Customer Discovery: What Do You Ask, with Justin Wilcox

Techstars

12 Jan 201706:59

Summary

TLDRIn this video, Justin Wilcox, founder of Nimbus Health, shares four customer discovery hacks to help startups avoid common pitfalls in customer development. He emphasizes the importance of not pitching during interviews, focusing on past and present questions, and listening to customers' stories to uncover their pain points. He provides a script for conducting interviews, highlighting the significance of asking 'why' multiple times to reach the core of customer needs and emotions.

Takeaways

💼 Justin Wilcox is the founder of Nimbus Health, a software company that automates medical record processing for hospitals.
📝 He also runs a blog called Customer Dev Labs where he and other founders share their customer development experiences.
🔍 The focus of the talk is on four customer discovery hacks that Justin found difficult when starting with customer development.
🚫 Rule one for interviewing is no pitching; the goal is to listen and learn from customers.
🗣️ Rule two is to ask about past and present experiences, not hypothetical future scenarios, to avoid misleading predictions.
🤔 The interview script starts with asking customers to tell a story about a recent problem they faced, which helps identify difficulties or annoyances.
🧐 The 'why was that hard' question is crucial but can be awkward; it's used to understand the core of the customer's problem.
🔑 The 'how do you solve this problem' question reveals whether the customer actively tries to solve the issue and if their current solution is satisfactory.
😢 Pay attention to the emotions expressed by customers during the interview, as they can help connect and empathize with them.
🔄 Interviewing the same customer multiple times can provide new insights and a deeper understanding of their needs.
🤓 Asking 'why' five times can uncover the core emotions and motivations behind a customer's actions and the problems they face.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of Justin Wilcox's blog, Customer Dev Labs?
-The main purpose of Customer Dev Labs is to share customer development experiences by Justin Wilcox and other founders, to help others avoid the same pitfalls they encountered.
What are the four customer discovery hacks discussed in the transcript?
-The four customer discovery hacks discussed are: 1) setting up the interview, 2) understanding what to ask customers, 3) the importance of listening and not pitching during interviews, and 4) the specific questions to ask to gain insights into customer problems.
Why is it important not to pitch during customer interviews according to Justin?
-It's important not to pitch during customer interviews because it shifts the focus from learning and absorbing information to trying to sell a product, which can lead to misleading feedback and a lack of genuine understanding of the customer's problems.
What types of questions should be avoided when conducting customer interviews?
-Hypothetical future-oriented questions like 'would you ever' or 'will you ever' should be avoided as they tend to elicit predictions that are not reliable and can mislead the development process.
What is the first question Justin suggests asking customers in an interview?
-The first question suggested is an open-ended one asking customers to tell a story about the last time they encountered a specific problem context, such as being late to an appointment.
Why is asking 'why was that hard' considered a golden question in customer interviews?
-Asking 'why was that hard' is golden because it leads to understanding the core difficulty and emotion behind a customer's problem, which can be used to resonate with them when marketing a solution.
How does Justin recommend assessing if a customer is genuinely trying to solve a problem?
-Justin recommends assessing if a customer is genuinely trying to solve a problem by asking how they currently solve it and then inquiring why their current solution is not satisfactory.
What are the bonus points Justin suggests to enhance the customer interview process?
-The bonus points are: 1) noting the emotions expressed by the customer, 2) conducting the interview process multiple times to learn something new each time, and 3) asking 'why' five times to get to the core of the customer's motivations and difficulties.
What is the primary goal of the interview script provided by Justin?
-The primary goal of the interview script is to deeply understand the customer's problems, their emotions, and their current solutions to identify potential areas where a new product or service could provide value.
How does Justin suggest using the information gathered from customer interviews?
-Justin suggests using the information, including the customer's own words and emotions, to create marketing messages that resonate with them when it's time to pitch the solution.

Outlines

00:00

💼 Customer Discovery Hacks

Justin Wilcox, founder of Nimbus Health, introduces himself and his two passions: his software company and his blog, Customer Dev Labs. The blog serves as a platform for founders to share their customer development experiences to help others avoid common pitfalls. The focus of the discussion is on four customer discovery hacks that Justin found challenging when starting with customer development. He emphasizes the importance of setting up interviews without pitching, focusing on listening to customers. He outlines ground rules for interviewing: no pitching, asking about past and present experiences, and avoiding hypothetical future questions. The script provided is designed to guide the interview process, starting with asking customers to tell a story about a recent problem they faced, digging deeper into the details, and understanding why certain aspects were hard for them.

05:02

🗣️ Interviewing Techniques for Customer Insights

The second paragraph delves into the specifics of the interview script. It advises interviewers to pay attention to the emotions expressed by customers, as these can be crucial for connecting with them and empathizing with their experiences. The script suggests asking why a current solution is not satisfactory if the customer is still experiencing problems, indicating a real need that might be addressed better. The paragraph also offers bonus tips for enhancing the interview process: noting emotions, repeating the process to gain deeper insights, and asking 'why' multiple times to uncover the core issues and motivations. The advice concludes with encouraging the audience to write their own interview script, practice interviewing, and avoid pitching or hypothesizing about the future, focusing instead on past and present experiences.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Customer Development

Customer Development is a process where businesses engage with potential customers to understand their needs, behaviors, and pain points. In the video, Justin Wilcox emphasizes the importance of this process in the early stages of product development to avoid falling into traps that many startups do. The narrative focuses on how to effectively listen to customers without pitching, which is a core aspect of customer development.

💡Nimbus Health

Nimbus Health is the software company founded by Justin Wilcox, which automates medical record processing for hospitals. It serves as an example of a business that likely relies on customer development to understand the specific needs of its clients in the healthcare industry.

💡Customer Dev Labs

Customer Dev Labs is a blog mentioned in the video where founders share their customer development experiences. It represents a platform for learning from the experiences of others in the field of customer development, which is crucial for avoiding common pitfalls.

💡Interviewing

Interviewing is a method used within customer development to gather information from customers. The script outlines a structured approach to interviewing that focuses on listening and asking past and present questions, which is critical for obtaining authentic insights.

💡No Pitching

No Pitching is a ground rule set by Justin for conducting customer interviews. It means that during the interview, the focus should be on listening rather than selling or proposing solutions. This rule is crucial to ensure that the entrepreneur remains in a learning mode and absorbs customer feedback without bias.

💡Past and Present Questions

Past and Present Questions are those that relate to events or experiences that have already occurred. The video script advises asking such questions to gain accurate insights into customer behavior and problems, as opposed to hypothetical future questions which can lead to misleading information.

💡Problem Context

Problem Context refers to the specific circumstances surrounding a problem that a customer faces. In the script, Justin suggests asking customers to tell a story about the last time they encountered a particular problem to understand the context better, which is vital for developing targeted solutions.

💡Why Questions

Why Questions are used to delve deeper into the reasons behind a customer's actions or feelings. The script highlights the importance of asking 'why' multiple times to uncover the core emotions and motivations related to a problem, which can inform the creation of more resonant marketing messages and solutions.

💡Emotions

Emotions play a significant role in customer development as they can indicate the intensity of a problem or need. The video script advises paying close attention to the emotions customers express during interviews, as these can guide the development of products and marketing strategies that resonate on an emotional level.

💡Solution Validation

Solution Validation is the process of confirming whether a proposed solution effectively addresses a customer's problem. In the script, Justin discusses asking how customers currently solve a problem and then probing why their current solutions are not satisfactory, which is a key step in validating the need for a new solution.

💡Five Whys

Five Whys is a technique mentioned in the video for asking 'why' consecutively to reach the root cause of a problem. This method is highlighted as a way to deeply understand customer motivations and the core of their issues, which is essential for creating effective solutions.

Highlights

Introduction to Justin Wilcox, founder of Nimbus Health and creator of Customer Dev Labs.

Purpose of Customer Dev Labs: sharing customer development experiences to avoid common pitfalls.

Topic of discussion: four customer discovery hacks to get started with customer development.

Importance of not pitching during customer interviews and focusing on listening.

Rule number one: No pitching, only listening to understand customer problems.

Rule number two: Ask about past and present, not future hypotheticals.

The reason behind avoiding future questions: they lead to unreliable predictions.

How to structure customer interviews: starting with open-ended questions about past experiences.

The significance of digging deeper when something interesting is mentioned by the customer.

Asking explicitly about the hardest part of a problem to understand customer pain points.

The awkward but crucial question: 'Why was that hard?' to get to the core of customer issues.

Using customer's own words to resonate when marketing solutions.

Inquiring about current problem-solving methods to assess if there's a real need for a solution.

The value of asking 'why' multiple times to uncover the core customer motivations.

Emphasizing the importance of noting customer emotions during interviews.

Advice on repeating the interview process multiple times to gain deeper insights.

Encouragement to practice the interview script with a neighbor to apply the learnings.

Invitation to visit customerdevlabs.com for more documented information.