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MIT GSL 2018 week #1 | day 4
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If there is already a market research report out there with all the information you need, it is probably TOO LATE for your new venture
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What is PMR? DIRECT interaction with potential customer to gain knowledge specific to your potential new venture
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What is PMR? DIRECT interaction with potential customer to gain knowledge specific to your potential new venture “Bottoms-up” market information Not secondary research! Not necessarily end-users – could be “economic buyers”, “influencers”, “champions” Never ends – this is step 0, which underlies every single steps
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Goal of PMR
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Goal of PMR Understand your customer in ALL dimensions; rationally, emotionally, economically, socially, culturally, and more
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Goal of PMR Understand your customer in ALL dimensions; rationally, emotionally, economically, socially, culturally, and more To understand who the buyers and users are To understand what is pain points for potential customers To understand the context in which the product will be used To understand use cases To help prioritize the feature set To understand customer satisfaction/ pricing elasticity
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What is NOT to do in PMR? Not a sales pitch! – it’s to learn, not to sell Don’t talk about the product during problem research Don’t ask leading questions Don’t ask friends or family
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Obstacles to Successful PMR
Lack of a structured process Not executing the process Confirmation bias Selection bias Social acceptability bias
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Make a plan! Write out the goals and objectives of the research
Define recruitment criteria for interviewees Develop a recruitment questionnaire Develop supporting content (ex. discussion guide) Recruit subjects Run the research program Digest results, next steps
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Process and Techniques
Start with secondary research – BUT not too much Start Qualitative before quantitative – go deep to understand potential customers. Source candidates – find “watering holes” Act like a great journalists – Active listening & 150% attention! Team is better than solo – one person takes notes while another asks questions
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Process and Techniques
Interviewing the Right people - make sure demographic and psychographic characteristics match your target customer group You should be surprised! – it’s not right PMR if no surprise
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Process and Techniques
Observe/Ask people’s habits (Non-verbal actions > Words) Open ended questions “Tell me about the last time..” ”Tell me the story of…” “You said X. Tell me more…”
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Results See the pattern Not biased
Create another hypothesis to test and keep doing Trust but verify Never ends
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Tools Customer interviews – we will do today! Observational research
Immersion User tests Focus groups
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Break!
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Listening and Interviewing
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Attending skills Posture of involvement – look involved, arms uncrossed, learn forward toward the speaker when seated Eye contact – steady, comfortable eye contact for a few seconds. Not glance toward distant objects Distance – neither too close nor too far apart Eliminating barriers – remove any possible distractions. NO phone!
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Encouraging skills Open-ended questions – Not a question which can be answered with Yes or No Door openers – non-judgmental, reassuring ways of inviting other people to speak. Not criticizing, advising, stage-hogging. “You look upset. Care to talk about it?” vs “You get all upset no matter what we do!” or “I was upset when I first heard of this too, but all you have to keep in mind is..” Attentive silence and encouragers – Silence gives the other person time to think and to set the pace. Show interest by nodding your head and using “I see,” “Yes,”, or “Uh-huh”
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Following skills Paraphrasing content – restate a few keywords or summarize the key thoughts or idea. “Seems as though your major concern here is” Paraphrasing feelings – listen “between the lines”. Be aware of the speaker’s tone of voice, volume, facial expression, and body movement. “Looks like you’re pleased with those results” Note-taking or recording – be careful about it, especially in one- to-one situations. You might concentrate too much on writing. Explain why you are taking notes and consider sharing the notes
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Let’s go out!
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