Using Remote Tools for Customer Development by Holly DeWolf - The Lean Startup Conference 12/11/14
1. Using Remote Tools for
Customer Development
Holly DeWolf
http://www.hmdewolf.com
Twitter @hollymdewolf
2. So all I need is the
internet and I can do
this easy peasy?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mipsyretro/5593568015/
3. Steve Blank
Body language
Environment
Distractions
https://www.flickr.com/photos/x-ray_delta_one/4059707002/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbcurio/12122763304/
12. your grandma
complete and
total stranger
double hourly rate
strength of your relationship
Incentive cost
13. Seek and Yee Shall Find
• Strengthened relationship
• Free customer development
• Knowing how to ask
14. Scheduling Tools
• User friendly
• Clear time zones
• Complies with data privacy laws
• Flexible choices
• Fits with customer’s culture and time-zone
15.
16. Friday August 29th at 8:30am Eastern (12:30 UTC)
link to join the meeting
You will need a microphone and speakers What they
need to attend
join a test WebEx meeting before hand
17. “Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
Dwight Eisenhower, 1957
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96522674/
21. Special Offers
• YouCanBook.me
• deWolf Personal Trainer Program
Hinweis der Redaktion
Raise your hand…what’s stopping you
Those are all legit reasons…yet, we know one on one works
Entrepreneurial books full…learned something impossible w/out talking
Why don’t more of us overcome the hurdles we discussed?
I believe the biggest difficulty is making it a habit. Just like the challenges that arise from making other
For most of us, going to the gym is a chore…same can be said about cust dev
Other difficulty with making cus dev a habit (or going to the gym)…reward isn’t always immediate
Take awhile to come to “ah huh”. 5/10/20 OR MORE repeing the reward.
It takes some time to make cust dev a habit
Next half hour, more efficient ways, using internet
New workout plan
Will do is share, make cus dev a little bit easier
As with a new workout plan, you’ll have to put in an initial investment to tailoring
The beauty, easier to see results
Encourage you to continue cus dev & pack in ah huh
Rather than waiting till metrics
With the internet the world is becoming a smaller place
Want to talk to your cus
You can even talk to the guy across town who you never would have met without the internet
All from the comfort of your office
I agree, there are a lot of benefits
Also large benefits in time and money, doing it online
It’s a tradeoff for you, your product and your business. Do benefits of in person outweigh
“getting out of the office” provides unbiased, unscripted feedback from your customers
Tone of voice, asking followup questions
Without the cost of flying or fighting traffic across town
Before we get started, semantics
I’m a user researcher by trade
I’ll prob use interchangeably
Loved to discuss, save it for later over drinks
With tout out of the way, let’s get down to business
Obviously meeting with your customers online is going to provide a unique set of challenges.
I want to share a checklist of sorts that will take the rough edges of your first online customer development meeting.
Unfortunately, customers don’t just show up at an appointed time ready to talk to you without a little bit of leg work finding and scheduling with them, so I’m also going talk about how you can use the internet to that part easier.
In the history of man-kind, in person communication has had thousands of years to develop, while online communication is in it’s infancy.
So, while there are benefits to using the internet, you’ll have to overcome some frustrations that come with communicating online.
I was going to tell you a story about “one time when I screwed up online customer development” and how I made it better, but the truth is, I’ve learned all of the lessons over 100s of online customer engagements.
Some of these tips will seem obvious, but believe me when I say they are easy to overlook.
I would really recommend practicing your first online cust dev session keeping these things in mind.
Spend the first 10 min of your 30 min meeting explaining how to install skype…not everyone already has it installed on their computer. All screen sharing apps require some sort of install, some are better than others.
I can’t say this enough, the tools you use are a reflection on your business…choose one that’s easy for your customer
Good to have the backup of dial in numbers, some tools provide more options than others
Some tools make it really easy to share recordings. Even if it’s yourself, consider recording. Focus on your customer, followup questions, rather than frantic notes
I included phone on here for before you have a product to share, however, even early stages, consider screen sharing so people can show you current workarounds and frustrations
Most are free.
I used to pay for WebEx Premium…more features, usability isn’t greatest. Now I pay for Join.me Pro…policy of minimum features for maximum usability
There are a lot of tools out there and I can’t tell you which one to pick, depends on the requirements of your business.
You can take a look at my website for a detailed breakdown of the tools I’ve used
Can tell you what I consider
I have good news and bad news
If you don’t have a good handle on who your customers are (or who you think they are)…drown in a sea
Rather than getting answers
Easiest, not highest quality toy, has fun doing it
If enjoy talking to random people on the internet about your product and don’t care about the quality of that conversation…pick the easiest person to find
Chances are you are looking for how your target users view your product
Take the time to know who your customer is and where to find them
Not knowing will also rob you…knowing what resonates, appeal with more than $
I know this from experience
The cost of your incentive will be inversely proportional to the strength of your relationship with the customer.
If you blast a generic message out to the internet asking for help, you should be prepared to pay double that person’s hourly rate
If you have a more trusted (albeit virtual) relationship with the person, do to a host of psychological and sociological reasons, they will help you altruistically
I learned this the hard way w/ MG
I’m not saying that you can’t use a monetary incentive to get quality people. I’m just saying that if the budget is tight, knowing who and where your customers are can work wonders.
Clever solutions with survey monkey
I used to use Doodle (more for groups), now I use youcanbook.me
Best user interface out there from choosing a time slot to changing the time zone
Even though youcanbook.me sends out an automated message I like to followup with a personal email
All of the information they need in one place:
Spell out the month in the date (most of the world lists month then date)
Include the time in their time zone and include UTC for ultimate clarity
Direct link to the meetings
What they need to attend
Contact info in case of tech difficulties
Link to test meeting (provides piece of mind for some)
Most major email providers will allow you to create this message as a “canned” email so that you can easily send it out as your users schedule
*once again, every interaction you have with the customer is a reflection on you and your product. Sending out this email helps your users reference everything they need in one place*
There are so many things that are out of your control
I suggest writing down every word you intend on communicating to your customer
Not because you’ll use those exact words but because as Eisenhower said
Start with what you want to learn, that will effect everything from who you want to talk to, how many people, and what you’re going to ask them.