customer-researchlisted

# Customer Research ## Overview This skill covers how B2B marketers should conduct, structure, and apply customer research across its full range—from direct customer interviews and win/loss programs to sales call analysis, social listening, and secondary research. All practices are sourced exclusively from guests on the Exit Five podcast. Where guests disagree, those disagreements are surfaced explicitly rather than resolved. --- ## Foundational Principles: Why and When to Research **Research before strategy, always.** Before developing messaging, selecting channels, or building campaigns, ground your work in customer and market data—not internal brainstorming. Start with customer research, analyze calls, look for themes and patterns, and map insights to your strategy. (Source: Diane Wiredu, Episode #300) **Use writing difficulty as a research signal.** If you're struggling to write copy or develop messaging, it's not a creative block—it's a research deficit. Go back and gather more data before trying harder to write. Once you have enough research, the writing flows naturally. (Source: Will Hoekenga, Episode #181) **Know your category deeply before writing anything.** You cannot write compelling stories or positioning without deep understanding of your category and its problems. The test: you should know your category well enough to write a book about it. Spend time understanding the problem space, competitive landscape, and customer pain points before attempting to wri