Read on Twitter
When customers ask for a feature, there are two obviously wrong ways to respond:
"No, we& #39;re not going to build that"
and
"Yes, we& #39;ll put it on the roadmap"
"No, we& #39;re not going to build that"
and
"Yes, we& #39;ll put it on the roadmap"
The latter is easier to say in the short term and causes problems in the longer term. But you don& #39;t learn anything from either one.
When a customer asks for (or demands) a feature, what you& #39;ve got is an opportunity to learn.
- What problem are they hoping to solve with it?
- What do they feel unable to do without it?
- What triggering event/conversation led them to bring it up now?
- What problem are they hoping to solve with it?
- What do they feel unable to do without it?
- What triggering event/conversation led them to bring it up now?
1st: acknowledge their request.
It may sound like the DUMBEST feature imaginable, doesn& #39;t matter. You don& #39;t actually know yet if it is.
- "I& #39;d like to hear more about that"
- "You& #39;re right that we don& #39;t support that today - talk to me about how you& #39;d see it helping your team"
It may sound like the DUMBEST feature imaginable, doesn& #39;t matter. You don& #39;t actually know yet if it is.
- "I& #39;d like to hear more about that"
- "You& #39;re right that we don& #39;t support that today - talk to me about how you& #39;d see it helping your team"
2nd: provide some & #39;verbal padding& #39; before you use the word & #39;why& #39;
Have you ever actually *tried* asking 5 Whys? It sounds incredibly accusatory and confrontational in most circumstances.
Start with:
- "I& #39;d like to understand..."
- "Just to make sure I& #39;m clear..."
Have you ever actually *tried* asking 5 Whys? It sounds incredibly accusatory and confrontational in most circumstances.
Start with:
- "I& #39;d like to understand..."
- "Just to make sure I& #39;m clear..."
3rd: ask what the feature will enable / what the lack of it is blocking
- "If you had this already, what would it allow you to do?"
- "Since we don& #39;t currently support this, what& #39;s the impact on your team?"
- "If you had this already, what would it allow you to do?"
- "Since we don& #39;t currently support this, what& #39;s the impact on your team?"
4th: figure out what they& #39;re doing *right now*, *instead*!
They have a workaround hack. It might be ugly, tedious, expensive, error-prone. You want to know what from their current workaround is good and what isn& #39;t. Why it& #39;s sorta solving the problem and why it& #39;s not good enough.
They have a workaround hack. It might be ugly, tedious, expensive, error-prone. You want to know what from their current workaround is good and what isn& #39;t. Why it& #39;s sorta solving the problem and why it& #39;s not good enough.
4th continued:
- "I hear that you want [feature]. Since we don& #39;t have it, what are you doing instead?"
- "What workaround is your team using to solve [problem] today?"
- "I hear that you want [feature]. Since we don& #39;t have it, what are you doing instead?"
- "What workaround is your team using to solve [problem] today?"
4th continued:
Workaround hacks may be & #39;invisible& #39; to a customer. Email, Excel, extra meetings, and sticky notes are common workaround ingredients.
Workaround hacks may be & #39;invisible& #39; to a customer. Email, Excel, extra meetings, and sticky notes are common workaround ingredients.
If there is NO WORKAROUND,
then THIS IS NOT A REAL PROBLEM.*
*unless it& #39;s a brand-new market, then sometimes there still is one
then THIS IS NOT A REAL PROBLEM.*
*unless it& #39;s a brand-new market, then sometimes there still is one
5th: But what about "but your competitor has [feature]" ?
Repeat 1 through 3!
- Acknowledge: "Yes, [competitor] has [feature]
- Verbal padding: "Tell me more..."
- Ask: "If you were using [feature] with [competitor], what would that solve?
Repeat 1 through 3!
- Acknowledge: "Yes, [competitor] has [feature]
- Verbal padding: "Tell me more..."
- Ask: "If you were using [feature] with [competitor], what would that solve?
5th continued: Also useful:
- Have you used [feature] with [competitor]? Tell me what you liked about it...
- Who do you know who is using [feature] with [competitor]? What& #39;s the big benefit they& #39;re getting from it?
- Have you used [feature] with [competitor]? Tell me what you liked about it...
- Who do you know who is using [feature] with [competitor]? What& #39;s the big benefit they& #39;re getting from it?
But wait - what if you *already have that feature*?
Should you tell the customer, hey, it& #39;s right here!
Not yet!
Should you tell the customer, hey, it& #39;s right here!
Not yet!
Why didn& #39;t they know about that feature?
Did they assume it did something different?
Did they try it and it didn& #39;t work?
Did they assume it did something different?
Did they try it and it didn& #39;t work?
- "If we had that, where would you expect to look for it / how would you expect to find out about it?"
- "What would you expect it to be called?"
- [point towards it] "Have you ever noticed this? What would you expect that to do?"
- "What would you expect it to be called?"
- [point towards it] "Have you ever noticed this? What would you expect that to do?"
