Comment équilibrez-vous la découverte et la validation des clients dans l’avant-vente ?

In pre-sales, balancing customer discovery and validation means truly listening to the customer, asking the right questions, and gathering data to confirm our assumptions align with their goals. It's about working together with the customer, incorporating their feedback, and continuously refining our approach to ensure we're on the right track and meeting their needs effectively.

Balancing customer discovery and validation in presales involves a strategic process. Begin with customer discovery to understand their needs, challenges, and objectives through detailed conversations, surveys, and research. Once you have gathered sufficient insights, shift to customer validation by presenting tailored solutions and obtaining feedback. This phase includes conducting demos, proof of concepts, and pilot programs to ensure your solution aligns with their requirements. Continuously refine your approach based on the feedback received, maintaining an equilibrium between gaining new insights and confirming existing assumptions. This ensures your solutions are both innovative and practical for the customer.

Em pré-venda, equilibrar a descoberta e a validação do cliente é muito importante, principalmente saber ouvir o cliente e entender suas necessidades. E ter uma hipótese clara, vai ajudar ter uma base, que vai nortear o processo de abordagem.

First talk to customers to know what they like and don't like. Then, make a basic version of your product and test it with real customers. Measure if they like it and if it helps them. Keep improving based on their feedback. Be ready to change plans and work together with your team. This way, you make things that customers want and help your business grow.

During the customer discovery phase of evaluating an IT solution, open-ended questions are essential for gathering valuable insights. These questions help you understand customers' need, pain areas and goals, and even uncover unknown needs. Open-ended questions promote unbiased feedback, build trust and can spark new ideas. It allows customers to share detailed thoughts and feelings, providing a deeper understanding of their requirements. eg: Can you describe your current workflow/process? What are your biggest challenges? By asking open-ended questions, you can gather rich, qualitative data that helps you develop a solution that truly meets customer's needs and exceeds their expectations

Open-ended questions are essential for eliciting valuable insights and encouraging meaningful discussions. Here are some examples tailored to the context of balancing customer discovery and validation in presales: Can you walk me through your current process for identifying and addressing customer needs during the presales phase? How do you determine the most critical pain points or challenges that potential customers face in their decision-making journey? What methods or techniques do you currently employ to validate assumptions about customer needs and preferences? Remember to actively listen to their responses and use them to refine your understanding and hypothesis.

Utilizar perguntas abertas permite que você explore as necessidades e os desafios do cliente. Isso favorece que você colete informações mais ricas do que perguntas fechadas que limitam as respostas a um “sim” ou “não”. Por exemplo: - "Quais são os maiores desafios que você enfrenta atualmente em seu negócio?" - "Como seria a solução ideal para as suas necessidades?"

Maintain Eye Contact: Make eye contact to show genuine interest and attentiveness. Body Language: Mirror the customer's body language subtly to build rapport and demonstrate engagement. Lean In: Physically lean in slightly to convey that you're fully present and listening intently. Minimize Interruptions: Allow the customer to complete their thoughts before responding. Use Encouraging Phrases: Use phrases like "I understand," "That's interesting," or "Can you elaborate on that?" to show you're following along. Paraphrase and Summarize: Throughout the presales interaction, consistently apply these techniques to maximize your understanding and build strong customer relationships.

Active listening and reading between the lines are vital skills for presales professionals. Understanding customer needs facilitates tailored offerings, preventing force fits. By honing these abilities, presales individuals ensure their solutions align seamlessly with client requirements, building satisfaction and trust. This approach enhances the likelihood of successful sales and cultivates long-term relationships. Moreover, it demonstrates a commitment to customer-centricity, positioning the organization as a trusted partner rather than merely a vendor.

Durante as conversas, é importante concentrar-se em ouvir ativamente. Isso significa prestar atenção total ao que está sendo dito e responder de forma que mostre que você entendeu. Por exemplo: - “Você mencionou anteriormente que [problema relatado]. Pode me contar mais sobre como isso tem afetado sua empresa?” - “Baseado no que você disse sobre [necessidade/dor], você acha que [inserir sua solução potencial] seria útil para resolver esse desafio?”

MEDDIC Methodology: This popular framework highlights the importance of uncovering Metrics, Economic Buyer, Decision Criteria, Decision Process, Identified Pain Points, and Champions. These elements all contribute to understanding customer needs and validating the fit of your solution.

Validar uma hipótese não se resume apenas a buscar confirmação, mas também a mostrar evidências e feedback que sustentem suas alegações e proposta de valor. Evidências podem ser dados, depoimentos, estudos de caso ou protótipos, enquanto o feedback vem na forma de comentários, avaliações ou ações dos clientes. Ferramentas como pesquisas, enquetes ou análises são úteis para coletar e medir essas informações.

alancing customer discovery and validation in presales involves a dynamic, iterative approach: Deep Dive Discovery: Begin with thorough research to understand the customer’s needs, pain points, and goals. Hypothesis Creation: Form solutions based on insights, but remain flexible to adjustments. Early Validation: Present preliminary ideas to the customer for feedback, ensuring alignment before moving forward. Iterate Quickly: Adapt the solution based on input, refining it to meet both customer expectations and feasibility. Continuous Engagement: Maintain open communication to validate assumptions and refine the solution at each stage.

Don't wait for validation to start discovery: Begin by understanding your target market and their needs. This initial understanding will guide your validation efforts later. Use discovery insights to inform validation: The information you gather during discovery should shape your validation strategy. For example, your interviews might reveal a specific pain point you can address in your MVP during validation. Continuously iterate based on validation results: Don't see validation as a one-time event. Use the feedback you receive to refine your product or service and conduct further discovery to ensure you're on the right track.

Além da hipótese para o contato, é necessário que se saiba quais informações são relevantes para a conversa. Ter um SLA claro e uma lista com contatos dentro do ICP com informações relevantes é o básico para entrar em uma validação. Tenha uma metodologia para estruturar a sua linha de raciocínio e se prepare obtendo conhecimento do mercado/persona para entregar insights valiosos.

Para garantir uma descoberta e validação eficazes do cliente, é essencial equilibrar quantidade e qualidade de informações e interação. Isso significa que você precisa alcançar uma quantidade suficiente de clientes para obter uma amostra representativa e evitar preconceitos ou resultados atípicos (quantidade), ao mesmo tempo em que se envolve de forma significativa e relevante para agregar valor e construir confiança (qualidade). Além disso, é importante equilibrar a profundidade e a amplitude da sua investigação, cobrindo tanto os aspectos específicos quanto os gerais da situação e da solução do cliente. Esse equilíbrio garante uma compreensão abrangente e precisa das necessidades e expectativas do cliente.

Gather both quantitative and qualitative data: Use surveys and analytics to understand customer behavior and preferences (quantitative data). But also conduct interviews and focus groups to gain deeper insights into their motivations and thought processes (qualitative data). Focus on the "why" behind the "what": Don't just settle for knowing what customers say they want. Use your discovery and validation efforts to understand the "why" behind their needs and preferences. Balancing customer discovery and validation is a continuous effort, not a one-time project. As your product or service evolves, you'll need to continuously gather feedback and iterate based on customer insights.

Famous management guru Peter Drucker said "Tell me what you believe in, and I might believe you but show me your bank statement and calendar, and I will tell you what you really value". The bank statements and calendar of the customer are called their annual reports (10K, balance sheets, etc). The number of times I have found customer stakeholders shocked by my assertions and asking me how I can say that or where I learned that. and my response is, "You own company's annual reports". It is mind-blowing how in this day and age, Pre-Sales consultants are not leveraging this goldmine of information. What is even easier now is that you can give the link to the annual report to a GenAI model and chat with the annual report to discover insights.