DeepSummary
In this episode, Bob Moesta, founder and CEO of the Re-Wired Group, shares his insights on understanding customers' needs and desires through deep listening and qualitative research. He emphasizes the importance of uncovering the underlying reasons behind customers' behavior and decision-making processes, rather than relying solely on what they say they want.
Moesta discusses his mentors, including W. Edwards Deming, Clayton Christensen, and Genichi Taguchi, who taught him the skills necessary to become an "innovation machine." He explains his approach to conducting customer interviews, focusing on understanding the context and motivations behind their actions, rather than just collecting data.
Throughout the episode, Moesta provides examples of how companies like Snickers, Casper, and Airbnb have successfully identified and addressed their customers' struggling moments and desires through his framework. He also offers advice on building trust, addressing anxiety, and creating a supportive environment for employees to grow and learn.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Understand the underlying reasons and motivations behind customer behavior, not just what they say they want.
- Conduct deep listening during customer interviews to uncover the unspoken intent and energy behind their words.
- Identify the specific circumstances and prerequisites ('dominoes') that lead customers to value and purchase a product or service.
- Tailor products, marketing, and services to address the elements that cause customers to change their behavior or make a purchase.
- Align internal understanding of customer needs and desires to avoid misalignment and focus on effectively serving customers.
- Build trust with customers by being responsive within a reasonable timeframe and providing honest, authentic interactions.
- Consider the context and anxiety forces that influence customer decision-making, not just the features and benefits.
- Conduct qualitative, hypothesis-building research to uncover the customer journey and struggling moments that precede a purchase decision.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Think of it as almost like dominoes that have to fall in their life, that have to be part of their situation for them to value. And so it's searching out those things, and then from there we can actually tie that back to both product and marketing and sales and strategy and m and a.“ by Bob Moesta
- “What we did is we defined the window. The window was like, within 24 hours, they got back to me to answer my questions. That's all. Nobody needed it in 10 seconds. And to be honest, they were suspect if you. They got an answer too fast. So these are all the elements that, this is the kind of thing of when you start to study these elements of what causes people to change, and then you actually wrap your product and services around it.“ by Bob Moesta
- “The reason why people come to us is because all of a sudden they start growing, and everybody starts to have their own understanding of what the customer wants or what we're doing, and we're not aligned, and we're spending more time arguing or not building what we should be building. And so they hire us to almost find the customer truth that they can all center around.“ by Bob Moesta
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Episode Information
This Week in Startups
Jason Calacanis
5/3/24
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Todays show:
Bob Moesta joins Jason to discuss important customer interview methods, such as the concept and importance of deep listening (7:21), quantitative vs. qualitative and hypothesis-building research (13:08), “The jeweller effect” and building trust (37:47), and more!
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Timestamps:
(0:00) Bob Moesta of the Re-Wired Group joins Jason.
(2:33) Jumping into Bob's origin stories and the early lessons that shaped his career.
(4:59) Unpacking the concepts of “the customer is not always right” and that they don’t actually know what they want.
(7:21) The concept and importance of deep listening.
(8:52) Bob’s use of “the death day” and learning the value of time.
(10:57) Hubspot for Podcast Networks - Marketing Against the Grain: https://lnk.to/h3vKHnTW. “The Best AI Tools For Marketers In 2024” episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeeVKUuEv6Y
(13:08) Quantitative vs qualitative and hypothesis-building research.
(16:51) Bob’s four amazing mentors and how they turned him from an illiterate eighteen-year-old into an innovation machine.
(20:16) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist
(21:40) The dangers of identifying personas and “the secret sauce”.
(26:08) Drawing importance from the “irrational decision”, as context drives the rationale.
(28:28) Bob explains his approach to interviews.
(31:00) Zendesk - Get six months free at http://www.zendesk.com/twist
(32:32) Applying these concepts to a customer buying a diamond or health care.
(37:47) “The jeweller effect” and how do you cause trust?
(40:48) Making people problem aware.
(47:45) Applying the fact that people learn out of routine to the electric car customer.
(54:18) The concept of nostalgia.
(1:03:08) Bob’s current book he is writing about what causes someone to leave one company and go to another.
(1:15:57) At what stage is a company that hires the Re-Wired Group?
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Check out The Re-Wired Group: https://www.anomalo.com/
Check out Bob’s website and publications: https://www.bobmoesta.com/
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X: https://twitter.com/bmoesta?lang=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoesta/
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis
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(10:57) Hubspot for Podcast Networks - Marketing Against the Grain: https://lnk.to/h3vKHnTW. “The Best AI Tools For Marketers In 2024” episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeeVKUuEv6Y
(20:16) LinkedIn Jobs - Post your first job for free at https://www.linkedin.com/twist
(31:00) Zendesk - Get six months free at http://www.zendesk.com/twist
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Great 2023 interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland
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