Great Customer Interviews

I've been doing a lot of research on conducting great customer interviews.

The thing about customer interviews is customers have their guard up.

Why?

There's an irrational fear they may reveal something unsavory about themselves.

A great technique for transforming a customer from cautious to trusting is to be an active listener.

Active listening means repeating back what you heard the customer say to you. 

It communicates that you're genuinely listening and value what they're saying. It also gives them more confidence to open up and go deeper.

You can use phrases like "So let me feed this back to you to confirm I get what you're saying: {say what they said}. Did I get that right?" 

Often, they'll confirm and expand on what they said, or you'll uncover an opportunity to ask a follow-up question. 

P.S. Active listening is not rocket science, but it works in any important relationship (professional or personal).  Give it a try!