Group Interviewing to Surface Customers’ Issues and Vision

By Ronni Marshak
SVP and Sr. Consultant/Analyst, Patricia Seybold Group

Whenever we work with clients on customer co-design or Voice of the Customer projects, such as CABs, the question arises of how willing customers will be to share their company information with competitors. We’ve had executives who have definitively declared that “our customers won’t sit in the same room and spill their secrets if any competitors are within hearing distance.” Account execs tell us that “My customer will talk generalizations, but won’t give any personal stories if company X is in the conversation.” And we hear, “We can’t invite competing partners to the same customer events! They will spend all their time trying to steal customers away!”

Well, after over 20 years of conducting group interviews with competing customers and partners, I’m delighted to report that this hasn’t happened. Oh, sure, occasionally a customer or partner will choose not to participate before the event for just this reason. But, usually, I’m amazed by how customers and partners are willing to share war stories and their vision of a brighter future with competitors. That’s because we aren’t asking them about their secret strategies; we’re asking what is difficult to do when working with the client’s company. We’re asking, how your customer experience could be better. We want them to offer their vision of what the future holds for the industry, not their sales or product plans.

And customers and partners really enjoy swapping their horror stories, getting advice on work-arounds, looking at how others have solved problems, and hearing what others in the same industry speculating the future will look like. Building a shared vision for how to succeed in the future makes colleagues out of competitors and gives the sponsoring company’s stakeholders a clear view of how they can be partners in that overall success. So when you are planning a CAB or other customer-facing initiative, don’t pre-empt your success by assuming that customers won’t play well with others. Ask them beforehand, and you’ll be surprised at how many are not only willing, but are eager to share and learn from their competitors.

This week, I am sharing with you all how to conduct an Issues and Vision Discussion, a group interview that should be part of any Voice of the Customer event.

Leading an “Issues and Vision” Discussion with Customers (and Partners)

Tips for Gaining a Lot of Customer Context in a Short Time (and How to Kick Off a Customer Scenario^® Mapping Session)
By Ronni T. Marshak, Sr. VP and Sr. Consultant, October 21, 2010