The PMM’s guide to customer conversations
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Customer conversations are something all PMMs should be having and they’re the fastest way to create more effective marketing, IMO. So, let’s dive in.
Forget Slack user groups, blasting a survey, or listening to Gong recordings. What I’m talking about is real-time voice calls.
Speaking 1-on-1 with customers is like washing your hands after you use the bathroom—we know it’s good for us. But research shows the number of us who *actually* do it is very low 🥲.
I’m here to encourage you to start doing what’s good for you and your company: wash your hands and call your customers ;-p. Don’t worry, you can start small.
⭐Customer conversations make you a better product marketer—fast
There are two key reasons why PMMs should be having customer conversations:
Reason # 1 is that online research makes it fast and easy to see what our buyers do and say. In a few clicks, we can see NPS comments, Pendo product usage data, search volumes for key problems, and product reviews for everyone in the market.
What’s missing from this information is why our buyers do or say those things. Why is searching that keyword important? Why did they choose a competitive alternative to us? Why did they watch that webinar twice?
When you know why a customer makes certain choices, then you can craft hyper-compelling assets.
Reason # 2 is that conversations give you richness other mediums lack. By that, I mean you hear the language they use. You feel their frustrations as they meander through a rant about their job. You pick up their verbal eye-roll about that annoying competitor who kept calling them Jim instead of John.
🏆 The bonus: if you transcribe the calls, you end up with soundbites that other teams love: a gem about how a competitor's sales team is lazy (your AEs will love these nuggets) or discover an opportunity for a case study - marketing gold 💰.
You start providing teams with things that help them do their job. You build trust and a reputation as the “customer whisperer”.
TL;DR: you gain influence.
⭐OK, but what should you talk about?
Qualitative interviews are good for discovering new facts you haven’t considered before. The best way to get those is to adopt a beginner's mindset and ask broad, open-ended questions.
As you conduct a few interviews, you often realize a sizeable gap in your customer understanding. That’s a good indicator you want to change a few of your questions and drill into those particular aspects.
For starters, I’d recommend talking to your customers about four key themes:
The problem or goal that they use your product to solve/reach.
The trigger point that led them to talk to your company.
The other alternative tools or avenues they considered for solving that problem/goal.
Their perception and experience with competitors; what did they think was good and bad about them (that includes their experience with the sales team)?
From there, you’ll get a great overview of their buyer journey (I’ll come back to these themes later).
⭐Tips for Great Customer Conversations
So I’ve gotten this far without saying what to specifically ask and that’s for good reason.
Tip #1: There are no perfect questions. The exact question that gets a customer to open up and share will differ from customer to customer. People are unique.
Tip #2: Use an interview guide —not a script.
A script is like a doctor's checklist: “Have you consumed alcohol in the last 24 hours?” It’s a question that’s read verbatim and comes across pretty blah.
We want this to be a flowing, natural conversation, so a better approach is to create a thematic interview guide.
An interview guide is when you use themes (like the four I listed above) as talking points you aim to cover. For each talking point, you have a few questions in different styles that you use as prompts. With experience, you might not even need this after a while- but I’d still recommend it.
Tip #3: Avoid the “big questions” mistakes
Specifically, these mistakes are:
Multiple questions in one. I.e., “Tell me about your job, what it’s like, and what you hate about it.” Ask them one at a time.
Loaded questions. I.e., “Do you like marketing?” or “Where do you cut corners?” Those are great if you’re a journalist looking for dirt but otherwise, try to avoid them.
Leading questions. I.e., “You do need this product though, right?”
In the end, if the conversation is flowing and your customers are speaking their minds, that’s what matters.
Tip #4: Be flexible and willing to go “off script” (aka “off guide”)
Oftentimes a customer will have loads to say on one area of interest, and you’ll be faced with a choice: either move them onto a new topic so you can cover every interview theme, or get more details on that one particular area.
Most of the time, I prefer the latter. We’re in information and idea-gathering mode, not testing and proving mode, so dig for the hidden info or ideas.
🏆 Bonus trick:The juiciest comments happen when time is running out. Encourage these by telling people, “Time’s almost up,” with 10 minutes to go.
⭐All-in-all: just get going
The first few conversations will be like those first few pancakes you make. They might be a little crispy and imperfect, but they’ll quickly improve.
Do yourself a favor: if you’re just starting out with customer calls, start easy. Find a friendly CSM and have them introduce you to a really happy customer.
Do a few of those, and you’ll build your customer interviewing muscle and confidence. If you’re anything like me, you’ll fall in love with it – and when you do (I think you will) - let me know!
If this sparked anything for you or you have questions, feel free to contact me on LinkedIn.
