Ground rules
- Ask about the problem, not your product. Your idea is a hypothesis, not a pitch.
- Ask about the last time it happened. Past behavior is more reliable than predictions about what someone would do.
- Keep it short. A common guideline from customer discovery teaching is about 15 minutes and 5 to 7 prepared questions.
- Avoid leading questions that assume your product already solves the problem.
- Write down exact words, not your interpretation.
Questions to ask
- Walk me through the last time this came up. What happened?
- What was the hardest part?
- How often does it happen?
- What did it cost you in time, money, or missed work?
- What do you do about it today? What have you tried and stopped using?
- What do you pay for now to deal with it?
- Who decides to buy something like this? What would have to be true for you to switch?
- Who else should I talk to?
Questions to avoid
Hypothetical questions invite polite answers. Swap each one for a question about something that actually happened.
- Instead of "Would you use this?", ask "What do you use today, and how is that going?"
- Instead of "Do you think it's a good idea?", ask "When did you last run into this?"
- Instead of "Would you pay $X?", ask "What do you pay now for this?"
How to score what you hear
Strong pain sounds like a specific recent story, a measurable cost, and an active workaround. Weak pain sounds like a general complaint with no cost and no action.
Pick a threshold before you start, and count qualified buyers rather than total calls. Guidance on how many interviews are enough varies, so treat any single number as a rough heuristic.
Every Killgate research run that supports buyer outreach includes an Outreach Battlepack with openers, interview questions, source-linked signals, a cost-of-the-problem estimate, and a call tracker.