APPENDIX B
KEY INTERVIEWING TECHNIQUES FOR DATA COLLECTION
Cold calling is probably the last resort. Things will always go more smoothly if you can arrange an interview through a contact. Your chances of success are likely to be much higher if you can say, “Peter Chan referred me to you. He said you would be the right person to give me some advice.” If you and the interviewee both know this middleman well, it would be a good ice-breaker to talk about some harmless and positive topics about the middleman—things like “How long have you known Peter? He is such a good golfer!” Again, this is related to the topic of social networking discussed earlier. The bigger your network, the easier it is to get the right interviewees.
Receptionists, secretaries, and personal assistants are some of the most powerful people when it comes to arranging for an interview. Show these gatekeepers that you respect them and appreciate their help. if they like you, they can always “put you through over the phone” and “sneak you into” their boss’s busy schedule. If they are in a lousy mood, they can say, “Please leave your name and telephone number and I will call you if we are interested.” I have a rule—at the end of my first conversation with strangers that I might need to contact again, I always ask for their name. Then I always address them by name before I hang up. I will say, “Thank you, Susie” or “I appreciate it very much, Tom.” Then I will make a note of the name. I will look for the same person next time I call. I will start chitchatting a little more to get to know the person, saying, “How was your weekend?” or “It must be a busy time for you! Some will eventually feel they are my friends and should help me. Of course, I am not saying this works every time. Nonetheless, my chances of success are higher than they’d be if I were to snub people so well-placed stand in my way.
Always have a list of questions to prompt you during the interview. If you do not have a list, the risks are significant. First, you may digress and fail to discuss key issues before your interview time is up. Second, you may lose your train of thought and run into “dead air” when you cannot get the conversation going. This will make you look ill-prepared and not as competent as you actually are. Designing the list is an art. The question list should be roughly in the order you would ask the questions. The order and flow should be somewhat logical so you do not seem to jump from one topic to another. More important questions should be asked earlier in case you run out of time before the end of the list. However, questions that are important but may be more sensitive (such as financials, market share, and the like) should be left to near the end of your allotted time. Hopefully by the end of the interview, the interviewee will have loosened up enough to answer such questions. If someone refuses to answer, at least leaving these questions to the end hasn’t jeopardized your chances of getting the other questions answered. Each question on the list should be worded succinctly so you will not have to spend a lot of time reading it during the interview.
Some interviewees may ask you to send them the list of questions before the interview. In this case, fine-tune the list to make sure the questions are clearly and appropriately worded for the interviewee. And take out any sensitive questions. You can still try to ask them at the interview, especially toward the end of the interview. But it’s better not to send them beforehand to avoid any unnecessary hiccups or alarm.
Take notes during the interview. When I first started to do interviews, I would take very scanty notes. I was confident of my memory. I thought it would be better to focus on giving the interviewee eye contact and on listening. But I quickly found out that good interview notes are critical to ensure no details are forgotten. It is better to be safe and have the notes than to risk missing key information or appearing unprofessional when you have to call the interviewee back to get the information again.
Go deep. Although you have the list of interview questions to use as a reference, for critical areas, you should pursue the interviewee’s answers and dig as deep as possible by asking why. The rule of thumb is it takes five “whys” to get to the root causes and the most fundamental issues. For example:
INTERVIEWEE: I believe this industry is declining rapidly.
INTERVIEWER: Why is that?
INTERVIEWEE: Because customers are all migrating overseas.
INTERVIEWER: What is making them migrate?
INTERVIEWEE: Because of the lower labor cost.
INTERVIEWER: Why is lower labor cost important? Why not automate?
INTERVIEWEE: Labor is over 60 percent of the cost. Automation does not work as it takes a lot of money. . . .
If the interviewee cannot answer some of your questions, you can consider asking for suggestions about sources or other interviewees if you feel the conversation is comfortable enough for that. It is especially useful if the interviewee can introduce you or can be named as your reference when you try to set up a conversation with other people who may have the answer.
Read and organize your notes as soon as possible after the meeting. Sometimes you will use shorthand during the interview as you try to take notes very quickly. It is much easier to remember your shorthand shortly after the interview than days later.
Think through the implications of the information as you organize your notes and update the hypothesis (discussed in Chapter 13) and list of questions.
Mail or e-mail a thank-you card or note after every interview. The card or note should be personalized, preferably recalling one or two key points you learned during the interview. This will make your interviewees feel that you have listened to them, value the time they spent with you, and see them as long-term associates rather than one-time data sources.