5 Things You Didn't Know About B2B Customer Discovery (One Bonus)

customer Discovery is what separates products that sell and those that fail but many startups underestimated it so if you want to build a successful product let's clear up some common misconceptions then I'll explain how to do it the right way and don't miss the sneaky tip at the end the first step in customer Discovery is to focus your conversations in the right place and that's in your customer's World avoid pitching your product instead dig deeper into your customer's problems your customer's pain points your customer's workflows ask questions like what's the most frustrating part of this workflow for you how do you currently solve this issue this ensures you're solving problems that matter most to your customers not just building what you think they need now that you're focusing on the right problems it's time to think about how to approach these conversations look it's easy to let excitement for your product idea leave you to ask bias question for example if you ask wouldn't this feature be helpful you'll often get a polite agreement instead of honest feedback instead use neutral phrasing and open-ended questions to get candid insights by staying neutral you'll create a space for genuine unfiltered responses that guide you towards building something valuable check the resources below if you want help writing customer interview questions in the B2B environment solving the user's problem isn't enough to close a deal the person using your product may love it but the economic buyer the one who signs the check might have different priorities they have to consider other things like Roi integration costs or compliance so during your customer Discovery interviews you need to identify everyone involved in the product evaluation process including decision makers influencers and the users you need to ask questions to understand how they evaluate products and remember map out all the stakeholders and adapt your Discovery to uncover their unique need many startups make the mistake of over prioritizing data from weight l surveys keywords or even some sort of Market study all of those are good for overall customer Discovery but numbers alone don't tell the full story for example if 500 people sign up for a weight list that only tells you they're curious or knowing that 70% of respondents dislike a workflow that doesn't explain why they dislike it or how to fix it so start your customer Discovery with qualitative feedback by conducting in-depth interviews analyze those to identify the why behind a recurring paino and the how to fix specific workflows prioritize qualitative insights first and that'll give you the depth needed to shape your product early on many Founders treat customer Discovery is something you just do before launch and then you move on but markets evolve needs shift and customer expectations change if you're not continuously learning your product risks falling behind so schedule regular touch points with your customers even after launch for example conduct follow-up interviews to validate a new feature ask about emerging pain points during quarterly reviews better yet consider creating a customer Advisory Board treat customer Discovery as an ongoing process process it ensures your product stays relevant and valuable so here's the quick sneaky tip you can use all the insights you gain from customer Discovery for your go to market strategy too use what you learn to improve your positioning your copyrighting on your website targeting and so on now you know what it takes to make customer Discovery happen but you're navigating a lot of uncertainty to turn your vision into reality so take a look at the resources below and subscribe for more tips to make your journey easier you've got this