Meeting the Customer: How to Conduct Effective Interviews - Part 2

https://ryan-reason.durumis.com/ko/how-was-the-interview-after-meeting-the-customer-egtn1tl7

Continuing from the first article...

Always. The focus of the questions is the customer

That's right. Basically, an interview is a time to discuss a specific brand's products/services. However, the customer is not there to tell the company what it wants to hear. The purpose of the interview is to listen to the customer's experiences and thoughts from a thorough customer perspective in order to find solutions to the company's problems.

A. Do not use expressions specific to a particular brand.

From the perspective of a company representative, their own products/services are the entire focus. However, customers naturally consider products/services from other competing brands besides the brand in question, or even brands from completely different categories, and have experiences with their consumption and use. The interview is conducted to hear about these experiences and perspectives from a different standpoint. However, sometimes this opportunity is limited to questions about the brand in question, resulting in failure to obtain the necessary information. Unless you want the same content as online survey results, it is better to prepare questions about more comprehensive usage experiences rather than specific products/services.

For example, even if an interview is conducted to increase sales of "tonic" at a Korean medicine clinic, it's best to forget about the category of Korean medicine. It's better to lead the conversation using topics such as health functional foods, daily nuts, salads, etc., everything connected to the act of eating for health. By understanding what the act of taking care of one's health means to the customer and listening to the different meanings of the objects they consume for this purpose, one can discover opportunities and possibilities for changing sales of the original target, "tonic".

B. Show interest in the person, not just the customer.

"Customer" is a one-sided term from the company's perspective that expresses a kind of role based on the relationship between sales and consumption, based on corporate activities. If you agree that the goal of the interview is to create a process for a frank exchange of feelings between "human" and "human," then you will agree that the role of "customer" is no longer meaningful during the interview.

It's better to ask questions and have a conversation comfortably about what kind of daily life the person in front of you leads, and how the company's products/services exist and have meaning within that life. Feedback is an opportunity to hear about interest in the products/services. For this valuable opportunity, the representative should fully express their interest in the customer as a "person" and help them enjoy sharing their valuable experiences.

Stories about an individual's daily life are often like a treasure trove. Within them lie opportunities for business and the insights needed to understand a specific field. And what is needed to draw this out is an unadorned "attitude" and "interest" in the person sitting across from you. We believe that interest in the "person" before the customer, and their "day" filling their life before the product experience, can change the company's future.