FreeMan
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when interviewing or setting up an interview...would you suggest telling them exactly what im doing?( im a SaaS guy and I want to know your problems so I can solve them) OR ask about their problems and hassles and see if these problems and time wasters CAN be solved by SaaS then suggest a solution and test it by asking them to buy or putting up a quick sales page with a buy now button and funnel people their via google adwords ala tim ferris and noah kagan method?
What approach has been working for members in the Foundation? Or are you on the lower plan where there's no interaction?
I used this approach in the health industry space recently and emailed the owners telling them that I am involved in software development and wanted to know more about their market with the email subject containing their job title, e.g. 'Physician Question'. My response rate to that email was better than the Sam Ovens email, but YMMV. And on the call, my intention was to first understand what their problems were and not worry about trying to think of a solution at the same time. At the end of the call, I'd ask them if I can contact them again if I had any questions and most were OK with that (and that could be the opportunity for the follow up beta testing, presales).
I found by mentioning software, some people do focus on that a bit, but others are happy just answering the other questions regarding problems and time wasters.
I only did a handful of interviews and didn't manage to get a viable SaaS solution out of it, but I did identify some common problems they had.
I'm putting this approach on hold for the time being as it is a bit trickier to schedule time for these interviews working 9-5. As essentially it is like cold-calling since none of the people you speak to are pre-qualified leads. For my next test (I have a product idea in mind), I am planning to use the landing page approach first and then possibly follow up with customer development interviews.
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