascular
Occlusive Tx
Medtronics
Symplicity®
Renal Denervation
Delcath High-Dose
Localized
Chemotherapy
Aurora Dedicated
Breast MRI
CerviLenz®
ONI Orth One®
Orthopedic MRI
PerCardia VSTENT
Left Chamber
coronary artery stent

How Do Companies Die?
Step 1) Stop building what people want.
Step 2) Bad stuff happens.
Step 3) Run out of money.

The Status Quo
No one TRIES to disregard customers. BUT
Sometimes they listen to the wrong sources.
Sometimes the customers they're listening to are no
longer representative of where the market is going.
And sometimes, like in the case of millennials, it's a
new customer segment that isn't well understood.

... How do you solve their
problems?
… How do you even know what
their
problems are?

By talking directly to customers.

Because it turns out...

You are not Carnac!

So why try to read minds...
... when you could just ask them?

How to Ask: The Rules
Rule #1: No Ice Cream Questions
Rule #2: Pull, Don’t Push
Rule #3: No Leading Questions
Rule #4: Past Behavior --> Future Behavior
Rule #5: Actual Self vs. Ideal Self
Rule #6: No Pitching
Rule #7: “N of 1” is Not Proof
Rule #8: No Seeding.
Rule #9: Stories > Statements

The Rules
The answer to the question
"Do you want ice cream?"
is always
"Yes!"

The Rules
What sane and rational person would
answer "No" to this question?

The Rules
BUT… the answer to the question
"Do you want this ice
cream that costs $250?"
might turn out to be
"... No."

The Rules
Ice cream questions are when you withhold information and
don't reveal all the
negatives/costs associated with a
benefit.

The Rules
Rule #2: Pull, don’t Push
The goal of these interviews is to learn
about their problems.
You want to PULL information out of your interviewee.
You do not want to PUSH your ideas on to them.
For example...

The Rules
Subjects answering the
question:
"Do you get headaches frequently and, if so, how
often?"
reported an average of 2.2
headaches per week.

The Rules
While subjects answering the
question
'Do you get headaches occasionally and, if so, how
often?'
reported only 0.7 per
week.
[John Hayes, Interpersonal Skills at Work. Routledge, 2002 referencing
Loftus (1975)]

The Rules
You've suggested what the answer is by
the phrasing of the question
You've lead them to where you want them...
which is Push.
Remember, you want to PULL information out of them.

The Rules
In general: Decisions based on bad data are
worse than decisions based on no data.

The Rules
Rule #4: Past Behavior vs Future Behavior
"How often are you going to work out at the gym next year?"
"I'm going to work out 3 times a week, every week."
"How many times a week
have you been working out?"
"Uh... zero."

The Rules
"How often are you going to work out at the gym next year?"
"I'm going to work out 3 times a week, every week."
"How many times a week
have you been working out?"
"Twice a week, every week."
..

The Rules
It is incredibly difficult and rare for people
to drastically alter their behavior.
What a person HAS been doing is a great predictor
of what they will do in the future.

The Rules
"Can you describe your diet."
"I eat mostly Paleo. Meats,
veggies, nuts... a little bit of
fruit, sometimes milk."

The Rules
"Describe your last meal."
"We were in a rush to get to the Kanye concert, so I
grabbed a slice of pizza on the way. After the show,
we grabbed some Hot Dogs from a street vendor, then
when I came home I had gummy bears and a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich."

The Rules
If you ask someone to describe
themselves, most people will tell
you about their Ideal Self. How
they see themselves. How they
want to be.
Ask for a story about "the last
time," and you will discover their
Actual Selves.
..

The Rules
"Would you use a shampoo that made your
dog not smell bad anymore?"

The Rules
1. Possible violation of Rule #1(ice cream): There is
probably more information they need to give a real
answer.
2. Violating Rule #2 (push/pull): You're supposed to
be looking for (pulling) problems, not pushing
solutions.
3. Violating Rule #4: Past behavior/Future Behavior
4. Violating Rule #5: Ideal Self vs. Actual Self

The Rules
"N" is a statistical term for sample size.
"N of 1" means you have a sample size of 1.
That's not good.

The Rules
You're looking for qualitative data,
not quantitative.
You don't need to achieve statistical significance.
But making decisions based on what you learned
from a single person is dangerous.

The Rules
Example: “Evaluating mass transportation”
"I ride the bus. This product is solving my problem, so I know what I
need to do."
"The guy on the bus said he doesn't really care how long he waits for
the bus, so we're pivoting to something different."
"The woman at the bus stop said she always checks the bus schedule
online before she leaves, so we're definitely on to something!"

The Rules
Any one of these behaviors could be representative of a
larger population.
But, any of these behaviors could also be
exceptions to the norm.
Keep interviewing people until you're hearing the
same stories over and over and over again.

The Rules
Rule #8: No Seeding (at least at Needs Assessment stage)
Jump straight into the first question.
Do not tell the interview subject what your research is
about.
If you frame the context, they'll answer within that
context... which means they'll try to give you the
answers they think you want to hear.

The Rules
"Have you traveled recently?"
vs.
"Tell me about the last time you traveled."

The Rules
"Yes or No" questions:
• Don't provide deeper insights
• Constrict the conversation
• Don't build rapport
Getting someone to tell stories
• Lets them lead the conversation
• Reveals insights you couldn't predict
• Builds rapport and trust

Once you get someone telling
stories,
it’s hard to get
them to
stop.

Getting Stories..The “right”
words to use when asking
questions.
Technique #1: “Tell me about the last
time...”
Technique #2: “5 Why’s”
Technique #3: “Tell me more.”
Technique #4: “What do you mean by...”
Technique #5: “How are you dealing with your problem
now?”
Technique #6: Silence is Golden

Probing: An Example
Q. Based on the description of the proposed device, are there obvious indications
for which you might use it?
A. Yes – possibly for pediatric as well as adult surgery.
Q. About what percentage of the cases that you do are pediatric vs. adult?
A. About 75% pediatric and 25% adult.
Q. What are the complexities involved in pediatric vs. adult procedures?
A. Adult tend to be straightforward. Pediatric more difficult because the kids
are “squirmy” and it’s necessary to use general anesthetic.
Q. Tell me more about anesthesia. Are there risks associated with use of general
anesthesia?
A. Generally no, but it does involve more cost because the procedures must be
performed in a hospital.
Q. Talk to me about the most recent pediatric case – medical decisions, time
required, complications, etc.
A. We actually had one the other day that involved a Down’s Syndrome child
that involved a complication.
Q. What do you mean, exactly by a “complication”?
Q. Can you talk about how pediatric cases are reimbursed compared to adult?

Customer Discovery: 2 Types of
Interviews
 Assess Needs Statement: Is it compelling?
 Assess strength of proposed solution – Will decision
makers spend real $?

Validating A Needs Statement
 Focus Customer Discovery efforts on:
 The disease state (what is known; what is not)
 The landscape of existing solutions (what’s available; what has
been tried before and why it did/didn’t it work)
 Stakeholders (who are they? What makes them “tick”?)
 Market (size, segments, competition, current $, etc.)
I-Corps @ NIH - Allan May 40

Identifying Stakeholders – Dx Example

Housekeeping: Getting through the front
door
 Payer managers, hospital administrators, nurses, office
managers, doctors and other stakeholders are busy!
 Probably have to work through receptionist (be nice!)
 Clarify immediately that this is not a “sales call” – you are
students at ____ enrolled in the I-CORPS program intended
to accelerate innovation in patient care, and you want to
discuss a few questions with ___________. You will respect
time, and the interview will last only 15-20 minutes.
 Respect the time! You won’t cover it all in one interview (so
don’t even try).
 Write down essential questions in advance. Document all
responses.
 For “solution assessment – send 1-2 pg. summary in advance
of interview. Focus on detailed in-use instructions.

Summary: Stakeholder Interviewing
 Get the right team (who is jazzed to get out and do this).
 GET OUT OF THE BUILDIING!
 Assemble a specific list of target stakeholders for your project.
 Distance yourself from “sales call”
 Interview ALL stakeholders, Target: 100 interviews.
 2 stages: Needs confirmation and solution testing
 Geography matters!
 Stay open-minded
 Focus on problems – reasons why they don’t embrace the concept.
 Beware of the “Sell it to Harry” response.
 Talk to REAL customers (private practice) – they will represent the largest market
opportunity.
 Document what you hear.
 Learn and pivot.
 Key to getting to Next Proposal is for YOU to know and understand the strengths
and limitations of the value proposition (not the reviewer).

http://cimit.org

Customer Discovery: Interviewing Tips and Techniques

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