It is necessary to validate that the messages, the language used and the conclusions you have reached are initially correct.
We will do two validations, the first with one with clients and the second with prospects.
RECOMMENDATION: Buy the book The Mom Test: How to have conversations with your clients and validate your business idea It will help you understand the importance of this process.
The goal is to verify that "our assumptions" from the Rationale sheet are correct or our customers see it differently.
You probably sell to more than one Target. Pick just one to start.
We need them to have your service "fresh".
Example of mail that you can send: Adapt it to your style!
Hello XXXXX,
It's been a while since we talked but you would do me a great favor if you give me 20 minutes to talk about your experiences with our product and see how we can improve it.
We want to improve our service with you as much as possible and I would love to understand the good and the bad.
(OPTIONAL) I know your time is valuable and I wouldn't ask you to do it for free, so I can offer you a month's discount...an Amazon gift card....
The call will be a relaxed conversation. You do not need to prepare anything and we go straight to the point.
I would love to have your opinion!
What do you say?
Javi Consuegra
CEO
Example script for the interview, select the questions that you think are appropriate for your service.
Introduction:
"Hello and thanks for participating in this interview.
I'm going to ask you a few questions about your degree of satisfaction. There are not correct or incorrect answers.
At certain points we will dive deep and ask somewhat more detailed questions.
Any questions? Excellent! Let's start."
Ask permission to record the call.record the call
Select one of these questions, the ones that best fit your service (we mark the most important in bold) :
The purchase
Finding the first thought
Develop the set of considerations
The emotions
When conducting such an interview it is important to be genuinely interested and non-judgmental about what your client is talking about. Focus fully on their responses, their gestures and everything else you can perceive.
You should talk 20% of the time. Listen carefully to everything and don't even think of correcting what he says or how he says it.
It will be those words that you will have to use later in your communication.
Homework:
Write down the answers to the questions in a document so you can later look for similar patterns in them: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HYBzgcQqdMhj_HVYKw5icVrw7eVvK2QQA_s8OskCJ9A/edit?usp=sharing
Add mostly emotional concepts (aspirations, fears, and problems) to your Rationale Sheet based on the TP you have selected.
Update the contents and when you have it perform the second validation.
It is very important to validate the messages with potential customers to understand their motivation, current situation and predisposition to purchase.
The objective is to understand the urgency of the prospects to acquire our service, detect objections, fears and possible solutions that we can cover in the short term.
It is also VERY IMPORTANT that you understand how your potential client is solving his job right now... What is he doing? As it does? Why does he do it like this? What have you tried? How much does it cost you? (in time or money).
To do this, we will use a method called "The Reporting Method" that will allow us to collect information, earn your trust and maybe a sale.
The sector report is a technique we use to obtain information from our Target Person while adding value to it.
The idea is to make a sectoral report that we will later share with them.
You could also create a document like "The Top 20 Industry Experts' View" or something similar and ask for their input.
That is to say, the excuse is to prepare a type of report so that your prospects participate and give you information about their needs while they also obtain something (information, visibility, improve their personal brand,...)
Below we show the example with the sectoral report but you can adapt it to your TP as you see fit.
Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator will help you refine your search.
Task: Send connection messages (20-30 daily) until you schedule at least 5 interviews.
You'll be able to use the connections you've already been making from your SNOWBALL!! or past contacts you have.
You can use a message template similar to this: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IYWmHcxqxPFEojP3i0izEYxrXSBWn7Yf4A6ZfriFuZg/edit?usp=sharing
The main objective of the interview is to find out WHAT WORKS/ACTIVITIES/ TASKS YOU CURRENTLY DO in relation to your service, the degree of seriousness of the problems you have in those jobs and the urgency of resolving them.
Questions that you can use (select the ones that suit your service. We mark the most important in bold)
Questions to understand your prospect
Questions to detect your next plans
Questions to discover hidden feelings
Questions to understand and prioritize your problems
And the last questions, the most IMPORTANT, related to their problems:
a) Do you have more problems that we have not commented on?
b) Rate from 1 to 10 the following problems (Comment here the problems of your fundamentals template without repeating those said by the prospect in the previous question):
Prioritizing the problems will allow you to create direct communication to the need and urgency of your prospect.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you understand and classify this priority based on said URGENCY.
TRICK: You have to understand VERY WELL why problems are problems.
To do this, as we have already mentioned, we must ask many "whys" with different techniques that we tell you below
The trick of repeating the last concept is GREAT for interviews and sales conversations. You make the other person understand that you are listening and they will keep talking non-stop...which is what we are looking for.
Task:
Write down the answers to the questions in a document so that you can look for patterns later similar in them: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HYBzgcQqdMhj_HVYKw5icVrw7eVvK2QQA_s8OskCJ9A/edit?usp=sharing
You should continue doing interviews until you have clear patterns that are repeated a minimum of 3 times in the similar niche.
Build a presentation or document that you can re-present to those prospects.
You can use this sample template: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Z7nH8TwoPqhyyjs7uh-c7xaDLSMMmofxE11rdlER0rQ/edit?usp=sharing or make it in any format you like.
Presentation of the report
Present the report to the participants (recommended if you have conducted interviews with your Target and you think you will be able to get a subsequent sale) by seeking confirmation of their answers or send a report with the results for less interesting Targets.
Update the template with the responses and priorities your prospects currently have.
Video example of the report method strategy using https://www.lemlist.com/ to send emails and https://www.videoask.com/ to make a video form.
The key insights from these validations will be found talking to real customers and prospects.
You will know that his answers are validated when the discoveries start to repeat themselves and the interviewees are alarmed by how much he knows about them by posing the problems from his own point of view.
You will create a deep sense of trust (how can he know my problems so well? He sure is an expert!!).
You must be ruthless and disciplined with the interview process: remember that the more accurate the answers obtained, the easier it will be to create or adapt a valuable solution for your clients.
It is interesting for more massive products where the target audience is broader and you cannot have interviews with everyone.
It is a less precise option but it can give information quickly.
Mass validation with http://landbot.io/ as a tool to create the form: