From pretend interviews to actionable customer discoveries
The difference lies not in following a rigid script but in mastering subtle interpersonal skills that unlock deeper insights.
If you’re building, pivoting, or scaling products and services, the difference between success and failure often hinges on
how well you listen to your customers, not just how often.
Everybody can talk to customers, so what’s the challenge?
Biases: The idea is the founder’s baby, making it hard to hear what customers really say. It is tempting to
assume the user said,
‘I need a chatbot when I need to find something in the knowledge base.’where the user probably said,
’I need to talk to someone when I am frustrated with lack of answers in the knowledge base.’
Stakeholder pressures: Conflicting goals (e.g. quarterly sales targets vs. annual product goals) muddy the waters.
Lack of execution expertise: Scripted interviews, jargon-heavy questions, and rushed silences lead to shallow insights.
The best customer discovery interviewers don’t just follow a script.
The best customer discovery interviewers
✅ Embrace silence. Instead of rushing to fill gaps with “umms” or the next question, they let insights emerge naturally.
✅ listen, not just ask. Their focus is on the participant, not on checking off a list of questions.
✅ Navigate stakeholder expectations wisely. They push back on conflicting stacked goals but allow for cohesive ones that serve discovery.
✅ Are acutely self-aware of body language. They know when their nonverbal cues are reinforcing the conversation—or contradicting it.
✅ Ditch internal jargon. No matter how familiar a participant might be with industry terms, they use natural, intuitive language that allows needs-based conversations over feature-focused ones.
✅ and so much more!
How do you hire for these skills?
Role-play a discovery interview session during the job interview
Encourage reflection on growth as a researcher/customer interviewer. What have they changed and why?
Often, for early-stage teams, hiring a full-time researcher may be unrealistic for numerous reasons, but I won’t go into details here. This is where a coach or trainer is a sound investment to:Fast-track expertise: They bring proven or custom frameworks to accelerate discovery(without your team reinventing the wheel).
Scale across roles: They train your C-suite, PMs, and engineers to conduct impactful interviews.
Don’t waste resources in pretend discovery to tick a box. Invest in gathering actual insights that move the ball closer to an informed pitch, PMF, and growth.
Soma partners with organisations to design systems that help teams make user evidence-led decisions.
If you want an advisor or an interim partner and want to see how I can help, get in touch.