You’re wasting time learning from your customers…
And it’s hurting your business.
→ I’m not saying don’t talk to customers.
→ But I am saying you might be
→ Wasting your opportunity.
Does this sound like you?
→ You’re trying to innovate around your client experience.
→ Maybe even create new services or products
→ And you hop on a call…
Ready to learn insights about your client’s business
But then…
The client hits you with a laundry list of:
→ Wants
→ Needs
→ Bug reports
→ And while helpful to make
→ Little improvements
→ To your service,
The feedback tells you NOTHING about their big Problems, Fears, Needs.
And that is the information you need if you’re going to innovate.
→ So how do you get the big-picture innovation gold
→ When it’s buried by the avalanche
→ Of pedestrian feedback.
I’ve created a simple hack to get both kinds of input.
Here’s what I do now:
I start every call by creating a clear division for our discussion.
“I know you’ve got thoughts on Blueleaf – features you want, challenges you’re facing. We’ll absolutely address those.”
“But I’d like to break the conversation in 2 parts. And I’d like to do that in the second part so we don’t miss any follow up”
→ You start by addressing what they want to say.
→ Now they know they will be heard
→ And get whatever help they want.
Knowing that means they can put it aside and focus on the questions you need to ask.
“Now, zooming out I’ve got some big picture questions …”
“If you had a magic wand what are the top 1-3 problems you would change about your business?”
This approach works wonders.
With this in place, you’re able to have the big discussions
↳ And customers can think beyond your product.
This uncovers clients’ fundamental problems and
↳ Shows opportunities to help them in new ways.
I’ve sent out 50 invitations recently.
Sure, it takes effort
But the insights we gather?
Priceless.
