What if you just don't waste your time?

The first thought after reading Paul Graham’s post was but what if you just don’t waste your time?

I take that from the sales point of view. If X does not equal an opportunity, move as quickly as possible to Y that wants, needs and will buy from you.

I get where Paul is coming from and I am sure that by asking, you can collect some insights. How valuable they are is questionable. Asking hypothetical questions where people don’t feel a sense of ownership, where there is no skin in the game, is pointless, in my opinion.

This also reminds me of Steve Jobs when he said: “Some people say give the customers what they want, but that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do... That's why I never rely on market research.”

The customer does not know what they want because the customer is a committee of people who have different points of view, pains and aspirations. Their opinions also change very quickly.

I can’t say there would be zero, since that would generalize and compact everything into absolutes. But think about this, if you had followed Paul’s advice just five years ago, how many customers would have told you, “we need a chatbot and an agent that will complete 98% of our work”?

Probably close to zero.