The art of customer conversations

We’ve all been there – a friend or family member excitedly shares their idea for the next big app. Maybe it’s a social platform for finding parties, or an AI-powered dog walker. We smile, nod, and tell them it’s brilliant. But here’s the thing: while we all want to be supportive, it’s not actually helping them succeed and may in fact lead them to waste their time and energy. The reality is that honest feedback is rare and precious – but only if you know how to ask for it.

The challenge of getting real feedback

Structured problem-solving is fundamentally about gathering valuable information to make informed decisions. Think of it like an archaeological excavation – the truth lies somewhere beneath the surface, and you need the right tools and techniques to uncover it without breaking anything in the process.

Enter Rob Fitzpatrick’s “The Mom Test”¹ – a book that gets real about why people (yes, including your mom) will always try to make you feel good about your ideas. Think about it: when’s the last time your mom told you your business idea was terrible? The book’s premise is simple yet genius – if you can structure your conversations in a way that even your mom can’t sugarcoat the truth, you’re onto something. It’s not about being cynical; it’s about being smart with how you validate your ideas and get honest feedback.

Don’ts

1. Do not look for approval or support. Believe it or not, being told that your idea is “good” doesn’t help you at all. In fact, it may lead you to spend time and effort on a dead end. It’s better to get honest negative feedback than empty approval or support.
2. Do not try to convince anyone. Your job is to listen and use your questions to extract information without bias.

Do’s

1. Prepare a plan for the discussion. Go over the game plan and determine what assumptions you’re trying to test and what learnings you want to take away from the conversation. One rule of thumb is to prepare three essential questions that encapsulate everything you want to learn.
2. Fall in love with the problem. Start with questions that explore pain points and impacts. For example, instead of asking, “Would you use this investment tool?”, ask “What’s the most frustrating part of managing investments?”. The questions should be about patterns and start off abstract. Then slowly, as you get more clarity, you can ask more specific questions that test your hypothesis (solution).
3. Ask people to describe processes and procedures. You want people to walk you through how they think about things and approach issues. A key learning about these conversations is that the best insights are buried deep in a person’s subconscious. It’s your job to bring those out.
4. Get people invested in your work. Whether it’s a second meeting, a connection, or other places to search, this helps you examine the problem space as a whole, including other customers, other conversations, and other opportunities to truly understand the requirements for a solution.

How Opto applies the mom test

These learnings can be applied broadly to any situation. However, in my experience as a product manager living by these heuristics, here’s how we at Opto apply these principles in how we interact with our customers and solve the problems that persist in the wealth management space.

1. The planning is as important as, if not more important than, the conversation itself. Before a client meeting on a product request, we align as a team to review our assumptions and solution hypotheses, and identify key questions and information gaps. We prepare for different scenarios and how to ask questions that will yield the most honest answers.
2. Designs need to be treated like questions that reveal customer processes. Static mockups often yield limited feedback. Instead, use interactive prototypes tied to specific user stories to understand how customers would actually use the feature.
3. Data is honest feedback. Our BI tools provide unfiltered information on how customers are using our product, where things are breaking, what needs to be built, and how existing products are performing. An important caveat is that sometimes they lack context, and that’s an opportunity to identify what questions to ask.
4. Focus on processes and behaviors. Asking customers to describe how they’re using our product and the workarounds they’re using to address deficiencies provides immense value in both deciding whether to solve a problem and, if so, how. This also helps you understand the motivations behind a product request. That reasoning is critical to finding the correct solution - which is not always the solution they think they need.
5. Listen to understand your customers, not just to respond. Building rapport and establishing an honest and supportive relationship with your customers yields better feedback. That’s why how you communicate your decisions matters. When you can’t implement requests, explore alternative solutions with customers. Your commitment to the relationship makes your customers want to continue working with you.

Conclusion

These principles can be applied to anyone engaged in strategic problem-solving with their customers or target audience. Putting thought and intentionality into the conversations we have makes us better problem solvers, and thereby makes us better product leaders.

Regardless of what you work in or work on, the power of questions unlocks valuable information that’s critical for any function. So if you’re passionate about a problem, start to honor questions.

For disclaimers, visit https://www.optoinvest.com/disclaimers.