Have you considered offering them something for their time? Something as simple as a gift card to a coffee shop, so you can have virtual coffee and chat about their pain points? I know you don't want to sounds sales-y, and there are ways to offer this without sounding like a salesperson. Just an idea
Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
31–40 of 121 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#32Have you considered offering them something for their time? Something as simple as a gift card to a coffee shop, so you can have virtual coffee and chat about their pain points? I know you don't want to sounds sales-y, and there are ways to offer this without sounding like a salesperson. Just an idea
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#33If you're just generally trying to get an idea of pain points in the industry I think you should get more specific. Here are some for instances:
- Are you trying to make the interface between the doctor and the patient easier?
- Are you going to look at the way the doctors interact with the EHR (electronic health records) vendors?
- Are you trying to make the check-in process easier for patients?
- Are you trying to provide analytics for long term quality of care metrics on hospitals?
- Are you targeting small clinics, hospitals, or ER/minor emergency rooms?
Also for cold calling doctors on Linkedin, I am not surprised that you aren't getting much feedback. Most of the doctors I've known tend not to be into online stuff. You might have more luck reaching out to a local professional organization.
Also you might think about trying to contact nurses, nurse practitioners, or physician's assistants. There might be a local nurses professional organization that you could reach out to who could ask their members if anybody is interested. Just frame it as you're trying to figure out a way to make their jobs easier.
This ended up being a little rambly, but I hope it's useful. Cheers.
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#34Don't. Watch them do their work, or let them describe their work. From my coaching practice, people are not very good identifying there real pain point. My back hurts, but my back isn't broken, I just sit too much.
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#35They have no reason to trust you. I would think you're just looking for an angle to sell me on no matter what you say.
You might try attending/crashing medical conferences in the area. You could also talk to folks on the periphery of the healthcare industry to look for opportunities.
One that I experienced personally is the difficulty in matching a specific person at a specific point in their treatment to applicable clinical trials. Particularly with cancer where there are so many inclusion/exclusion criteria to consider. The terminology is very dense and not always clear. Then you reach out to the PI and find that the window is even smaller than it appeared at first.
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#36First, find out where your prospects actually spend time. LinkedIn is garbage for a lot of industries. Most doctors don't change jobs much or building "personal brands", so they're not scanning LinkedIn often. Reddit can also be often a better community.
Second, don't cold message people. Put out HELPFUL (not clickbait) content. It can be as simple as a question ("hey, I'm wondering how people solve X?"). Let the community come to you. Then follow up with the people that engaged with your content. They've shown an interest in your topic AND a willingness to engage.
At the end of every call, ask two questions: can you follow up with them with further questions and is there anyone they can think of that would be helpful to learn more? For that second question ask them, IN THE CALL, to write an intro email/message connecting you. Social validation is critical.
Finally, actually follow up. 1-4 weeks later message an update, thank them for their perspective and connection, and again ask if there's anyone they can think of to learn more from.
Re: Ask HN: How do you ask users about their pain point?
#37Don't. Watch them do their work, or let them describe their work. From my coaching practice, people are not very good identifying there real pain point. My back hurts, but my back isn't broken, I just sit too much.
How's he going to watch doctors do their work? Have you ever seen vendors sit in on your appointments?