The ICP Interview

My last post was focused on finding your ICP and then interviewing them. I shared the email I used to interview more than 200+ people that could be my ICP.

How do you run an effective interview once you do book a call with your ICP? I made a big mistake in my first few calls!

I would tell my ICP about my solution and ask them to roast me! While this seems obvious, it's ineffective. People would want to be encouraging and would play nice. I didn't want 'nice' when I am validating my solution.

I made a lot of changes. Here's the general format of my call that I switched to:• Introduction• Challenge they face - spend a lot of time here• The current solution they are using• My potential solution• Giving back

Here's my usual line of questioning:• Introduction: My high-level background and assurance that I'm trying to learn from them.

• Challenge: What are your top 2 sales challenges as a founder? I would ask them to elaborate on each challenge as they were speaking and would dig deeper. Who is your buyer and, what do you sell to them?

• The current solution: How are you solving these two problems? What else are you doing? How much is this costing you? Can you save this money or use it elsewhere?

• My potential solution: Would a marketplace that connects you with pre-vetted sales talent that currently solves these challenges at their day job help you? How much would you pay to solve this problem?

• Giving back: I would open LinkedIn and offer to make introductions. They would be surprised that I would do this and appreciated it.