Customer Interaction Interview Tips

The best way to get better at customer interaction interviews is through lots of practice, but we do have some tips to share.

Know Your Audience

The key to effective success as a SA will often hinge on your ability to tailor your message to your audience. Are you speaking to a group of execs? Cut the technical speak, and begin by presenting your solution before explaining why. Don't mention features; stick to benefits.

When presenting to a more technical audience, be prepared to talk details. Engineers may be wary of anything coming across as "marketing lingo" so you may want to reverse the order of your exec presentation. Begin by laying out the problem statement (showing you understand where they're coming from) and slowly build up to your solution, backing up your argument with plenty of evidence.

If you're asked to collect customer requirements, be sure to gauge the technical knowledge and communication style of your audience before you begin. You can usually get a feel from the prompt. When in doubt, remember that your goal is to serve the customer. If you are tactful, respectful, upbeat, and responsive to customer cues, you'll do well. If things aren't going well, it's never too late to tweak your strategy or communication style.

Project Authority When Presenting

It's hard to instill confidence in your solution (even if it's the best in the world!) if you don't project confidence. There are plenty of nonverbal communication tricks you can take advantage of to develop "executive presence." For example:

• Take up plenty of space. Don't hunch or slouch.
• Calm your breathing. Breathing slowly and deeply puts your body at ease, even if you feel nervous.
• Make eye contact. Concentrate on the point between someone's eyes if direct eye contact makes you uncomfortable.
• Gesticulate (but not too much!) Occasional gestures punctuate speech and draw attention to key points, while open hand gestures convey friendliness.
• Be aware of your movements and facial expressions. Fidgeting conveys nervousness. Try to calm your body and maintain an open, friendly, and engaged expression.

When you do speak, you may want to:

• Vary your tone and tempo. Pause before major points, and take a moment to collect your thoughts before answering questions.
• Take care not to speak too fast.
• Repeat questions back before answering (without overdoing it.)

Active Listening During Discovery

On discovery calls, you'll want to come off as more friendly and less authoritative. Your customers are busy, intelligent professionals - it's never a bad idea to show appreciation for their time, and acknowledge that you need something from them.

Active listening techniques work well for these sorts of interviews. We recommend:

• Smiling. It never hurts!
• Leaning forward, signaling engagement and interest in the conversation.
• Minimize fidgeting. In presentations, this makes you look nervous, but on discovery calls it might come off as rude.

We know it's hard during an interview, but try not to look at the clock or a watch too often. You don't want to seem distracted.

Anticipate "Gotchas"

You might go into a presentation interview that erupts into an argument. "What went wrong?" Take a moment to collect yourself, relax, maintain positive energy, and calmly redirect the attention of the group back to you.

You've just passed an important test.

Objection handling and conflict resolution are going to be a part of your job. Interviewers will want to see you perform under pressure. If someone gets in your face or argues with you or another interviewer, be sure to maintain calm and stay positive. Don't get sucked into the negativity, and you'll do well.

Other common "gotchas" include:

• Asking questions you won't be able to answer.
• Obstinately objecting to your solution.
• Responding in a surprising way to throw you off balance.

We went over a framework for handling objections in the last lesson, so feel free to go back if you want a refresher. In the next few lessons, we'll watch mock discovery calls, demos, and objection handling to get a better feel for what we've just gone over.