Customer Discovery #2: What a Positive Response Looks Like

When asking for feedback on a product concept, it is easy to be fooled.  Make sure you know the kind of reaction you need to hear to know you have a potential winner.

Most people are polite. They do not want to hurt your feelings. Their impulse creates a challenge when you are trying to get honest feedback on a product concept.  So how do you get potential customers to tell you that your baby is ugly?  What are some clues that distinguish a genuinely positive response from a neutral one?

First, be able to succinctly describe the essence of the product concept in just a sentence or two.  Boil it down to only the most essential elements. If you need five minutes to explain the idea to a potential customer, it is already too complicated. 

Second, know who your target customer is likely to be. Whose pain are you solving? You should certainly describe your product concept in terms that your target customer can relate to. Do not worry if other (non-target) people are not interested.  What matters is if your target customer gets excited. I mean really excited!  You may have to work to identify who has the unmet need your product can solve, so this can take some trial and error. However, once you are done, you will know precisely who cares about your product.

Third, listen carefully for the signals that your target customer is genuinely excited versus merely being polite.  Tepid responses like “That’s interesting” or “That might be useful” or “Check back with me after you made more progress on your development” or “Good luck!” are subtle ways of saying the baby might be homely. I have had to abandon a fair number of ugly babies along the path to finding a winner. When you are getting potential customers saying things like “How can I help you get this done faster?” and “Please don’t leave me out!” and “I have these friends who would love to learn about this!”, these are all signs that you may be on to something.

Here are examples from my experience that will illustrate what excitement sounds like:

• At the genesis of Accuri Cytometers, we were cycling through several different product concepts when we asked an immunologist if she would be interested in a full-featured 2-laser, 6-color flow cytometer for $30,000?  Her response was a passionate “I don’t believe you!  When can I have one?”  There were three crucial elements to her response.  First, her passion was unmistakable. She was not being polite.  She was jumping out of her chair.  Second, “I don’t believe you!” means that no one else had a product like this. There was a need.  Third, “When can I have one?” says she would buy it at the price quoted if we could make it.  This puts a value on that unmet need. 
  
  Most importantly, as we talked to many more immunologists, we got many more passionate confirmations of the theme.  We had discovered a real unmet need in the marketplace.  Now the challenge was to build a product that could deliver.
  
  
• As I was vetting the product concept for Fifth Eye, I reached out to an intensivist who oversaw multiple intensive care units and asked her what she thought about a product that could detect hemodynamic instability from a single lead of streaming electrocardiogram (ECG)?  Her response was “Being able to detect hemodynamic instability would be a Holy Grail-type measure – a real next-generation tool – if it affects outcomes.” Again, the essential elements of her response indicated that the problem was not already solved – and it would be profoundly meaningful if we could solve it.  Her reaction also reminded us that doctors trained to rely on evidence-based medicine would appreciate data to back up our claims.

Finally, always remember that it is a gift to learn early that you have an ugly baby. That information allows you to adjust, pivot, reorient, and reinvent so that you are investing your precious time and resources in building something that your customers want.