HOW TO CONDUCT AN EMPATHY INTERVIEW?

"Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another and feeling with the heart of another" -Alfred Adler

Introduction

Imagine that your distributor network is in dire straits. And because of it, your sales are stagnant. And you are under pressure. The distributors are not responding to you the way you would like them to. They are not giving the purchase orders. How have you been interacting with the distributors? Do you reflect on the eagerness of the distributors to share what they wanted to. It would have been withdrawn one

?However, you would like the stakeholders of the sales value chain to open up with you, share their concerns and you know them better to how they are experiencing the operations ad so on.

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Why empathy interview

·??????? People resist sharing information as the trust factor is missing

·??????? Most of the interview require answers that are at the surface level

·??????? In empathy interview, you are looking for experiences. You may have to dig into your subconscious for information

·??????? People share in a relaxed state of min. Empathy interview helps you in that

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What should empathy interview be like?

Empathy interview has its own special charm and certain aspects needs to be taken into consideration

·??????? The conversations should be conducted in a relaxed atmosphere

·??????? Empathy interview should be like a conversation absolutely free flowing

·??????? There is a flow that needs to be followed

·??????? Support your interviewee to respond from a sensory perspective

·??????? Take care of not directing the conversations

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Key Components of empathy interview

For Empathy interview to be a relaxed free flowing conversation, practice and follow the approach. Sharing a broad approach

1.????? Build Rapport

• This is critical having a rapport will help build trust. We will need to appreciate that fact that most of the times, you will normally be interacting with a person you have not interacted before
• You can build rapport almost immediately

2.????? Create buy-in

• As you build the rapport, create a buy in by sharing the purpose of the interaction, for the time you are going to invest.
• Building a rapport and creating a buy in happens in the first 2-3 minutes.
• The buy-in will help you settle down and the interviewee will be relaxed as he is aware of the purpose and has consented for the conversation

3.????? Check for experiences

• You are now settling to move into the depths of conversation
• You can begin asking “… And as you have been using the service, we would like to understand your experience, some good and some not so good”. This will force the interviewee to dig into his subconscious and scout for answers. The resistance to share also disappears
• Be affirmative on what the person is sharing and dig more for information. For example “ hmmm … I hear what you say … can you also share what was happening around you as your were experiencing it
• Be focussed on the subject. There are chances that the person will take the conversation in a different tangent

4.????? Check for what does the person want

• After having understood a couple of good and not so good experience, check for what does he actually want ad how it will help him, although very briefly

5.????? Use the magic wand exercise

• This is an interesting exercise as you are going ask his form any three wishes he may have, that if fulfilled, will enhance his experience of the using the product or service.
• Remember it is here where you start getting some innovative ideas that could be a start

6.????? Re-state, summarize and close the conversation

• It is always nice to give the conversation a proper closure. This can be done by summarizing what has been shared, thanking him with an assurance that he will come back to you at a later stage when the project has moved some steps ahead

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Important Links for empathy interview

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What do we do after the empathy interview done?

Consolidating the information is a challenge. More so when you have interacted with over 25 people for the project and you have got over 500 data points

It is important to document them in an excel sheet. The sheet may be in a format you want to have. I have, based on my experience, developed a format of capturing the information which is being shared

A completed sheet will give a welt of knowledge on the project. One could create affinity maps ?and see of the information is being staked up.

?Documenting the empathy interview

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Where can you apply the empathy interview

You can apply empathy interview approach in sales in various circumstances

• When the sales have stagnated or falling and you are checking out with the channel partners
• When you are looking to re-vitalize your sales infra network
• What you want to bring in innovative ideas in your work place
• When you are developing new products for the market
• When you want to enhance the stakeholder experience of the sales value chain
• When your current approach is not giving you the results
• When you want to make the implementation of the market schemes effective
• When you are looking to build the sales to hard to get level

Example of a full Empathy Interview

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