---
title: 1. Review your Discovery interviews
description: Begin Preference interview prep-work by checking Discovery interviews for Top Picks, Must Haves &amp; Outcome Statements.
---

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1. [BLUE HELP](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en?hsLang=en)
2. [Preference Interviews (Step 3)](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en)
3. [How to prepare for Preference interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en#how-to-prepare-for-preference-interviews)

# 1. Review your Discovery interviews

## Begin Preference interview prep-work by checking Discovery interviews for Top Picks, Must Haves & Outcome Statements.

During Preference interviews, you’ll ask customers to rate 10 outcomes on 1-to-10 scales for importance and current satisfaction. Why 10 outcomes? That’s typically all you’ll have time for in Preference interviews, because you’ll ask five questions for each outcome:

- How important is this outcome?
- How satisfied are you today with this outcome?
- How would you measure this outcome?
- Using this measurement, what result would be barely acceptable?
- Using this measurement, what result would make you totally satisfied?

You’ll decide *internally* as a team which 10 outcomes to include in Preference interviews, which might make you nervous: After all, we’ve been keen to stay market-centered, not supplier-centered, right? So we put some safeguards in place:

- You’ll only consider outcomes *customers* marked as a Top Pick (TP) during Discovery interviews
- You’ll consider how much customer enthusiasm was shown during Discovery interviews
- You’ll make your selection a *team* decision—not one individual on the team
- You’ll have a “safety net”… allowing customers to add “missed” outcomes during Preference

To begin the process, your team should review all its Discovery interviews. First make sure all the Must Haves are properly marked (blue arrow below). These are the outcomes customers must have… or they simply *cannot* use your product no matter how wonderful it is in other aspects. Think of these as “table stakes” or “price of entry.”

![](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-235.png?width=478&name=image-235.png)

Here’s one tricky aspect: What if customers said an outcome was a Must Have because it had a minimum performance requirement, e.g. must survive 50,000 flexes? Hopefully you asked this question: “If we gave you *more* than 50,000 flexes, would it help?” If they answered, “No… we just need 50,000 flexes,” then it is indeed a MH. But if they said, “Yes, we’d love 60,000 or 70,000 flexes,” then it’s NOT a true MH. It’s a TP with a minimum requirement (barely acceptable) of 50,000 flexes.

Next, review your Discovery interviews to make sure all the Top Picks have been marked. These should have been identified at the end of each Discovery interview, as you asked *customers* to identify 5-to-10 outcomes they were most eager to see improved.

Finally, check for outcome statements on each TP. (There’s no need to do this for Must Haves.) These should have been created with the customer at the end of the interview… but this is often the last skill new Blueprinting practitioners master. So check your outcome statements now and “upgrade” them as needed. Go to [www.blueprintingcenter.com](http://www.blueprintingcenter.com) \> Blueprinter software \> Tool 3.2: Prepare Top Picks… and click the “Example” button in the toolbar to open the following window showing examples and rules:

![](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/hs-fs/hubfs/image-236.png?width=479&name=image-236.png)

For more on this topic, see *e-Learning Module 23: Preference Interviews A*, at [www.blueprintingcenter.com](http://www.blueprintingcenter.com) \> e-Learning. Also, to see why quantitative Preference interviews are so important, check out this 2-minute video from the [*B2B Organic Growth*](http://b2bgrowth.video) series by Dan Adams.

[![B2B Organic Growth Chapter 27](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Chapter%2027.jpg?width=688&name=Chapter%2027.jpg)](http://b2bgrowth.video/27)

 

Keywords: Check Discovery interviews, Prepare for Preference interviews, Top Picks, Must Haves, Outcome Statements, TP, MH, Outcome Statement rules and examples, Blueprinter Tool 3.2 Prepare Top Picks

 

 

 

 

 

 

- [Blueprinting Center & Methodology](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/blueprinting-center-methodology?hsLang=en#main-content)

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    - [How to conduct secondary market research](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/market-segmentation-step-1?hsLang=en#how-to-conduct-secondary-market-research)
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- [Discovery Interviews (Step 2)](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#main-content)

    - [How to plan Discovery interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-plan-discovery-interviews)
    - [Preparing your interview team](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#preparing-your-interview-team)
    - [Convincing customers to be interviewed](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#convincing-customers-to-be-interviewed)
    - [How to handle confidential info in an interview](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-handle-confidential-info-in-an-interview)
    - [How to conduct a Discovery interview](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-conduct-a-discovery-interview)
    - [Finding & using a digital projector for interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#finding-using-a-digital-projector-for-interviews)
    - [How to conduct a customer tour](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-conduct-a-customer-tour)
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    - [Engaging your sales colleagues in interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#engaging-your-sales-colleagues-in-interviews)
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    - [How to listen well during customer interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-listen-well-during-customer-interviews)
    - [How to probe during customer interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-probe-during-customer-interviews)
    - [How to gather economic data during interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-gather-economic-data-during-interviews)
    - [How to create & use Current State questions](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-create-use-current-state-questions)
    - [How to identify Must Haves (MH)](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-identify-must-haves-mh)
    - [How to select Top Picks (TP)](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-select-top-picks-tp)
    - [How to use Trigger Maps](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-use-trigger-maps)
    - [How to form Outcome Statements](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/discovery-interviews-step-2?hsLang=en#how-to-form-outcome-statements)
- [Preference Interviews (Step 3)](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en#main-content)

    - [How to prepare for Preference interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en#how-to-prepare-for-preference-interviews)
    - [How to schedule Preference interviews](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en#how-to-schedule-preference-interviews)
    - [How to conduct a Preference interview](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en#how-to-conduct-a-preference-interview)
    - [How to analyze your Preference data](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en#how-to-analyze-your-preference-data)
    - [How to build your Market Case](https://support.theaiminstitute.com/en/preference-interviews-step-3?hsLang=en#how-to-build-your-market-case)
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