How do you handle difficult or unresponsive customers in interviews?

I especially like the very last sentence in this section. I have to ask for extremely confidential and personal information from my clients and they are not always forewarned about the required information or told why the information is required. Have patience. Anticipate rebuttal and make sure you understand why each bit of information is required. It's a good look for you and often puts the clients at ease.

Two of my best tools for building rapport... coffee and conversation. Offer their choice of a beverage the first (and each subsequent time) you meet. Use open-ended questions on topics that allow you to get to know them a little... questions that don't pertain to the business at hand. Questions that DO allow them to share about themselves. What do they do for fun? What is the most important aspect of their life right now? What keeps them awake at night? Family? Career? Travel? You might even find a common connection which will move you into or toward the trust you aim to build and put the interviewee or potential client or customer at ease.

I love asking customers how they are feeling. People can’t always articulate the core of an issue or a success, but what’s always true is how someone is feeling—and that can help uncover what’s really transpiring, whether positive or negative. Plus, asking the question is a form of validation, which always helps to build the relationship.

The "5 Whys" is a great way to dig a bit deeper in to hidden motivations or truths. I'd caution it works best if you've built a little bit of a rapport first, but you're essentially asking "why" in different ways until you land at the true answer. Going from "this company stinks" to "I'm upset because you didn't honor my discount" is more telling than stopping at the first "why".

In my experience it is important to have a solid body of both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze as you build action plans. On the qualitative side, focus groups can circumvent some of the issues with interviews identified in this article. Having customers engage with one another, share their experiences and build on key points helps to enrich the insights and provides a larger body of data. Being able to link lead and lag metrics to the insights you've gathered from direct customer feedback (surveys, interviews, focus groups) is critical to understanding how what happens operationally is driving great (or not so great) customer experiences.

It is impossible to be everything to everyone. Understanding which moments matter most to customers in the total journey, and importantly the emotional drivers that lead to desired behaviors help business leaders to focus their efforts and resources to maximize return on investment.