Thursday, October 23, 2008

Customer Interviews Yesterday

I phone-interviewed three customers yesterday. It was fun. I totally botched on the first interview;), oops. It seems to be not a very good idea to just read the questionnaire. Everyone is different;). Changed strategy after first interview and I let the interviewee go anywhere they'd like to explore and I only slightly guide to them to where it's more relevant to our product.

It turned out to be really helpful. They not only welcomed our service but also suggested things to look for, ideal use cases (oops, is this too techie?) and potential other market segments. And, also the important features they think.

Such a fun learning process. 3 down, 20 more to go;). Hopefully, my marketing team can take on a few next week.

2 comments:

SN said...

I think we need to have another beer and I hope that you can share your experience about this.

I have tried, but generally am struggling to get a sit down with potential customers (I suspect that I am trying too hard to impress them).
How do you approach potential customers? How do you get their interest up to a point that they are willing to share their opinions?

Ben Jiang said...

oh, it's called personal connections;). I am fortunate to have a few senior members on my team and they have extensive connection with the vertical I am focusing on.

Regarding the 2nd point, I'd say let them do the talk. You only play the role of catching the gems that's coming out.