When in Doubt:
ETHICAL ELICITATION TECHNIQUES
THAT GATHER ACTIONABLE
INTELLIGENCE
Cascade Insights
2/18/2010 2
• “We provide technology
companies with information
and comprehensive analysis
to beat the competition.”
• We’ll be sharing with you:
• Tools that we use to help accelerate
our Competitive Intelligence and
Market Research projects.
Contact:
tel: 503.898.0004
Disclaimer
• We are not attorneys…
• Therefore considering any of the following
slides as legal advice would be a mistake on
your part.
• That said the slides that follow are based
on a certain degree of wisdom gained from
the practice of doing CI over an extended
period of time.
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Most rock journalism is by
people who can't write,
interviewing people who
can't talk, for people who
can't read. Frank Zappa
Audience Product Marketers
Product Planners
Program Managers
Channel Marketers
Partner Marketers
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One More Audience
• Eliciting Compensation
• Eliciting Company
Culture, Leadership Style
• Eliciting Org Structure
• Eliciting Company
―Health‖
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Elicitation Defined…
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Elicitation The Candidates
• The Happy Customer
• Willing to talk at length
• Willing to extol the virtues of
your product
• May be a ―bit‖ blind to the
demerits your product carries
with it.
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Elicitation The Candidates
• The ―Not So‖ Happy
Customer
• No so willing to talk at length
• Top of mind answers as to why
they don’t like your
product/solution.
• May not be aware of mitigating
product benefits.
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Elicitation The Candidates
• The ―Crowd‖
• Willing to talk, just maybe not
about what you’re interested
in.
• You’ll need to travel to see
them as much as they’ll travel
to see you.
• Easy way to find the
―agnostics‖ you need to reach.
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Elicitation The Candidates
• The ―folks‖ you work with…
• Willing to talk, just maybe not
always what you are interested
in.
• They are right at hand.
• Have to be careful of who and
what you ask in some
situations.
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When should you pick up the phone?
• When you want to know your own customers better
• When you need to understand more about “clogs” in the sales “pipe” first
hand.
• When you want to know customer pain points ―first hand.‖
• If you want to understand what your customers want from your next release
• If you want to understand how your partners or channel sells “you.”
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When should someone else?
• When you want to understand what your competitor’s customers are doing, hearing,
or reacting to in the marketplace.
• What does the competitor say about your company and your offerings?
• When you want to talk to industry experts who have knowledge about your
competitors offerings.
• You don’t know who to call and you don’t know how to find them.
• You want the objectivity of 3rd party research.
• When you want to know what your customers say about you when you’re not
around?
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Elicitation
IS NOT…
The issue of… ETHICS
Ethics SCIP Code of Ethics
• To continually strive to increase the recognition and respect of
the profession.
• To comply with all applicable laws, domestic, and international.
• To accurately disclose all relevant information, including
one’s identity and organization, prior to all interviews.
• To fully respect all requests for confidentiality of information.
• To avoid conflicts of interest in fulfilling one’s duties.
• To provide honest and realistic recommendations and
conclusions in the execution of one’s duties.
• To promote the code of ethics within one’s company, with third-
party contractors and within the entire profession.
• To faithfully adhere to and abide by one’s company policies,
objectives, and guidelines.
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Ethics Questions to ask
• Legal Guidelines • Do you understand the legal implications of the research
you are about to undertake?
• Do you have legal counsel to turn to in case a questions comes up?
• Personal Ethics • What ―code of ethics‖ are you following as you elicit
information?
• Company Guidelines • What guidelines does your company already have in place
on the subject of qualitative research and/or elicitation?
• Do these guidelines differ if you are researching information about a competitor or your own company?
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Elicitation
IN THE FIELD
Elicitation – In the Field Before the Call – Research, Research, Research
• The ―Quick‖ Scan
• Step #1 - LinkedIn, Xing, Facebook
• Step #2 – Their company’s web site.
• Step #3 – Internet Wayback Machine (i.e. archive.org)
• Step #4 – Any public quotes the interview has given in
the past or any interviews that they have participated in.
• Step #5 – Twitter or Blog Feeds
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Elicitation – In the Field Before the Call – Research, Research, Research
• The Level ―1‖ Diagnostic
• Book’s they’ve written or reviewed • Amazon, Visual Bookshelf, Library Thing
• Presentations they’ve given • SlideShare.net, Conference Speaker Searches
• CV’s they’ve made publicly available
• Google Maps Sat view of their location • Office Park, Home Office, The ―Glass Tower‖, Downtown, Rural,
etc.
• Searches tied to a ―nation bound‖ search engine path • i.e. www.google.ca not www.google.com
• Forum Searches • Google Groups, etc..
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Elicitation – In the Field The First 20 Seconds
• Build Shared Understanding • It similar to ―good‖ Business Development rapport
building • Match Tone and Pacing
• Don’t say ―trite‖ things
• Don’t say ―cute‖ things
• Don’t make a ―joke‖ to start things moving
• Show real interest in all the aspects of the person you are interviewing
• Be appreciative of them giving you time to do the interview but remain an ―equal‖ in the conversation
• Do ask if this is a good time / Do reschedule if it’s not.
• State briefly (1 sentence) what you are attempting to accomplish
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Elicitation – In the Field The first 2 minutes
• Conversation: • Does not have to be followed by the name of the
company you are doing research for.
• Does have to be followed by a disclosure of the company you work for.
• Does not have to disclose the purpose of the study.
• Does not have to divulge the details from other similar calls • Although this many be helpful to do so in some limited
ways.
• You have to be interesting in order for the ―shield to fall‖ in the next 10 to 20 minutes.
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Elicitation – In the Field 2 Minutes to the 1 minute before the end
• Shared expertise first and more rapport second. • Shared Expertise - Business, Industry, Organizational,
Management, etc. • Interviewees need to clearly understand that they will gain
some insight as part of the process • Interviewees need to understand that you alone can provide
this insight • Not your company, not a ―final report‖, etc.
• Driving past the important points from the interviewee’s perspective is death to the call and the goal of generating worthwhile information
• You have to be an interesting person to talk to. • Open Discussion vs. Questions
• Interviewee should not be aware you are working ―off a list‖ of questions.
• Balance Advocacy and Inquiry • Be willing to advocate a contrary point of view
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Elicitation – In the Field Before Goodbye
• Sincerely thank them for their time
• Ask them if you can follow up at a later
date if you have a question.
• Ask them (if the call went well) if they know
others with similar expertise, feelings, or
understanding about the marketplace you
and they were talking about.
• Get off crisply and cleanly.
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A few Elicitation “Modalities”
• Ego Gratification
• Opposing Views
• Mutual Interests
• Silence
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Ego Gratification Who doesn’t want to be
seen as an expert?
Incorrect or Partially Incorrect Statements… I’ve just said something obviously wrong so…
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Mutual
Interest I also…
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Silence “The power of the pause”
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Elicitation is one whole of two halves...
BizDev, Qual Research, and Elicitation in CI
BizDev Qual Research Elicitation
Contacts are called
Leads
Contacts are called
research candidates
Contacts are called
industry colleagues
Calls are called sales
opportunities
Calls are called
respondent interviews
Calls are called
networking
Looking for new leads is
called filling the pipeline
Looking for new
interviewees is called
recruiting candidates
Looking for new sources
of information is called
good business.
Conversations are
targeted toward
providing value –
services/product.
Conversations are tied to
a questionnaire.
Conversations are tied to
building a mutually
beneficial relationship.
You find new leads by
marketing or feet on the
street.
You find new interview
candidates by clipboard,
list, email, or searching.
You find new interview
candidates at..
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Elicitation “Candidates” In Person
• Trade Shows
• The Booth
• Chalk Talks
• ―Lunch in Bucket‖
• Post Presentation Q/A
• Networking Events
• Industry Events
• Association Events
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Elicitation “Candidates” Virtual Candidates
• LinkedIn • Profiles
• Groups
• Q/A • Facebook • Xing • Ning • Interviews with company representatives • SlideShare.net presentations • Book Authors • Article Authors • Twitter • Online Technology / Enthusiast Forums
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“CORP” vs. “FIELD” The Age Old Battle
• <image of oil and water>
• <example of how field and sales>
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Corp Field
Elicitation Internal Resources
• The ―Field‖
• Establishing relationships with your field can be one of the most beneficial ―networking‖ activities you can engage in.
• Some elicitation candidates: • Sales Engineers
• Account Managers
• Targeted Industry ―Sellers‖
• Engagement Managers
• Engaging with the field let’s you leave the ―ivory tower‖ of marketing.
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Your company will leak
Others will elicit intelligence
from your field, your
channel, and corp
employees
Tools to use…
• Casting Words
• Desktop Search
(Spotlight or Windows
Search) on Transcripts
• Skype • Easy Audio and Video
Recording of interviews
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Do’s and Don’t
• Do
• Get out there and talk to customers, the field,
and understand how they view your offering.
• Become an expert in your industry not just your
company.
• Don’t
• Ignore your own common sense
• Be someone you’re not
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Elicitation
Closing Thoughts
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Cascade Insights
• “We provide technology companies
with information and comprehensive
analysis to beat the competition.”
• Specialize in projects that require:
• Software or Hardware—Product/Industry Knowledge
• Understanding of Business to Business Sales and
Marketing Dynamics
• Solid secondary research from non-marketing
sources (forums, blogs, technical webcasts, and
presentations, etc.)
• Interviews with the users or implementers of your
product and competing products in your space
• Recruiting of hard to reach individuals, ranging from
developers, senior architects, implementers, and
executive decision makers
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Contact:
tel: 503.898.0004
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APPENDIX
Ethics and Elicitation
• From: ―Competitive Intelligence Ethics: Navigating the Gray Zone‖
• On the impact of the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) of 1996. • From the restatement of Torts,1939
• ―The privilege to compete with others includes a privilege to adopt their business methods, ideas, or processes of manufacture. Were it otherwise the first person in the field with a process or idea would have a monopoly which would tend to prevent competition.‖ (Section 757)
• ―It is the employment of improper means to procure the trade secret rather than the mere copying or use which is the basis of liability under the rule in Section 757.‖
• ―The EEA does not fundamentally change what was and was not considered ―improper means‖ under pre-EEA trade secret law.‖
• ―The added risk the EEA poses is that the potential criminal is that now trade secret theft subjects the perpetrator to both federal criminal law and state civil law penalties. This added risk is of no consequence, though, to the professional who has been practicing CI in a legal manner all along.‖
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Source: ―Competitive Intelligence – Navigating the Gray Zone,
Richard Horowitz
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