The Competitive Interview Guide Workflow

Turn customer feedback into validated messaging — and uncover which claims actually resonate in the market.

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Workflow Name: Interview Guide Builder: Validate Competitive Claims with Customers & Prospects

created by prompts.tinytechguides.com

What this Workflow Does:

This workflow builds a structured, persona-specific interview guide designed to help internal teams gather real-world feedback on competitive claims. Whether you’re talking to current customers or lost deals, the guide helps you probe for insights on what claims resonate, which fall flat, and how your positioning stacks up in the wild. Ideal for PMM, sales enablement, or anyone lookin’ to keep it real with the market.

Workflow Steps Summary:

• Step 0: Define Inputs

• Step 1: Identify Competitive Claims to Validate

• Step 2: Define Interview Audience (Customers vs Prospects)

• Step 3: Draft Core Interview Questions

• Step 4: Add Probing Questions Based on Personas

• Step 5: Define Interview Flow (Intro → Claims → Wrap-up)

• Step 6: Generate Interview Guide Output

Step 0: Define Inputs

• {product_or_solution} = The product, service, or solution whose competitive claims you’re validating

• {industry} = The main industry or vertical focus (e.g., Fintech, Healthcare, SaaS)

• {competitive_claims} = Specific competitive claims or differentiators you want to validate (e.g., “faster implementation than Competitor X”)

• {interview_type} = Who you’re interviewing (e.g., current customers, recent lost prospects, open opps)

• {persona} = The main persona(s) you’ll be interviewing (e.g., CIO, Operations Manager, End User)

• {desired_outcome} = What you want to learn or validate from these interviews (e.g., messaging resonance, real-world performance, objection handling)

• {interview_style} = Preferred style or tone (e.g., casual convo, structured Q&A, open-ended discovery)

Step 1: Identify Competitive Claims to Validate

#Role

You are a Product Marketing Manager responsible for competitive positioning and messaging.

#Context

You are preparing an interview guide to validate specific competitive claims for {product_or_solution} in the {industry} industry. These claims may come from internal sales feedback, win/loss analysis, or positioning decks.

#Task

List and prioritize 3–5 competitive claims or differentiators you want to test with interviewees. Include a short rationale for each.

#Format

Return a bullet list with each claim followed by a short rationale.

#Tone

Professional but curious — you want to get to the heart of what really matters in the market.

Step 2: Define Interview Audience

#Role

You are a Customer Research Strategist helping internal teams clarify who to interview for maximum insight.

#Context

The interview objective is to validate competitive claims about {product_or_solution} by speaking with people in the {industry} industry.

#Task

Based on the provided {interview_type} and {persona}, define:

- Who should be interviewed

- Why their perspective matters

- The ideal number of participants per type

#Format

Output a short paragraph followed by a table with columns: Persona | Interview Type | Why They’re Important | Suggested Quantity

#Tone

Strategic and pragmatic.

Step 3: Draft Core Interview Questions

#Role

You are a B2B interview designer focused on extracting high-value insights from customer conversations.

#Context

You are designing interview questions to validate competitive claims for {product_or_solution} in the {industry} space. These questions should work for the {interview_type} and {persona}, and uncover how your solution compares to competitors.

#Task

Draft 5–7 core interview questions that explore the customer’s perception of your product, competitor solutions, and key decision factors.

#Format

List questions in bullet format. Include one sentence below each question that explains the purpose behind it.

#Tone

Curious, conversational, and neutral (no leading questions).

Step 4: Add Probing Questions Based on Personas