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Do you know what your customers want?

“Of course,” you're thinking.

How do you know? Their buying behavior? The links they click on your site, the pins that got them there? Because you just know?

Well, all of those things are assumptions. (And I don't need to tell you what assumptions make us…)

This week, try asking them.

Do customer interviews. Reach out to the kind of people that you believe are in your target market, and set up calls with them. In just 15-20 minutes, you can get ten times more information than you can in hours of online research, including Facebook groups, Quora, and keyword ads.

So, how do you book those calls? Here are three ways to make the connections:

• Invite your email list subscribers. While they're already committed to you and your brand, they will probably jump at the chance to interact with you one-on-one.
• Post in related Facebook groups. Whether you can create your own thread or just need to share on a post that's open to contributions, inviting people to participate can extend your reach and help you make new connections.
• Extend personal invitations. Don't be afraid to reach out individually to key influencers or connections within your target audience and ask them for a brief interview.

Be sure to offer something to reward them for their time… a consultation or product, or even just a Starbucks gift card can help incentivize someone to open up their calendar to you.

So, once you have those calls booked, what do you ask them? Here are six questions to help you get started:

• What are your priorities around <your business/service/product>?
• What challenges are you facing?
• What's going well?
• How do you handle <area of interest> today?
• If you had a magic wand, how would this area of your life be different?
• And that great follow-up for virtually any question: Why?

If possible, record the calls. Just make sure you ask for permission first. (The easiest way to record your calls is with Zoom.us. The free plan allows you to do free video calls with recording. And as long as there are only two of you, there's no time limit on the calls.)

If you can't record them, at least take good notes, especially of how they state their pain points and desired solutions.

After you've done your customer calls, go back through your notes and recordings. Use what you learned from the conversations to validate your product. If your product is on track, make sure you also use the language that the customer used to review your marketing copy. When it makes sense, use your ideal customer's language to describe their problems, or how they feel after finding the solution. (Your solution, of course!)

Now, don't you feel better knowing what your customers want instead of assuming?

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