Sounds simple, but what if the customer does not necessarily know what he, or she wants? How exactly do you get inside the head of the customer to find out what he, or she is thinking? And are customers really willing to be involved in questionnaires and market research? How many people should I talk to, to find out?
We hear those questions a lot, particularly in respect of new products, or markets, so lets have a go at answering them:
What if the customer does not necessarily know what he, or she wants? Excellent question. Often the customer does not know what he, or she wants, until it is presented to them. To address this problem present the customer with something tangible that he, or she can react to, that is a visual, prototype, or mock-up (of the product itself, or of a brochure). Present the customer with what you think he, or she wants in order to find out exactly what is needed. And if you are not sure what he/she might need in advance of asking, pull together as much as you can about competitors, the market, etc.
How exactly do you get inside the head of the customer to find out what he, or she is thinking? Again the answer is similar - show something. Give the customer something to react to - it is easier for people (particularly when you have a limited time and attention) to react to something and say yeap, I see what you are offering, I like that bit and that bit, but what I would need to see also is this.... and have you thought of this... etc.
Show something and then ask if that is what they want, and is there anything that they need that it does not do, what features would be most important, what reporting suite should it integrate with, what is the criteria before getting on to their network, what is the process for evaluating new products, suppliers, etc.
And are customers really willing to involved in questionnaires and market research? Well, people are very busy and do tend to be shy of questionnaires. That is not helped by the fact that many people have bad experiences of surveys - having been asked to participate in a short survey to find that it takes 30 minutes, or ends up as an excuse to sell to us. On the other hand, most people like to help where they can and do like to give their opinions.
Can you rely on what the customer says in forecasting sales potential? Well, the answer is yes and no. All too often vague answers from uninformed potential customers are taken literally and then inputed to sales forecasts - 30% of customers said they were interested in the solution, or would consider buying, ends up being a sales forecast. There is more on this subject here .
How many people should I talk to? Well, there is a trade off to be made here. You could talk to lots of people and ask them questions, but while a larger sample generally means greater scientific accuracy, it often is at the cost of the depth of information gathered (e.g. lots of yes and no answers, but little detail). On the other hand you could talk to a smaller number and getting a real understanding of their needs, attitudes, buying behavours, etc.
What is very important however (and often overlooked) is to talk to the right people - for example talking to 5 CTOs may be much better than talking to 50 software developers, or vice versa, depending on your requirements. Generally, however there are two good rules of thumb - don't just talk to the people you know (it may not be as easy for them to be objective) and dont settle for less than somewhere between 10 and 30.
So, find out what the customer needs and give it to him is still the best advice going. However, some considerable degree of care is required in order to successfully put this advice into practice.
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