Find the Words That Sell: The 5-Question Interview to Power Your Messaging

What if the fastest way to sharpen your marketing is to borrow your customers’ own words? In this Hustle Minds episode, Sarai reveals a 15-minute, five-question interview you can run on Zoom or via a quick voice note that uncovers the exact pains, tried solutions, hesitations, and first-week wins your buyers experience. The secret is to record, transcribe, and pull out the real phrases—no guesses, no jargon.

Turn those quotes into real leverage: use them for your headline, your “first-week” promise, and an FAQ that tackles objections head-on. A real case shows a project-management app shifting from generic asks to a bold line like “See what’s stuck, fix it fast,” boosting trial-to-paid by 21% in two weeks. Interview five customers (two power users, two average, one churned) to spot patterns, then act: email three customers with a simple invitation to share five quick questions for a 15-minute chat, and start building a message that actually converts.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Hustleminds. I'm Sarai, and today we are going
to talk about the five question customer interview. Find the
words that sell. If your marketing feels me even though
your product is solid, this is for you. The fastest
way to sharpen your message is to borrow your customers
exact words, no guesswork, no jargon, just language that converts.
All right, let's take it step by step. You only

(00:21):
need five questions and fifteen minutes. You can run these
on Zoom, a quick call, or even a voice note exchange.
The goal is simple, understand there, before, after, and the
moment they decided to buy. Okay, let me explain this part.
Better start with before you found us, What were you
trying to fix? Let them talk. You're listening for pain
in their words, miss deadlines, messy workflows, wasted AdSpend, don't

(00:42):
correct them, capture the phrasing. Second, what else did you
try and why didn't it work? This reveals competitors, objections
and feature gaps. It also shows you what to address
on your landing page and in your content. Third, what
almost stopped you from buying weight? Let me repeat that
because it's important. The hesitation is where sales die. If
you can answer that fear upfront, price, time complexity, you

(01:04):
remove friction. Fourth, what happened in the first week that
made you think, yes, this was worth it. You're hunting
for quick wins. Those are your proof points and email
day one moments. Fifth. If a friend asked what we do,
what would you tell them? That answer becomes your headline,
not your clever version, their version. And pay attention to
this next part because it matters. Record transcribe, highlight, pull

(01:24):
exact phrases, not summaries. Customers say I just wanted my
tuesdays back, not optimize productivity. Their line is gold. Use it.
This happens more often than you'd think. Founders ask leading
questions and then pitch mid interview. Don't Your job is
to listen. If you dock more than thirty percent of
the time, you're learning too little. Now. Incentives, keep it simple,

(01:45):
Offer a small gift card, a donation to a cause,
or early access to a feature, and keep interviews to
ten to fifteen minutes, short, focused, respectful. What do you
do with the insights? Three places put their headline on
your hero section, turn their quick win into your first
week promise, and use their objection as a bold FAQ.
Worried it'll take too long. Here's how we get you

(02:05):
results in seven days. And now it's time for a
quick story so you can see it in a real case.
A project management app founder I worked with kept saying,
streamline your workflows. Customers kept saying, I just need one
place to see what's stuck. We change the headline to
see what's stuck. Fix it fast, added a first week
promise in twenty four hours, get a single board that
shows every blocker trial to pay, jump twenty one percent

(02:27):
in two weeks, same product, better words. Let's continue with
a quick lesson. Take note. Interview five customers, two power users,
two average users, one who churned. You'll see patterns fast.
If all five mention the same pain or quick win,
that's your lead. If a churned user gives you a
sharp objection, answer it publicly. And now let's go over
the summary of the episode. First run five fifteen minute

(02:50):
interviews using five questions before tried hesitation, first week win
and how they'd describe you. Second, capture exact phrases and
put them in your headline, promise and faq. Third, keep
it short, neutral and focused. Listen more than you speak.
Here's your single action to apply what you've learned today.
Email three customers with this line. I'm tightening our message

(03:10):
and would love your words. Can I ask you five
quick questions over a fifteen minute call. I'll send a
small thank you for your time book the first call
and build from there. Thanks for hanging out with me.
I'm sorry. This is Hustleminds and I'll see you in
the next episode. Until next time, listen closely, write it clean,
and hustle on