Access to Customers
What is access to customers?
Access to customers refers to a product team's ability to connect with and interview customers or users directly, which is essential for continuous discovery work. This means both having permission to reach out to customers and having practical ways to find and schedule conversations with them.
Many teams struggle to get this access due to organizational barriers—such as sales or account management teams restricting contact, company rules about who can talk to customers, or simply not having established recruiting processes. Access to customers is one of several key conditions (along with working in product trios and having time to test ideas) that enables teams to do effective discovery work.
What blocks teams from accessing customers?
Several common barriers prevent product teams from talking directly with customers:
Sales or account management gatekeeping happens when customer-facing teams worry that product team outreach will disrupt relationships, confuse customers, or interfere with deals in progress.
Company policies might restrict which roles are allowed to contact customers, often reserving that privilege for sales, support, or account management.
Lack of established processes means teams don't know how to find customers, don't have recruiting systems in place, or haven't coordinated with the right stakeholders to make interviews happen.
These barriers are particularly common in companies organized around feature teams or delivery teams rather than empowered product teams.
How can teams overcome access challenges?
When facing access barriers, the key is to start small and make incremental progress rather than fighting ideological battles about who should talk to customers:
Leverage personal networks as a starting point. If you work on electronic medical records, talk with a doctor or nurse you know personally. If you work in banking, talk with friends about their money habits. These initial conversations build your interviewing skills and generate insights.
Befriend one sales rep or account manager rather than trying to change the entire organization at once. Share what you learned from your own contacts and how you plan to act on it. Ask if they have a customer with a similar need and see if they're open to letting you talk with that customer.
Coordinate with customer-facing teams to establish regular time on calendars for customer interviews. This makes access part of the normal rhythm of work rather than a special request each time.
Make incremental progress by starting with one conversation, then another, gradually building a track record that demonstrates the value of direct customer contact. Let success speak for itself.
Learn more:
- Customer Interviews: How to Recruit, What to Ask, and How to Synthesize What You Learn
Related terms:
- Recruiting Customers
- Customer Interviewing
- Continuous Discovery
- Product Trio
Last Updated: October 25, 2025