Conducting Market Research for Clients

Every sales leader I talk to at the moment is struggling with some version of the same issue. The symptoms are different, but the underlying cause is the same. - Sales cycles elongating - Deal slippage - Prospects not showing up to meetings - An uptick in ghosting - Poor forecast accuracy - A drop in deal volumes - A drop in conversion rates What's actually happening out there in Buyer land? I've been delivering win-loss reviews for B2B companies around the world since 2011 and I'm seeing buyer behaviours I've never observed before... Let me break down some of them quickly for you and share some guidance on how to use these lessons to your advantage: Trend #1: Risk has jumped up the decision tree in order of importance, to the very top of the list for many clients, even more so when it's a new vendor. Action: Go deeper on risk in your discovery conversations, recognise that risk is both organisational and personal...find ways to better manage, mitigate and share risk with your clients...Be the low risk option. Trend #2: Value for Money, Responsiveness and Cost are consistently selected as the most important decision criteria by many clients. Action: Responsiveness should be an easy one to get right, but many sellers are stretched too thin right now...do less, but do it better. Trend #3: Change in Strategic Direction is the most frequently cited reason for customers coming to market for a new solution at the moment. Action: Try to reverse engineer this reason, to understanding what caused this change in direction and what it actually means for the business. These are your keys to the kingdom, when building a rock solid business case. Trend #4: Feedback from Peers and Colleagues has emerged as the most trusted information source for almost all respondents. Action: Case studies and customer references are losing their luster...find ways to tap into the trust which prospective clients have in their own peer network, as a way to unlock deeper connections and build trust. Trend #5: Customers are demanding more detail in the proposal documents, tender responses and business cases which they are receiving. Action: Put in the work, avoid the cookie-cutter responses, find your win themes and weave them in, share the detail they need to make an informed decision. I haven't got a crystal ball, so I can't tell you if/when the pendulum will swing back the other way, from a buyer behaviour perspective. What I can tell you with a high degree of certainty is that prospective customers have raised the bar, in terms of their expectations from their vendor partners. It's our job now to to elevate the preparation, patience and professionalism of B2B sellers everywhere, to meet these changing needs and maintain our relevance to the customers we serve.

We talk a lot about content, channels, and campaigns in #demandgen.  However, the most important thing is understanding your customers.  Without that knowledge, you're just guessing. Jumping straight into campaign mode is a big mistake. Even if you already have a file of your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), it's still worth it to double-check for any new trends to understand your audience in real-time.  👉🏾Who are they?   👉🏾What are their (present) frustrations?   👉🏾What keeps them up at night? Understanding these factors changes everything. There are many ways to gather such insights:  👉🏾Using surveys gives you quantitative data. 👉🏾Interviews provide qualitative depth.  👉🏾Social listening (very important) reveals what people are saying online.  👉🏾Competitor analysis shows the overall landscape. Recently, I was working on a campaign for a new product. My assumptions were way off, especially after reviewing recent customer interviews, which revealed a different path. Together with my team, we updated our messaging and saw a massive increase in engagement. To say the least, market research saved the (our) day! #b2bmarketing #ABM #marketingstrategy

"Talk to customers" is classic startup advice. But not enough folks teach you how to talk to users in a way that gets you actual insights. Since launching Decagon and raising $100M over 3 rounds, we’ve learned a lot, especially about GTM. Here's how we've adapted our customer conversations to go beyond surface-level excitement and uncover real signals of value. We benchmark around dollars when discussing product features. Why? Because it’s easy to run a customer interview where the customer seems thrilled about a new idea we have. But excitement alone doesn’t tell you if a piece of feedback is truly valuable. The only way to find out is to ask the hard questions: → Is this something your team would invest in right now? → How much would you pay for it? → What’s the ROI you’d expect? Questions like these don’t allow for generic answers—they'll give you real clarity into a customer's willingness to pay. For example: say you float a product idea past a potential user. They're stoked by it. Then you ask how much they'd pay for said product—and the answer is $50 per person for a 3-person team. Is that worth building? It might be, depending on the outcome you're shooting for. But if your goal is to build an enterprise-grade product, that buying intent (or lack thereof) isn't going to cut it. If you'd stopped the interview at the surface-level excitement, you might have sent yourself on a journey building a product that isn't viable. By assessing true willingness to pay you can prioritize building what users find valuable versus what might sound good in theory. Get to the dollars as quickly as you can. It’s an approach that has helped us align our roadmap with what customers truly need and ensure we’re building a product that has a measurable impact.

Your research findings are useless if they don't drive decisions. After watching countless brilliant insights disappear into the void, I developed 5 practical templates I use to transform research into action: 1. Decision-Driven Journey Map Standard journey maps look nice but often collect dust. My Decision-Driven Journey Map directly connects user pain points to specific product decisions with clear ownership. Key components: - User journey stages with actions - Pain points with severity ratings (1-5) - Required product decisions for each pain - Decision owner assignment - Implementation timeline This structure creates immediate accountability and turns abstract user problems into concrete action items. 2. Stakeholder Belief Audit Workshop Many product decisions happen based on untested assumptions. This workshop template helps you document and systematically test stakeholder beliefs about users. The four-step process: - Document stakeholder beliefs + confidence level - Prioritize which beliefs to test (impact vs. confidence) - Select appropriate testing methods - Create an action plan with owners and timelines When stakeholders participate in this process, they're far more likely to act on the results. 3. Insight-Action Workshop Guide Research without decisions is just expensive trivia. This workshop template provides a structured 90-minute framework to turn insights into product decisions. Workshop flow: - Research recap (15min) - Insight mapping (15min) - Decision matrix (15min) - Action planning (30min) - Wrap-up and commitments (15min) The decision matrix helps prioritize actions based on user value and implementation effort, ensuring resources are allocated effectively. 4. Five-Minute Video Insights Stakeholders rarely read full research reports. These bite-sized video templates drive decisions better than documents by making insights impossible to ignore. Video structure: - 30 sec: Key finding - 3 min: Supporting user clips - 1 min: Implications - 30 sec: Recommended next steps Pro tip: Create a library of these videos organized by product area for easy reference during planning sessions. 5. Progressive Disclosure Testing Protocol Standard usability testing tries to cover too much. This protocol focuses on how users process information over time to reveal deeper UX issues. Testing phases: - First 5-second impression - Initial scanning behavior - First meaningful action - Information discovery pattern - Task completion approach This approach reveals how users actually build mental models of your product, leading to more impactful interface decisions. Stop letting your hard-earned research insights collect dust. I’m dropping the first 3 templates below, & I’d love to hear which decision-making hurdle is currently blocking your research from making an impact! (The data in the templates is just an example, let me know in the comments or message me if you’d like the blank versions).

I did 300 customer discovery interviews before launching my failed tech company. We still built the wrong thing. 5 big mistakes that people (including me) make when interviewing buyers: — Mistake #1: Asking people what they want. As Steve Jobs famously said, "It’s not the customer’s job to know what they want." Customers are experts in problems—not solutions. Start by understanding what people do today and where they struggle, then work backward to a solution. — Mistake #2: Asking people about future behavior. Humans are lousy at predicting how we’ll behave in the future. If you ask people Qs like: > “Would you use this?” > “How much would you pay?” They’ll try to answer honestly but their answers can lead you astray. Don't ask people what they think they might do. Explore what they’ve actually done—ideally what they’ve recently done. You'll get much more reliable answers this way. — Mistake #3: Relying too much on opinions. We all have opinions and we looooove to share them when asked. But while opinions can be insightful... they can also be dangerous. Our opinions don’t always match our actions. Take opinions with a grain of salt. — Mistake #4: Talking to the wrong people. If you wanna figure out how to get buyers it helps to talk to: Actual buyers. This seems obvious but it’s often overlooked. Just cause someone matches your ICP doesn’t mean they have the answers you need. This brings me to mistake #5... — Mistake #5: Talking to people at the wrong time. WHO you talk to matters but WHEN you talk to them can matter even more. The most helpful answers will come from talking to people who have paid—or want to pay—to solve the problem you solve. You can talk to: > People who recently bought from YOU > People who bought from a COMPETITOR > People who are CURRENTLY in the buying journey — Customer discovery interviews are crazy powerful...If you avoid these common mistakes. Remember: whoever gets closer to the customer wins.

Last week, I coached a product team through a user interview debrief. They were excited! Users had shown enthusiasm for a new feature! 🎉 But when I asked, “What problem does this solve for them?” the room went quiet. 🫣 This happens more often than we’d like to admit. 🧠 The Trap: Mistaking Enthusiasm for Validation When users say, “That sounds great!” we often interpret it as validation. But here's the catch: - Users want to be polite. - They might not fully understand their own needs. - As product teams, we may hear what we want. This is why relying solely on user enthusiasm can lead us astray. 🔍 The Solution: Semi-Structured Interviews We need to dig deeper to understand our users truly. Semi-structured interviews strike the right balance between guidance and flexibility. Key practices include: - Start with hypotheses: Identify what you believe to be true. - Ask open-ended questions: Encourage users to share experiences, not just opinions. - Listen actively: Pay attention to what’s said—and what’s not. - Probe for underlying needs: Seek to understand the 'why' behind their behaviours. This approach helps uncover genuine insights, leading to solutions that truly resonate. 🌟 Imagine the Impact By adopting this method: - Teams build products that solve real problems. - User satisfaction increases. - Resources are invested wisely, reducing wasted effort. It's not just about building features—it's about delivering value. 🦾 Take Action Next time you're planning user interviews: - Prepare a set of hypotheses. - Design questions that explore user experiences. - Remain open to unexpected insights. Remember, the goal is to understand your users, not just confirm your assumptions deeply.

"Does your client feel understood?" This single question changed everything for our agency. Here's what happened: Last month, a Tech founder told me: "We hired 3 agencies before you. All of them promised growth. None delivered." I asked: "What was missing?" His answer: "They didn't understand my product and ICP thoroughly well." That hit different. Most agencies pitch solutions before understanding problems: → "We'll get you more leads" → "We'll optimize your funnel" → "We'll scale your content" But they never ask: → Why your buyers take your seriously? → What impact does your product have on your buyers? → What's worked before and why did it stop? The shift we made at PipeBagger: Instead of leading with our expertise... We lead with their reality. Before any strategy call we ask - 1. What are your best case studies and testimonials? 2. What's failed in the past? 3. What immediate help your buyers need? The result: Our clients don't just buy services. They buy deeper understanding about their buyers, selling approach and even the product. And understanding = premium pricing, longer relationships, referrals. Here's the truth: Your prospects aren't looking for the most innovative solution. They're looking for the partner that gets them. Question for you: When's the last time you asked a prospect: "What needs to work better?" Because that question might be worth more than your entire pitch deck. #AI #Sales #GTM #RevenueEngine

Hate doing Competitor Analysis? Here is how to do it, without overwhelming yourself 👇🏽 While competitor analysis is a super critical part of any market research and differentiation strategy, most folks don't know how to do it rightly. I have seen people filling up a gazillion of slides and pages with every detail of the competitors, this leads to a popular PM disease called: "Analysis Paralysis" This also demotivates a lot of professionals from pursuing market research, because it gets overwhelming quickly. Here are the 4 questions (+ tools) I would suggest you start with in your next competitive research: 1. What problems do they solve, are they relevant for our users? 2. What are their strengths? (Check their website lingo, check their ads from Facebook/Google/Linkedin Ads Library, use the product by yourself, and observe customers to find this). 3. What are their weaknesses? (Check their social media, and customer conversations, use the product by yourself, and make a quick need-gap analysis). 4. How do they acquire and retain users? (This will help you identify channels, communication, and product strategy). Start with these basics, and then build upon this foundation. The best resources for competitor analysis: 1. Google keyword tool: Find your keywords, and Discover who else ranks on your keywords. 2. Google/Facebook/Linkedin ads library: To understand their communication strategy and maybe star features. 3. Quora, Reddit, and Google reviews: For understanding customer voice and experiences. 4. Website: Probably the best resource. Will help you understand How they position themselves, who are top customers, and benefits. Always remember: Customer Obsession >> Competitor Obsession. Work backward from customer needs. Which is your favorite tool for competitive analysis? P.S. This is a slide from our detailed module on GTM strategy at HelloPM. Check out https://hellopm.co to find what we have in store to supercharge your Product Career ⚡️ #productmanagement #competitor

Founder: "Trust me, I know what my customers want."  Me: "Are you sure about that?" 🤔 I've helped 50+ founders with hundreds of customer interviews. The painful truth: the qualities that make you a great founder also make you terrible at customer interviews. Here's why: To pitch confidently, move fast, and solve problems, you need to be the expert. But great customer interviews require a beginner's mindset. Here's what actually works: 1. Become the student 📚 Every instinct will tell you to demonstrate expertise. Fight it. Your job isn't to prove you understand their problem or pitch your solution. Your job is to learn. Approach each conversation with genuine curiosity about their world, their challenges, and their attempts at solutions. 2. Master strategic silence 🤫 Most founders fill every pause to maintain momentum. Embrace silence instead. Wait 3 seconds when they finish talking. This is when people share their deepest insights, the things they weren't sure were "relevant" but reveal their true pain points. 3. Don't ask "would you use X?" Instead, ask: 🎯 -  "Tell me about the last time you encountered this problem..." -  "Walk me through how you currently handle this..." -  "What solutions have you already tried?" Then probe deeper: -  "Why did you try that first?" -  "What made that approach frustrating?" 4. Hunt for action-driving emotional triggers: 🔍 💰 "When was the last time this problem cost you money?" ⚡ "What finally made you start looking for a solution?" ⏰ "Where do you find yourself wasting the most time?" The moment you think you know your customers is the moment you stop learning from them.

Data-backed decisions will always outperform guesswork. Test small, learn fast, and scale smart. As global trade dynamics shift, brands must adapt quickly and strategically. Here are four key strategies to help you evaluate new markets in today's landscape: 1. Test New Markets with Purpose Market testing isn't just a buzzword, it’s a structured approach to learning. Start with a small advertising budget to run targeted campaigns and gather actionable insights. Which products resonate? What messaging converts? Remember, a hero product in Australia or the US might fall flat in France, the UK or Korea. Track performance by product and by region. A top-seller in one market could be unprofitable elsewhere due to preferences, competition or costs. 2. Speak Directly to Your Customers Already have customers in the EU? Don’t just analyse their data, speak to them. Why did they choose your brand? Where do they usually shop? Would they buy again? These conversations uncover real, on-the-ground insights that data alone can’t provide. Use this qualitative input to inform your go-to-market strategy and better understand your competitive positioning. 3. Diversify Your Supply Chain Tariffs aren’t just a sales problem, they’re a cost structure issue. Consider whether your manufacturing partners can support a split shipment strategy or help mitigate the impact through alternate production hubs. Explore supplier networks in countries less impacted by tariffs. Nearshoring or reshoring might be more viable than you think, especially when factoring in lead times, shipping costs, and political risk. 4. Consider Local Partnerships and Market Entry Support Entering a new market doesn't mean going it alone. Look into local distributors, marketplace platforms, or fulfilment partners who already understand the regulatory environment and consumer behaviour. Strategic partnerships can speed up validation and reduce the cost of entry. When market dynamics shift this is when the true entrepreneurial opportunity to re-write the game comes to the forefront.