The Customer Interview Guide

A two-page fillable PDF for running five customer interviews that return something you did not already believe.

The customer will give you back whatever you hand them. A leading question installs an answer, and the customer then believes it, which is why they can say it back to you with complete sincerity in the next session.

This is the instrument that stops it. The kill sentence written before the first interview, a recruiting screen, a question bank sorted into safe and leading, and a findings sheet with the unwelcome-finding line built in so it cannot be skipped.

WHAT'S INSIDE

The six rules — recruit on behaviour, ask about the last time, withhold your idea, ban your own vocabulary, follow money and effort, close on commitment.

The kill sentence — the finding that would end the idea, written down before anybody is asked anything. If you cannot write it, you are not running research.

The six tests — the kill sentence, past tense, vocabulary, behaviour, the unwelcome finding, consequence.

A worked example — one finished findings page, including the release it stopped.

Instrument No. 05 of The Assignment, published Monday 26 October 2026. A new task every Monday.