Customer Development Tips and Templates

• 40 Tips for B2B Customer Development Interviews by Sean Murphy

https://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2020/01/30/40-tips-for-b2b-customer-development-interviews/
(This updates older post http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2011/10/19/tips-for-b2b-customer-development-interviews/ 

• Tips for Customer Development Interviews: Templates and Pressure Points (LSC Forum) by Jaime Pabon

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/lean-startup-circle/gOUqI_uqidk  

Customer Development Interview Template by Jaime Pabon 
http://bit.ly/cusdev_interview_template 

• 12 Tips for Customer Development Interviews (revised) by Giff Constable
  http://giffconstable.com/2011/07/12-tips-for-customer-development-interviews-revised/ 
  See also his book "Talking to Humans" (free download)

• Customer Visits Do's and Don'ts by Gopal Shinoy

  http://productmanagementtips.com/2012/06/11/customer-visits-dos-and-donts/

• How To Actually Do Customer Development (and not waste your time) by Rob Fitzpatrick

http://leanca.mp/2012/09/how-to-actually-do-customer-development-and-not-waste-your-time-by-robfitz/ 

• How to Do (And What To Expect From ) Early-Stage Customer Development & Sales (20 Minute Video) by Rob Fitzpatrick

http://vimeo.com/40192415

• 12 Random Customer Development Tips by Tristan Kromer

http://grasshopperherder.com/1-customer-development-tips/ 

• P241 of Startup Owner's Manual

• When are you Done Interviewing Customers? by Justin Wilcox
  http://customerdevlabs.com/2014/07/01/how-many-customer-discovery-problem-interviews-should-i-do/

• How I Interview Customers (w/ video) by Justin Wilcox 
  http://customerdevlabs.com/2013/11/05/how-i-interview-customers/ 

• 16 Tips for Better B2B Customer Interviews by Etienne Garbugli 
  http://leanb2bbook.com/blog/16-tips-to-do-great-customer-interviews/
  
  
• B2B Customer Discovery Interview Questions – The Master List by Etienne Garbugli 
  http://leanb2bbook.com/blog/b2b-customer-discovery-interview-questions-the-master-list/
  

• How to Use Customer Discovery to Build a Startup: Complete Guide by Etienne Garbugli
  https://leanb2bbook.com/blog/customer-discovery-startup-guide/ 

How to find people to interview

• Getting Customer Interviews with Cold Emails by Justin Wilcox
• How to Find Early Adopters – The Complete Guide by Etienne Garbugli
• How to Know Which Title to Contact in B2B by Alex Berman  

Analyzing Interview Results

• You've Interviewed Customers. Now what? by Justin Wilcox
• The 5 Ways to Score Business Problems When Doing Customer Development by Etienne Garbugli
• Six Elements to Extract From Customer Discovery Interviews by Sean Murphy
• Customer Interviews: How to Organize Findings by Sean Murphy

Interview Questions

1) Ask about the situation wherein they might discover the problem you're attempting to solve. 

E.g. If you're trying to solve the problem of foot pain, I'd ask "Do  you like hiking?" instead of saying "Do you have foot pain?"

2) Can you describe the problem to me in your own words? 

NOTE: If you were sly when asking the first question, they already did  this without you having to ask them. Directly asking this also only works, if you didn't already force the issue by asking them if they have the problem. Otherwise they'll just parrot what you asked them. This will also give you the keywords to put on your homepage and in your ads. 

3) How are you solving the problem currently? What are your workarounds? 

E.g.: "I stuff cotton in my shoes to eliminate my heel pain." 

This tells you your real competitors. Not just corporate ones, but workarounds.

Source

For Existing Customers

• What can we do to improve our offering?
• What surprised you as you started to work with us? [can be positive or negative]
• Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently in evaluating or adopting our offering?
• What alternatives did you consider before choosing our offering?
• We are really committed to improving, where should we target our efforts? 
• Are there things we should improve for other customers, problems that you avoided but others may experience?
• If you have been previously rejected by a potential customer (by phone or in person), what signals should you heed before trying again?  How do overcome that established fear of rejection? Should you wait for them to approach you?