the mom test or how to ask better customer dev questions
TRANSCRIPT
The Mom Test - OR –
Have Better Customer Dev Conversations
Loosely Based On This Book…
Everybody is lying to you
Why Do People Lie?
• They don’t have a strong opinion what you are asking.• They want to get past the conversation.• They don’t want to discourage you.• They think its what you want to hear.• They don’t want to see you cry.
Good data Bad data
What’s A False Positive?
CANNOT lie ON KICKSTARTER
To Recap…
• False positives cause you to over-invest your cash, your time, and your team.
• Most customer validation meetings are a fistful of false positives.• Bad data is WORSE than no data.• Nobody is going to show us the truth. • You find it by asking good questions.
Question Guidelines
• The only thing people love talking about more than themselves - is their problems. (So let them)
• Get them to SHOW you the problem.• Ask about specifics in the past.• Dig beneath ideas.• Explore any strong emotional signals you encounter.• DON’T talk about your solution.• Compliments are the fools gold of customer learning.• Opinions are worthless.• “You should be terrified of at least ONE of the questions you are asking.”
Is this An “Eat your vegetables” THING - or a real problem?
Sample Questions To Get Good Data
• Talk me through the last time you….• When was the last time that happened?• What would doing X allow you to do?• Can you talk me through how you handled it?• What went wrong?• What were the consequences?
Sample Questions To Get Good Data - Part Deux
• How much does this problem cost you? • How do you currently deal with this problem? How are you coping?• What sort of difficulties have come up with that solution?• What else have you tried? • What tools/processes do you use today?• Why do you bother?
Talk me throughyour workflow…
Who else should I talk to?
How Do I Know I Got BAD Data?
• During the Meeting:• Generic claims: “I always…We usually…”• Future promises: “I would...We will”• Hypothetical maybes: “I might...We could”• No direct data about their problem.• Compliments (but no committments)
• Back At the Office:• “Everybody absolutely LOVED our idea!”• The meeting “went really well.”• A pipeline of zombie leads.• No clear next steps.
How Do I Know I Had REAL Learning?
• You got concrete facts about customer’s lives.• Solid (“Kickstarter-style”) commitments:• You got permission to contact again.• You got a clear next meeting.• You got an introduction to a decision-maker.
• You didn’t get excited and start pitching your idea or product.• You listened more than you talked.• You discovered someone was NOT a customer.• You killed a fledgling idea before you committed heavily to it.• You saved time and money by not building something nobody will buy.
Killing ideas early stops products like this…
Test Your Knowledge
• ”That’s so cool. I love it!”• “Looks great. Let me know when it launches.”• “There are a couple people I can intro you to
when you’re ready.”• ”What are the next steps?”• “I would definitely buy that.”• “When can we start the trial?”• “Can I buy the prototype?”• ”When can you come back to talk to the rest of
the team?”• ”How much would you pay for this?”
• Fail. No commitment.• Fail. No commitment.• Mostly fail.• Success.• Fail. No commitment.• Mostly fail.• Success.• Success.• Fail.
Revisiting the Cookbook App
• Mom, when was the last time you used the iPad?• Have you ever used it in the kitchen?• Have you ever bought an app? Which one? Why?• How much did you pay?• Do you use your cookbooks?• Is there anything you dislike about them?• What was the last cookbook you bought? When? Why?
Record It!
• In person: use your smartphone’s voice recorder• Telephone: use a service like NoNotes.com to record and transcribe.• Get their consent. If not – STOP RECORDING!• This also gives you exact quotes you can use later in marketing language,
fundraising decks, and to resolve arguments with skeptical teammates.• “It's our protocol to record these conversations to ensure we are accurate
and thorough in capturing customer needs. I want to be paying attention to you, not frantically writing and miss something important. This recording won’t get shared with anyone or posted anywhere. And you can be certain we won’t ask you the same questions the next time we talk.”
Is like archeology
Learning from customer conversations…
