# Finding people for customer interviews > How to find people for customer interviews: why cold outreach is only a starting push, how warm introductions and communities keep conversations coming, how to ask for a meeting in five parts, and how many interviews are enough. - Course: [Customer Development: Talking to Customers](https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews.md) - Module: The process - Lesson 13/15, ~42 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews/finding-conversations ## Out of friendly faces **Alex Tutor:** Last module. You're still interviewing for CatChow's product team, and finding people to talk to is getting harder. Today: where to find people for customer interviews. **Sofia:** Problem. I've talked to Olivia and six friends of colleagues. That's everyone I know with a cat. My plan: buy a list of 2,000 pet-shop customers and start calling. **Alex Tutor:** Cold calls can work, but they're the hardest road. People are busy, suspicious and have no reason to be open with a stranger. **Alex Tutor:** Treat **cold outreach** as a starter, not a system. Its only job is to get your first two or three conversations. After that, the goal is to stop needing it. **Sofia:** And if 45 people out of 50 hang up on me? **Alex Tutor:** Then you got five conversations. The other 45 only tell you that people dislike unexpected calls, which you already knew. Don't count rejections, count conversations. **Alex Tutor:** And end every conversation, cold or not, with one question: “Who else should I talk to?” That's how one conversation turns into three. ![A snowball rolls downhill, growing bigger as small figures of people hop on along the way.](https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews/inline/finding-conversations-illustration-2.webp) *Ask who else to talk to, and one chat turns into several.* > **Exercise:** What is the main purpose of cold outreach in customer conversations? **Alex Tutor:** Now the habit that makes cold outreach unnecessary. You're finishing a good chat with a groomer. Which line do you end on? > **Exercise:** Sofia is wrapping up a good conversation with a groomer CatChow works with. Which closing line does more for her **next** conversations? ## Warm introductions: who else should I talk to? **Sofia:** I did ask Olivia who else to talk to. Listen to what she said. **Olivia:** Talk to Hannah, she runs our district cat chat, about 3,000 people. Tell her I sent you. And my sister just adopted two kittens and complains about food prices every day. **Alex Tutor:** That's a **warm introduction**, or warm intro: someone both sides trust connects you. Hannah will answer you because Olivia vouched for you. A stranger with a list of phone numbers gets none of that. ![A woman stands between two people and joins their hands in a handshake, smiling at both, with a cat sitting at her feet.](https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews/inline/finding-conversations-illustration-3.webp) **Alex Tutor:** Other sources: colleagues' relatives with cats, the groomers and shelters CatChow already works with, and people who once said “keep me posted, let me know if I can help”. Now you can take them up on it. **Sofia:** Isn't it awkward to write to someone who brushed me off a month ago? **Alex Tutor:** Less than you think. You're not asking them to buy, just for one introduction. Some will ignore you, and that's fine: you're collecting conversations, not a perfect reply rate. > **Exercise:** Which of these are warm intros? Select all that apply. ## Go where cat owners already are **Sofia:** Warm intros are slow, though. Where else can I find cat owners this week? **Alex Tutor:** Where they already spend time: the district chat, the Saturday adoption day at the shelter, a cat show, the waiting room of a vet clinic. Become a familiar face there. **Sofia:** And say what? “Hi, I'm doing customer research”? **Alex Tutor:** If it isn't a formal meeting, you don't need an official reason. Help carry the cages at the adoption day and ask people about their cats. Everyone loves that topic. ![At a shelter adoption day, a volunteer carries a cat carrier and chats with a family looking at kittens in a pen.](https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews/inline/finding-conversations-illustration-4.webp) **Alex Tutor:** One catch. If you started as a volunteer, stay a volunteer. Switching to a sales pitch halfway through feels like a trick and burns trust. Treat such chats as pure learning. > **Exercise:** Sofia chatted with a woman at the shelter's adoption day while helping as a volunteer. The chat went well, so at the end Sofia should offer her a discount on the CatChow subscription. **Sofia:** So at the adoption day I just help out? No speech about CatChow at all? **Alex Tutor:** None. If someone asks where you work, say it plainly and get back to their cat. People talk most freely to someone who's simply there to help. **Sofia:** And “Can I interview you?” is out too, I guess. **Alex Tutor:** It is. Let's practise the start of such a chat. Imagine you're at the adoption day this Saturday. > **Exercise:** Sofia is helping at the shelter's Saturday adoption day and wants to learn how people choose cat food. How should she start? ## Make them come to you **Alex Tutor:** When you chase people, you're the one who wants something. Flip it: give them a reason to come to you. **Megan:** We could host a free evening with a vet: “How to switch a picky cat to new food”. Our sales team would love those contacts. **Alex Tutor:** Good idea, with one adjustment: the evening is for learning, not selling. The host gets instant credibility. Afterwards, chat with the people who asked the most questions. **Alex Tutor:** Same with teaching and writing. A post in CatChow's newsletter about feeding senior cats, ending with “Tell us how you solved it”, brings people who care about exactly that problem. **Sofia:** What about a landing page for the subscription? We'd see how many people sign up. **Alex Tutor:** A sign-up count is weak evidence on its own. The real value is a list of people who raised their hand. Write to each one and ask for a conversation. > **Exercise:** CatChow's landing page collected 300 emails in two weeks. What is the most useful next step for learning? ## Asking for a meeting **Sofia:** Here's my message to Hannah: “Hi! Can I interview you? We're launching a food subscription and want your feedback. Do you have 15 minutes for a quick call?” **Alex Tutor:** “Interview” sounds like a chore. “Your feedback on our subscription” reveals the idea and sounds like you want praise. “Quick call” says you'll rush. It reads like a sales call in disguise. **Alex Tutor:** A better request has five parts. **Problem**: what you want to solve, without your idea. **Stage**: where you are, and that you're not selling. **Alex Tutor:** **Stuck point**: where exactly you're stuck. **Why you**: why this particular person can help. **Ask**: a clear request for help. **Sofia:** Doesn't the “why you” part sound like flattery? **Alex Tutor:** Not if it's true and specific. “You've answered hundreds of questions from cat owners in your chat” is a fact. People like helping when they see they can really make a difference. > **Exercise:** Match each sentence of a meeting request to its part of the formula. ## Rewriting the message **Sofia:** Do I have to write five separate paragraphs? That sounds long. **Alex Tutor:** No. The parts can merge into two or three sentences and change order. If a message sounds pushy, start with where you're stuck. What matters is that she sees you know what you need. **Sofia:** And the word “subscription” goes? **Alex Tutor:** It goes. Hannah should know what problem you're working on, not what you plan to build. And mention Olivia: a mutual contact is your credibility. > **Exercise:** Rewrite Sofia's message to Hannah, the admin of a district cat owners' chat with about 3,000 members, using the five parts: the problem, your stage, where you're stuck, why her, the ask. Olivia introduced them. Keep it to 3–5 sentences. ## Ask for advice, not a favour **Sofia:** Hannah said yes! Now I'm nervous. It feels like I'm begging a busy person for a favour. **Alex Tutor:** Try a different stance: **ask for advice, not a favour**. You aren't begging for help. You're finding out whether Hannah could be a good adviser for CatChow. You're the one assessing. **Sofia:** Should I tell her that? **Alex Tutor:** No, it's your inner stance. The questions stay the same, but you stop trying to please or convince her. Both of you will feel the difference. **Alex Tutor:** Let's check that idea first. Then one more tip for the first minute of the call. > **Exercise:** At the start of the call, Sofia should tell Hannah openly that she's assessing whether Hannah could become a good adviser for CatChow. **Alex Tutor:** And take control at the start. Repeat your frame in one sentence, mention Olivia, and ask your first question straight away. Otherwise she'll ask about your product and you'll slip into selling. **Sofia:** So no small talk about the weather first? **Alex Tutor:** A line or two is fine. But if the first real question comes late, Hannah will fill the gap with “So what are you building?” **Sofia:** Then I'll write my first question down before the call. > **Exercise:** The call with Hannah starts. Write Sofia's first two or three sentences: restate the frame, mention who connected them, and ask the first question about Hannah's experience. ## How many customer interviews are enough? **Sofia:** So how many conversations do I need? Fifty? A hundred? **Alex Tutor:** Keep going until you stop hearing anything new. That point is called **saturation**. With a well-defined group, it often comes after three to five conversations. **Sofia:** Hmm. I've had nine, and every one is different. One is about price, one about a picky cat, one about delivery to a village… **Alex Tutor:** Then more conversations won't help. When ten talks give ten different stories, your **customer segment** is too broad. “Cat owners” is not one group. That's our next lesson. > **Exercise:** A PM at an online kids' clothing shop has had 12 conversations with “parents”. Every one describes a different main problem. What should she do? ## Planning two weeks of conversations **Sofia:** Megan asks for a plan: ten good conversations in the next two weeks, and no bought databases. **Alex Tutor:** Then combine the routes: a couple of cold starts, the warm intros you already have, one or two places where cat owners gather, and one thing that brings them to you. **Alex Tutor:** And don't forget the end of each conversation. “Who else should I talk to?” is what keeps the plan alive after the first week. ![Cold outreach, warm intros, going where people are and bringing them to you all lead to conversations; ending each with “Who else should I talk to?” turns one into three.](https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews/diagrams/m5-l1-snowball.png) **Sofia:** Got it. I'll write it up for Megan. > **Exercise:** Write Sofia's two-week plan for ten conversations with cat owners. ## What to remember **Sofia:** So the hard part isn't the questions any more. It's finding people. **Alex Tutor:** At first, yes. Once the snowball rolls, conversations find you. Just keep asking who else you should talk to. > **Where conversations come from** > > - **Cold outreach** only starts the snowball. Count conversations, not rejections. > - **Warm intros**: friends, colleagues, partners, people who offered help. End every talk with “Who else should I talk to?” > - **Go where they are**: communities, events, waiting rooms. No formal reason needed; don't switch to selling. > - **Bring them to you**: host, teach, write; talk to those who respond. > - **Ask for a meeting**: the problem, your stage, where you're stuck, why them, the ask. Then restate the frame and ask the first question. > - **Stop at saturation**. Ten different stories mean the segment is too broad. **Alex Tutor:** Next time we'll slice “cat owners” into groups you can actually find, and meet someone who isn't a cat owner at all. - Previous lesson: [Zombie leads and “keep me posted”](https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews/zombie-leads.md) - Next lesson: [Customer slicing: how to define your target customer](https://productovi.com/courses/customer-interviews/customer-slicing.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.