Why you should interrogate people

I’ve interrogated 10 people in the past 48 hours.

• They screamed in agony

• They begged for their life

• They cried for their mommy

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic…

But I DID interrogate 10 people.

Now, before I share how my interrogation tactics will help you make more money…

Lemme give ya some context:

Last week I sent out an email asking for your help.

I explained how I’m cooking up a new offer for creators, coaches, and business owners who want to grow their personal brand.

But, like family members who gift you socks for Christmas, I don’t want my new offer to get a reaction like this:

The #1 Reason Nobody Buys Your Stuff

Picture this:

You have a revolutionary idea for something to sell.

You’re excited, so you immediately start working on it.

And after weeks/months of hard work, you finally launch it to the public and wait for the dolla dolla bills to roll in.

But then?

Zip…

Zero…

Nada…

Nobody shows interest in buying your stuff.

And it’s not because:

• Your price is too high

• Your website isn’t sexy enough

• You didn’t put a fake countdown timer at the top of your sales page with a large red button in all caps saying “BUY NOW”

Sure, all those things can play a role (for the love of God, please don’t do the last point)…

But the biggest mistake people make?

ASSUMING WHAT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WANTS.

What are you, a fucking psychic hotline operator?

Chances are, no.

(But if you are, please give me next month’s winning Powerball numbers).

So, instead of assuming what people want…

What if there was a magical way to know EXACTLY what your target audience’s:

• Desired outcomes are

• Preferences are

• Pain points are

And built your offer and marketing around that?

Your conversions would skyrocket.

Well, my friend, turns out there IS a way to do this.

It’s this little-known marketing tactic called “talking to people” (AKA: market research).

Think about how crazy this is:

People will spend 100s of hours building an offer, but not 5-10 hours figuring out what people actually want to buy.

Then they’re surprised when nobody buys their stuff.

I don’t want that to be you, so below I’m going to outline my stupidly simple process for doing market research.

My 5-Step Process For Market Research

Step 1) Identify your target audience

Before you can do market research, you have to know who you’re trying to help with your offer.

• Think about who would benefit the most from your offer

• Look at your customer base or audience and identify common traits

• Use social media and online communities to find out where your potential audience hangs out

Step 2) Get in contact

Now that you know who you want to talk to, it’s time to reach out.

This can feel a bit daunting, but remember, people love talking about their experiences and giving their opinions.

• Send out emails or direct messages

• Post in relevant online communities asking for volunteers

• Offer a small incentive, like a gift card or a discount on your future product

Step 3) Prepare a list of questions

You want to make the most out of your conversations, so come prepared with a list of questions.

I like asking the same questions to each person so I can find patterns among everyone.

• Start with broad questions and then narrow down

• Focus on open-ended questions to get detailed responses

• Avoid leading questions that might bias their answers

Example Questions:

• What are your biggest challenges when it comes to [topic]?

• How do you currently solve this problem?

• What would your ideal solution look like?

Step 4) Hop on a call (and use a notetaker)

Talking to people one-on-one is the best way to get deep insights.

Make sure to record the calls (with their permission) and use an automatic notetaker (I like Read ai) so you can focus on the conversation.

Step 5) Analyze the data

Once you’ve collected all the data, it’s time to look for patterns and insights.

This is where the magic happens (bow chika wow wow).

Take the transcriptions from the notetaker app you used on the calls and plug it into ChatGPT.

Tell ChatGPT that you did a bunch of market research calls and now you want it to analyze the transcriptions and find patterns on:

• Pain points

• Desired outcomes

• Language the target audience uses

…and anything else that’s notable and might help with creating your offer.

Within seconds, you’ll have a ton of valuable insights you can use for your offer and the marketing.

I guarantee if you do this, you’ll be miles ahead of your competition who are just making shit up on the fly and hoping it sells.

All the best.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “Not A Psychic” Robertson

P.S.

A quick thank you to all the 127+ who applied to get on market research calls with me.

I appreciate you all but I had to narrow it down to under 15 people.

Big thank you to:

• Rayan

• Archit

• Benjamin

• Vanessa

• Alexander

• Nattie

• Harry

• Mike

• Ivan

• Dan

• Heythem

• Jonathan

• Ryan

• Matthew

• Joe