by Judith Binder, RBSC Corporation
“The next best thing to knowing all about your own business is to know all about the other fellow’s business.” (John D. Rockefeller)
“Loose lips sink ships.” (WWII slogan, US Office of War Information)
Capturing competitor and market intelligence from people is both art and science. Effective elicitation techniques involve getting people to voluntarily tell you things without you asking or disclosing the intent of the interview or conversation. Before you approach a target, you’ve thought through what data you need and how you’ll go about getting it.
Why would someone share information, even sensitive information? The motivations are not exotic, but need to be kept in mind.
- The need to be recognized and appreciated
- Tendencies toward self-effacement; being uncomfortable taking credit for something
- Natural curiosity
- A general inability to keep secrets
- Delighting in gossiping
- The urge to correct others or prove someone else wrong
Here are a few elicitation techniques:
The provocative statement: getting the source to ask you a question and setting the stage for another technique. For example:
“A new Texas law requires gas drillers to make public the chemicals they use on every hydraulic fracturing job in the state. Environmental complaints are really taking hold.” “What?” “The Wall Street Journal reported that Chesapeake Energy said they’d ‘seen the light’ at their annual meeting.” “I wouldn’t be too concerned. We feel…”
Quid pro quo: “I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.” For example:
“We go way back, coal mining in Scotland. My great great uncle died in a mining accident.” “Oh, similar to me…”
Flattery: “Your Calvert, Alabama mill site…annual capacity of 4.3 million metric tons of carbon steel products? The service centers…” “Well, not so much to the service centers.”
Inclined to complain: “3D glasses active-shutter technology relies on those goofy infrared emitters. How long ’til universal, radio-synchronized 3D glasses? I’ll wait.” “Yeah, I heard the same, although…”
Word repetition: “My graduate work at the University of Chicago got me to the place I am now.” “Ah, working on those advanced degrees. A good time had by all.”
Naïveté: suspending your ego to focus on collecting information and not collecting strokes. For example:
“You’re saying telecom enterprise account managers handle 50 current customers and target another 50-100? That must really keep you busy!” “It’s not so bad. The service managers also weigh in to provide additional customer care.” “About customer care…”
The more you use elicitation techniques, the better you’ll become at testing techniques in seemingly inconsequential conversations, building opportunities for later contacts, and making the information collected most useful to the decision-maker.
Additional information can be found in John Nolan’s Confidential (HarperCollins, 1999).
Judith Binder heads the Research Group of RBSC Corporation. RBSC is all about Right Answers, Right Time.® Their clients use timely, actionable, cost-effective and reliable business information to successfully bring new products and services to market, increase market share, and integrate customer feedback into executive decision making. Products and services include qualitative interviews, focus groups, surveys, industry analyses, and competitive intelligence, among others. Visit their website or contact Judith at jbinder@rbsc.com.