Chapter 01
Customer interviews that stay honest
pralkexun treats interviews as instruments for listening, not for confirming a pitch. This chapter covers preparation, prompts, silence, and how Claude framing later turns transcripts into patterns without inventing certainty.
Who you invite, and why it matters
Quality B2B interviews begin with recruitment honesty. If you only speak with enthusiasts who already love your product, you will hear adoption stories and miss procurement friction. pralkexun recommends mixing recent buyers, stalled evaluators, and churned accounts — labeled clearly so readers never confuse a convenience sample with a census.
Decision participants differ: end users describe workflow pain; economic buyers describe risk and status; IT and security describe control. Interview scripts should vary by role while sharing a core spine: last purchase journey, alternatives considered, moments of doubt, and language used with peers. For deeper role maps, see decision-maker research.
Prompts that leave room for contradiction
Leading questions (“How much time did our platform save you?”) produce theater. Prefer open timelines: “Walk me through the last time your team evaluated a tool like this.” Ask for emails, decks, and Slack threads people actually used — then ask what those artifacts failed to settle. Silence is a tool; three seconds of quiet often surfaces the real veto.
Capture verbatim phrases. Buyers rarely speak in category jargon. When someone says “we needed cover for the board,” that phrase is gold for later positioning. pralkexun’s Claude framing treats such phrases as candidate pattern labels, not as proof that every peer thinks the same way.
From notes to patterns
After five to twelve solid interviews, code notes into themes: risk language, workflow stubs, peer influence, procurement rituals. Pair themes with observed touchpoints from touchpoint mapping. Where talk and behavior disagree, trust the friction — then study it in purchase friction.
Claude synthesis is explicit about limits: patterns are named, evidence is quoted, confidence stays modest. No ROI promises. No “representative of the US market” language. The output is a guidebook for your next conversation, not a press release.
- Define role mix before scheduling.
- Use journey prompts, not feature praise prompts.
- Record verbatim risk and status language.
- Code themes; run Claude pattern cards.
- Cross-check with observation before positioning.
Newsletter
Field notes from pralkexun
Occasional research craft notes — including Claude framing worksheets. No spam.
Continue the guidebook
Map who actually decides, then study where buying stalls.