Step 5: Debriefing + Implementing

After you’ve conducted your interviews, it’s time to sit down with all of the data and figure out what to make of it.

Evaluation page in the course workbook

There’s an evaluation page in the course workbook that will help you evaluate each interview as you have them by answering these questions:

• Did my problem come up? If so, how often?
• How motivated was the interviewee about the problem?
• Were other solutions mentioned? If so, which ones?
• Were other problems mentioned? If so, which ones?

Click here: Download the Customer Conversation Template Builder

what if they don’t mention my problem?

But what if the customers aren’t really bringing up my problem? It’s definitely possible that this particular problem just isn’t top of mind for them.

If you reach the end of the interview, you can ask the “specific” version of your anchor question to explore it a bit more directly. If you do this, you need to spend time asking if they’ve done anything to address that problem.

If a customer does not mention your problem before you do (and she’s not actively looking for solutions) your hypothesis may need to be changed. No matter how great your marketing is for your product, there’s no evidence that these customers will be motivated enough to put their money down.

Even if your problem was mentioned by your customers, perhaps there’s another problem that came up even more frequently. Don’t overlook this, as it’s possible that you’ve just stumbled upon an even better, more relevant issue to solve for people.

What if my idea isn’t validated?

If you find yourself in an “invalidated” situation, it can be tough to not feel discouraged. But the brilliant thing is that you followed this process correctly — you didn’t lead the customers, and you uncovered their true realities. Imagine if you hadn’t gone through this process and had instead just put your product out there only to hear crickets!

By pulling out the common pieces of feedback from all of your conversations, you can decide how much tweaking your idea needs. Armed with the current and ideal states of your potential customers, you’re now ready to work on bridging that gap for them.

Whether your idea was validated or not, remember that you are already way ahead of many entrepreneurs who skip out on having these conversations. The more you talk with customers, the easier this gets.

The worst thing you can do at any stage is to treat your business hypotheses as facts, so it’s time to don your lab coat and start studying. Get out there and start talking to your customers!

How did you like this course?

If you loved it please share the course page on twitter or Facebook and let your friends know! (who knows, you might schedule a customer interview from it 🙂

Thanks for learning from Fizzle and watching this course. Keep up the great work!