114: Great Questions for Market Discovery

How to ask great questions for market discovery

In this episode, some guidance on asking questions for market discovery, sales, prompting your own creativity, and just having conversations with other human beings. A lot of times you find guidance on market discovery where they “be sure to ask open-ended questions,” without explaining what that means or how to do it effectively. In this episode I give you specifics on how to ask great questions, including two continuation questions that a) are magic and b) most people don’t know about.

This episode arose out of a few posts I’ve written on LinkedIn. When I noticed I’d written quite a bit about market discovery and asking questions, I thought they’d combine into a good podcast episode.

5 W’s and an H + 2

The technique I describe, which is very simple, goes by the unwieldy rubric of “5 W’s and an H + 2” – which means (spoiler alert):

* Who

* What

* When

* Where

* Why

* How

* Tell me more…

* And then what?

It’s essentially what “they” mean when they say “Ask open-ended questions.” An open-ended question can’t be answered “Yes” or “No.” It always requires more of an effort, even if the person doesn’t want to answer.

Links

* Get People Talking, my ebook on how to ask great questions for market discovery.

* The LinkedIn posts from which this episode arose: How to seem more interesting than you really are, The power of continuation questions, If you could wave a magic wand…

* A few storytelling episodes of this podcast: How to Elicit, Structure, and Use Customer Success Stories, The Two Stories All Product Managers Must Be Able To Tell.

* A very old episode on market discovery in which my old podcast partner Rob McGrorty and I talk about how to find people to interview for market discovery” How To Get Out Of The Building.

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How to ask great questions for market discovery

In this episode, some guidance on asking questions for market discovery, sales, prompting your own creativity, and just having conversations with other human beings. A lot of times you find guidance on market discovery where they “be sure to ask open-ended questions,” without explaining what that means or how to do it effectively. In this episode I give you specifics on how to ask great questions, including two continuation questions that a) are magic and b) most people don’t know about.

This episode arose out of a few posts I’ve written on LinkedIn. When I noticed I’d written quite a bit about ma...