Bobby MoestaInnovator, Entrepreneur, Professor and Advisor

Unpacking the Customer #sales #learningtobuild #bobmoesta

27 Sept 2023 · 1 min

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0:40

In this brief segment, the speaker stresses the critical skill of “unpacking” customers through extensive, in‑depth interviews. While many claim a 15‑minute interview suffices, the speaker’s practice involves 45‑ to 90‑minute conversations, exemplified by a 90‑minute discussion about a coat rack. The purpose of such long interviews is not to learn about the product itself but to understand the customer’s broader life context and how the product fits into it. This approach underscores the importance of digging deep into a customer’s daily routines, motivations, and constraints to gain actionable insights for product development and sales.

You need to get really good at this, is unpacking. It's a very important skill, right? And so 9 times out of 10, most people say they can do an interview with a customer in 15 minutes. My interviews with customers are anywhere from 45 minutes to 90 minutes. I talked to somebody for 90 minutes about buying a coat rack. And you're literally like, how is that possible? Because it's not about the coat rack, right? I gotta understand their life and how that coat rack fit in it.