‘Sell me this pen.’ A lesson in product development, and interviewing.
I was just a baby then… the day I left college midway through my senior year to interview with a corporation for the first time. I was nervous. I was inexperienced. And when they ran me through their paces, culminating with the VP, I floundered like a fish out of water.
Now, I look back and laugh (while shaking my head), for several reasons:
- If I’d gotten that job, I probably wouldn’t be where I am now
- If I received the same question today, I’d take a very different approach
There I sat, across from the man and his wooden desk, looking out the window over a pond with a fountain spurting water outside. That’s right — spurting. Or spluttering. Kind of like how I spurted some ridiculous answer to an age-old interview question — er, demand.
“Sell me this pen.”
He held up a black executive pen that twisted in the middle beneath a small brass ring and had an accompanying brass clip on the side. Typical pen.
Atypical fumble. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, then proceeded to offer some litany of reasons why the pen might be great. Why he might not be able to live without it. Surely it fit his hand well, or the clip on the side allowed for portability… I can only speculate about my response. All I know is I failed, miserably. And I didn’t get the job. It was a sales job for a housing developer, so of course they wanted to make sure I could sell things. At the time, I could not.
But why not?
Because I didn’t ask the most important question:
“Why do you need it?”
I have led digital products (think: websites, ownership portals, mobile applications, etc.) for almost a decade, and what’s the main thing I’ve learned after all these years? If you don’t understand your customers’ needs, you cannot build them a product to suit. Same goes for sales (though, great salespeople will convince you you need something before selling you the solution).
So, what would I do differently, knowing what I know now? I would ask questions — loads of questions — before ever attempting an answer.
- How often do you use a pen? Where? Do you carry it with you?
- What kind of pen do you prefer? A gel pen? A ballpoint pen? A quill and ink?
- When’s the last time you wrote by hand? Was it in cursive or print? Is it hard to read? Do you ever need to erase something?
- Why do you prefer a pen over a pencil?
- Do you require any special, hidden capabilities in your pen? Are you a spy, perhaps, with secret intentions?
- Do you ever feel your finger or wrist joints getting achy when you write too much? How about your forearms? Do you need an exercise regimen to accompany your new pen?
- Do you use modern technology? Have you considered a tablet and stylus? Have you considered voice-only assistants? Perhaps you don’t need a $10 pen after all, but this $300 product instead. Just kidding… maybe.
Okay I’ll stop. I’m having too much fun with this, but you see my point. Ask the questions, get to know your customer’s pains, desires, thoughts, and feelings, then determine the appropriate solution. That’s called empathy 101. Plus, if you show some personality, you might just get the job.
#noregrets
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