Interviewing the owner

The owner knows their business better than you ever will, and has almost never had to describe it to a stranger. Your job this hour is not to be clever. It is to walk out holding facts you could not have invented — real numbers, real events, and the words their customers actually use.

Most interviews fail the same way. You ask what makes them different, and you get “quality and affordable price”. That is not their answer; that is the answer everybody gives when a question is too big. Ask about specific events instead, and the real answer arrives on its own.

Record the conversation. Taking notes while listening makes you a worse listener, and the exact phrasing is the part you will want back in session A3.2 when you write the copy.

The practice

1. 1

   Prepare twelve questions

   Ten minutes, before you meet them. Write the questions down and bring them on paper. Improvising sounds relaxed and produces adjectives.

2. 2

   Interview, and shut up

   Twenty minutes. Ask, then wait. The useful part usually arrives after the pause you were tempted to fill. When an answer is vague, ask for the last time it happened.

3. 3

   Mark the material

   Ten minutes, straight after. Go through the recording and mark three things: every number, every specific event, and every sentence you would quote word for word.

I am interviewing the owner of [business type] in [city] for one hour. I will use the answers to write their promo material and a one-page website.

Write 12 interview questions that produce facts I cannot invent: real numbers, real events, and the words their customers actually use.

Rules:
- No question that can be answered with an adjective.
- At least 3 must ask about a specific past event (“tell me about the last customer who...”).
- At least 2 must ask what they refuse to do, or who they are not for.
- No questions about vision, mission, or values.

Then list the 3 answers most likely to come back vague, and one follow-up question for each.