Using “assume close” in guerrilla research

Ask your question before explaining yourself

There is a sales technique called “assume close” that’s very effective in daily communication and as I’ve discovered, guerrilla research.

E.g. when requesting a meeting, rather than asking “Could we meet?”, ask “Could we meet Tuesday at 4pm, or Thursday at 11am?” It distracts people from the question “do I want to meet this person?” by making them think “is Tue or Thu a better time for me?” and also gets you to your objective without sounding pushy, since you’re offering them a choice.

When using “assume close” in a guerrilla setting,

1. You help people help you by surfacing what you need from them quickly

“Hi, I noticed you called an MPV cab to get your stuff home, why did you choose this?” rather than “Hi, I’m doing a survey about … Can I ask you …”

People would have registered “survey” in their brain and waved a “Sorry, I’m in a hurry” before you can say “just 5 minutes”. Ask the question, it should be easy for them to fire an answer (if it’s not, it shouldn’t be a guerrilla interview) and once they’ve committed, you can tell them why you’re asking, because that’s polite.

2. You get them to answer your question rather than think about whether to answer your question

3. “Assume close” sends a signal that you are credible and you have a reason to be there, asking them a question

This is so important for guerrilla because most of the time, what you’ll be asking is nothing top secret and classified. But just because you send the wrong signals by explaining yourself early, people get suspicious and withhold simple information that would have helped you tremendously.

So next time you’re out asking strangers questions, try putting on a smile and ask them the question directly instead of prematurely introducing yourself and your agenda. Let me know how this has worked for you and what other ways of prefacing has helped you get good answers on the street!

Read more