Stop Guessing What Your Customer Wants To Hear with Katelyn Bourgoin

Whoever gets closer to the customer, wins. Katelyn Bourgoin joins Stewart Hillhouse to explain how to get inside the mind of your customer to really understand what they need.

Who's The Guest?

šŸ‘¤ Name: Katelyn Bourgoin

šŸ’Ŗ What They Do: Katelyn is a customer-obsessed marketer and the founder of Customer Camp.

šŸŒ Katelyn on the web: LinkedIn | Twitter

šŸ§  Best Advice: A simple way for you to check to see if you're customer-obsessed or not: Ask "Am I speaking more often than the customer?". If not, shut-it and start listening.


Episode Takeaways

A short summary of the most actionable takeaways and best advice of the episode.

Buyers Are The Best To Talk To Because They Will Actually BUY

Personas of your ideal customer will only get you so far. Having real conversations with real people spending real money on solving real problems will offer you so much more insight into the buying process.

šŸ’„ Take Action: If you have customers, ask to interview them for 30 minutes over the phone. Most will say yes, but offer a small incentive if needed.

If you don't have any customers, look to your competitors customers. Find out what they're saying through reviews, social media, and outreach.

Are You Guessing What Your Customer Wants To Hear In Your Marketing?

When you have the right insights (from doing customer interviews), it'll become clear what you need to focus on.

You'll spend less time floundering. You'll begin to write headlines your customer will actually respond to. You might even uncover a product feature that you've never thought of.

Once you know what you need to do, you can really focus on the right things.

šŸ’„ Take Action: When was the last time you spoke with a customer on the phone? Probably too long. Ring 'em up! (They'll be happy to hear from you).

What Do You Actually Do Once You Get A Customer On The Phone?

  1. Don't try to analyze the problem. This will take them down a different tangent. The purpose of this conversation is to learn about the Buying Journey.
  2. Have them describe in detail the journey they went on. Start with easy questions like "What is your role?", "What are your current priorities?". Eventually dig into what catalyzed them to look for a solution to their problem.
  3. When you hear something interesting, don't jump in right away. Letting the silence sit for a few seconds can sometimes get them to jump back in and tell you more.
  4. Let them do more talking than you.
  5. If you're on a team, ask for permission to record the call so that you can share. This is also recommended if you don't want to have to be taking vigorous notes during the call.

Katelyn's Favourite Questions That Always Prompt Deep Answers

  • Interesting, can you tell me more about that?
  • What led to that decision?
  • Can you walk me through your thought process?

Remember: 95% of the purchases that we make are actually driven by unconscious emotional triggers.

What that means is we're not actually all that cognizant of why we're doing what we're doing. But afterwards, we like to justify our decisions with logic.


If you found this useful, consider joining Top Of Mind Weekly ā€“ a short email I send on Thursdays where I share ideas that are top of mind where The Attention Economy, Marketing, and Culture overlap.

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