This document summarizes a webinar on understanding customers by visiting them, observing how they work, and conducting interviews. It discusses identifying the right customers to focus on, collecting insights from customer visits, and using those insights to define the customer value proposition. The webinar is presented by Steven Haines, founder of Sequent Learning Networks, and moderated by Hannah Flynn from Product Management Today. It provides templates for planning customer visits and mapping the customer journey. The goal is to help product managers understand customer needs in order to build solutions that create real value.

1. Walk a Mile in Your Customer’s Shoes
Steven Haines Hannah Flynn
With: Moderated by:
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Setting the Customer’s Journey
Webinar Series

2. Revulytics gives any software producers deep and actionable insight into
who is using their software products and how they are being used, and the
out-of-box analytics that enable them to grow incremental revenue, convert
and retain customers, and make decisions about licensing and cloud
transformation strategies.

3. Setting the Customer’s Journey
Webinar Series
Click on the Questions panel to
interact with the presenters
https://www.productmanagementtoday.com/webinar-series/setting-the-customer-s-journey/

4. About Steven Haines
Steven Haines is the Founder and CEO of Sequent Learning Networks, the author of several
bestselling business books, and an energetic public speaker. His ideas and books continue to shape
how leading companies organize to produce category defining products and highly performing
business people. Steven’s books include: The Product Manager’s Desk Reference (2e), Managing
Product Management, The Product Manager’s Survival Guide (2e), and The Business Acumen
Handbook. Steven has spoken to audiences in the US and in Europe on a host of business topics.
About Hannah Flynn
Hannah went to The University of Chicago, where she majored in Environmental Studies with a
concentration in Economics and Policy. She now works with Aggregage on social media strategy and
webinar production for Product Management Today and B2B Marketing Zone.
Setting the Customer’s Journey
Webinar Series

5. sequentlearning.com© Sequent Learning Networks
Walk a Mile in
Their Shoes
Creating Great Customer Insights and
Deriving Better Value Propositions

6. © Sequent Learning Networks
Nice To Meet You
• Started in finance
• Product leadership at AT&T and Oracle
• Mostly involved w/ business process
automation software
• Started Sequent Learning in 2002
• Started Business Acumen Institute in 2019
6

7. © Sequent Learning Networks
Who is Sequent?
A product management training and advisory firm
founded in 2002 by Steven Haines.
7
Who We Serve
PRODUCT MANAGERS who want to improve
their proficiency, earn empowerment,
contribute to the business, and excel in their
career.
PRODUCT LEADERS who want to improve
the efficiency of their product organizations
and optimize the performance of their product
portfolios.
Our main clients operate as mid-to-large,
complex firms in the industrial, financial, and
business services sectors. While not digital
natives, they’re moving more purposefully into
the digital space.
These firms often operate with both traditional
waterfall (phase-gate) as well as agile design and
development processes.

8. © Sequent Learning Networks
Books from Steven Haines
8

9. © Sequent Learning Networks
Context For This Webinar
The term “voice of the customer” has
been used for decades
Easy topic to debate
Often a challenge to find the right
customers whose “voices” we need to
hear
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10. © Sequent Learning Networks
Our Agenda:
This Webinar Will Guide You So You Can:
1. Identify the right customer(s)
2. Learn how a customer does what they
do by visiting, observing and
interviewing
3. Derive actionable insights from what
you learn
4. Build a realistic customer value
proposition
10

11. © Sequent Learning Networks 11
Did You Know?
90% of Start-Ups Fail
60-80% of New Products Fail

12. © Sequent Learning Networks
Quick Poll
What Contributes To The Most
Business or Product Failures?
12
Development Problems
Creating Products No One Wants
Poor Financial Planning
Lack of Capable Resources
A
B
C
D

13. Why Do Most
Products or
Businesses Fail?
They create products
that no one wants!
13

14. © Sequent Learning Networks
“I have a great idea for a product!”
“Wouldn’t it be great if we could
just….?”
“There’s this great new technology that
would work wonders!”
14

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“Hey, would you like to work with me
on this cool new product idea?”
“Imagine how much money we could
make? Do you know a java script
programmer?
“Should I quit my job yet?”
15

16. © Sequent Learning Networks
“Hey, would you like to work with me
on this cool new product idea?”
“Imagine how much money we could
make? Do you know a java script
programmer?
“Should I quit my job yet?”
16

17. © Sequent Learning Networks
How will we reprioritize what we have?
What’s the business case?
Do we have resources?
What do we do with the product
problems we have with our current
products?
What are the competitors doing?
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Challenges
Many product people think from
the inside out
Not enough have their eyes on
the customer
…even if they think they are….
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THE RE AL Q UE S TI O N
How do we “get the customer right” so we
can truly understand them, uncover their
problems or challenges, and create an
innovative solution with compelling value?

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To Overstate the Obvious
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Some of Us Work Here
21
Company

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Some Companies Sell Products to Other Companies
22
Company
Company
Company

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Some Sell Directly to Consumers
23
Company
Consumer
Consumer

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This May Be More Typical
24
Company
ConsumerCompany

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Who Exactly Is The Customer?
25
Company
Consumer
Tendency to ascribe a single set of needs to a “customer company”

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There May Be More Than One Customer
26
Family
Parents
[Buyer/Decision Maker]
Teenager
[Influencer & User]
Toddler
[Influencer & User]
General Manager
[Decision Maker]
Dept. Manager
[Influencer]
BuyerUserUserUser
Dept. Manager
[Influencer]

27. © Sequent Learning Networks
B2B2C Success Requires Common View of Customers!
27
YourCo.ChannelCo.
Collaborate to focus on
the right customer

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Merging of The Minds
28
“People” who work in businesses bring their “consumer” shopping habits
and behaviors into the work place, and vice versa!

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How Customers’ Voices May Be “Heard”
Customer needs are a reflection
of what they perceive, based on:
• Personal Experience
• Stage of Life
• Emotional States
• Behaviors
• Culture
• ‘Jobs to be done’
29

30. © Sequent Learning Networks
Big Questions To Ask & Answer!
• Who’s the real customer?
• Are there several customers within a
“customer company”?
• Which customer do we chose?
• What does each chosen “customer” do?
• How do they do what they do?
• What could help them do things differently?
• How will we know?
30

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Quick Poll
Which Statement Most Closely
Matches Your Understanding About
Customers?
31
Customers are smart & savvy – they know
what bothers them and they know what they
want.
Many customers don’t exactly know what they
want or need.
Customers like to be surprised with new
innovations that they didn’t know they
needed.
A
B
C

32. © Sequent Learning Networks 32
S T E V E N HA I NE S
“Customers may say what they want
and complain as they will, but what
they believe they need is not always
what they actually need.”

33. © Sequent Learning Networks
How to Hunt For Problems and Find Value Propositions
Hunting for a Value Proposition
= Finding & Fixing Customer Problems
• Visit
• Observe
• Interview
• Surveillance (Online Traffic)
• Data Analysis
• Surveys
33

34. © Sequent Learning Networks
Customer Visit Request Form – Used in Larger Companies
34
Template Available:
bit.ly/PMT-templates

35. © Sequent Learning Networks
Customer Visit Request – The Team
35
Team Members & Their Roles
• Product Managers
• Engineers
• Designers
• Psychologists
• Technologists
• Multidisciplinary
• Domain expertise
• Diverse perspectives
• Ability to see patterns
Template Available:
bit.ly/PMT-templates

36. © Sequent Learning Networks
Making Arrangements For A Formal Visit To A Company
• Positive Relationship with Customer
• Respectful of Sales Person’s Domain
• Communicating with Primary
Customer Contact
36This timing may vary slightly

37. © Sequent Learning Networks
Sequent Customer Visit Template
37
Template Available:
bit.ly/PMT-templates

38. © Sequent Learning Networks
Customer Visit Template – Additional Information
38
Visit Plan Item Information
Objective • Describe the purpose of the visit
Customers to be visited • Companies, names, titles
Preparation
• Which customers and why?
• What products, if any, will be involved?
• Will a presentation be needed?
• Will interviews be done? Interview guide?
• Will tours be arranged?
Guidelines/protocol
• Who makes arrangements
• Documents (NDAs, etc.)
• Permission for video (release)
• Transportation
Team members • Roles and responsibilities (note taking, interviewing, observing)
Agenda • Time required
Data capture
• Who records notes, videos, or information?
• What if a time-out is needed?
• Who will verify what’s been learned?
Budget • Funds required for travel and equipment
Debrief
• When scheduled
• Who will participate?
• Will observations be combined with other research?
Template Available:
bit.ly/PMT-templates

39. © Sequent Learning Networks
Types of Visits
1. Site Visits
2. Presentations by Customers
3. Behavioral Studies
4. Interviewing
39This timing may vary slightly

40. © Sequent Learning Networks
: Site Visits
• Listening to customers in a call center
• Observing workers in a factory
• Watching nurses in a hospital
• Viewing people shopping in a store
(mystery shoppers)
40

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: Presentations by Customers
• Having process presented to you
• Discussing various work environments
• People share their experiences
41

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: Behavioral Study
• Video Users
• Observe The Assembly of a Product
• Shadow a User as They Do Their Job
• Ask People to Fill Out a Survey on
Their Work Activities
42

43. R E A L E X A M P L E S
Gross Profits
From The
Remedied ICK
Factor
The Clorox Toilet Wand – featured in the New York Times
43

44. © Sequent Learning Networks
: Interviewing People
• People Who Are Responsible for a
Process
• People Who Work on Projects
• People Who Use Products
• People Who Interact With Companies
44

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Open-Ended Questions Work Best
45
I was so frustrated! I
missed a commitment to
my client.
When the app didn’t
work, how did it make
you feel? Who was affected when
you couldn’t complete
your work?
I let my team down
and I lost credibility.

46. © Sequent Learning Networks 46
ME RRI AM -W E BS TE R
Insight:
The ability to understand
people and situations in a
very clear way

47. © Sequent Learning Networks
Assembling Insights – Basics
A Leader and Facilitator Is Needed
• Must be unbiased (watch out for confirmation bias)
• Can’t have an agenda to “sell” the team
• No product ideas – yet
47
Team Must Be Able To:
• Empathize – see the world through customer’ eyes
• Humanize – bring the world of the customer into focus
• Unpack – the complexity of the customers’ problems to learn the root cause of the pain
• Tell the story of the customer’s journey

48. © Sequent Learning Networks
Another Way To Characterize Customers – Customer Personas
48
Fictional characters who are meant to represent how a person in a segment might look, act, feel, or
behave – particularly with respect to a given product or situation.
• Natasha is the executive in charge of the retail cosmetic business of a regional department store
chain. She is accountable for the profitable operation of the cosmetics departments in the chain’s
200+ stores. Reporting to her are merchandising managers and the buyers in the supply chain
group. There are a number of issues she’s challenged by:
1. Less foot traffic in the stores and an older demographic
2. Reduced in-store sales, increased online sales
3. Difficulty in finding good employees to work in the stores
4. Conflict among buyers and merchandise managers over products and
displays
She’s looking for solutions to help her stay in touch with customers, keep abreast of fashion
and other trends, and influencing vendors to come up with new innovations.

49. © Sequent Learning Networks
One Way To Understand Customers – Customer Journey Map
Who’s the real customer?
Are there several customers within a “customer
entity”?
Which customer?
What does each “customer” do?
How do they do what they do?
What could help them do things differently?
49This timing may vary slightly
Customer Journey
Maps
Graphs or charts that describe
the interactions and touch
points of a specific customer

50. © Sequent Learning Networks 50
Customer Journey Map
Template Available:
bit.ly/PMT-templates

51. © Sequent Learning Networks
Insights Help Shape The Customer Value Proposition
• Defines the need and proves the benefit of the
product or service for a given target market segment
or customer type.
• Saving Time
• Being Efficient
• Speeding Decisions
• Making Money
• Feeling Good
• Improving the Experience
51
Value Proposition

52. R E A L E X A M P L E S
Defining and
Designing The
Right Tools for
the Job
The Story of the OXO brand
52

53. © Sequent Learning Networks
The Story of OXO
Emphasizing the Customer Value Proposition
• Vision for changing a price sensitive commodity to a value-
added brand
• Full emphasis on user-centered design
• Improve customer value proposition and drive price
points higher
53
Product 1990 Product 1991+
All metal peeler $1.79 OXO Peeler $ 9.99
Herb mincer $ .89 OXO Mincer $14.99
Corkscrew $2.99 OXO Corkscrew $24.99

54. © Sequent Learning Networks
The Customer Value Proposition
Each Customer Type Has One Essential Set of
Perceived Benefits
• Some will be willing to purchase, others may not
• If you have more than one customer type, you may have to assemble all of the
value propositions – step back and examine the common denominators
54

55. © Sequent Learning Networks
Things To Think About
• Customers don’t always speak with their voices, they speak
through their actions and behaviors (I walked out of Starbucks)
• When you understand customers, you’re in a better position to
make meaningful connections with them with your products,
and the experiences created by those products
• Customers today may be more eager to participate in your
research – they have recording capabilities in the palm of their
hands and they’re eager to share.
• We live in a connected world – it’s easier for like-minded people
to find one another - Your opportunity is to connect with your
customers, and allow your customers to connect with one
another – and you’ll quickly learn not to just walk in the shoes
of one customer, but an army of customers!
55

56. © Sequent Learning Networks
Summary: Here’s What We Discussed
1. How to identify the right customer(s)
2. How to understand customer needs by
visiting, observing and interviewing
3. How to derive actionable insights from
what you learn about customers
4. How to build a realistic customer value
proposition based on actual facts and
data
56

57. © Sequent Learning Networks 57
S E Q UE NT LE ARNI NG NE TW O RKS
Thank You!
To gain access to our Customer Visit Templates visit:
bit.ly/PMT-templates

58. Setting the Customer’s Journey
Webinar Series
Q&A
Hannah Flynn
With: Moderated by:
Founder and CEO, Sequent Learning Networks
Linkedin page: /in/stevenjhaines/
Twitter ID: @steven_haines
Website: http://sequentlearning.com/
Gain Access To Our Templates:
bit.ly/PMT-templates
Steven Haines
Site editor, Product Management Today
Linkedin page: /in/hannahmichaelflynn
Twitter ID: @prodmgmttoday
Email: hannah@aggregage.com
Website: productmanagementtoday.com
https://www.productmanagementtoday.com/webinar-series/setting-the-customer-s-journey/
bit.ly/PMT-templates