How to Know Your Customer Through Jobs to Be Done?

When you want to know your customer’s demands and requirements then Jobs to be done is the best option for you. The job to be done is the efficient framework that is best to know your customers.  Jobs to be done (JTBD) is a method that helps in comprehending what your customers want to achieve through all the purchases that they have made.

This helps in making you understand what kind of work the customer wants to get done. With the help of jobs to be done, you can make products or provide services that meet the demands of the customers and make them more effective.  

What Do You Know About Jobs-to-be-done?

JTBD follows a different ideology, that is customers buy outcomes they don’t purchase the services or products. Every customer is going through some kind of problem. When the customer is buying a product or service in reality they are purchasing the solution for the problems he/she is facing. Before making anything we first have to understand what problems a customer is going through.

We have to step in his/her shoes then only we can make something which fits their needs. We can also say a solution can only be made when we first thoroughly understand the problem.  The original inventor of JTBD is Clayton Christensen. He mentioned JTBD in his book called The Innovator’s Dilemma. According to Clayton Christensen job is a discreet pair of activities that a human being tries to fulfill with the help of a product or service.  

If you want to understand Jobs-to-be-done more precisely and clearly, then you have to go much deeper. You have to understand what the hidden intentions or motivations of the customer are behind each comment of the customer. You should also understand in what context the customer wants to fulfill his/her job.  

We can understand this clearly through an example, if you want to sell a product or service to any buyer then first understand the buyer’s problems. You have to know what the buyer is trying to achieve with the help of the product and how they are planning to achieve it. You should also know about their goals and why the goal is so important to the customer as they are trying to fulfill it through jobs to be done. 

How to Properly Implement  Jobs-to-be-done

Job to be done is easy and effective. It is just you have to follow a few steps involved in this framework. Below are the steps you should keep in mind. 

Mark Your Market

When we talk about ‘your market’ it includes much more than just your customers. Yes, people do often fail to realize that it also includes who your competitors are. In short, we can say it includes all the products or services that fulfill the demands of customers which your product or service also does. Let us understand it with the help of an example, 

If you are selling a product that reduces your expenditure then your market includes more than just the customers who are purchasing budgeting products. It involves everyone who is trying in one way or other to save their money, this also includes those people who are trying different products or services to achieve the same goal. 

Find Out About Your Goal

If you want to find out your job or goal, first you have to comprehend what the buyer is trying to fulfill. You also have to comprehend the buyer’s goals  You have to know what is crucial for them. 

After you completely comprehend the job now you can start the next step. You can start brainstorming about how your services or products can help the customers to fulfill all their goals. 

Comprehend the Method Through Which Your Customer is Getting JTBD

You have to dig deeper into how your target buyers are trying to fulfill their job. This will help you to figure out which outcomes are not deserving. Let us know about it through an example.

If your money-saving product or service that customers often try to use is not user-friendly or is tough. Or the charges for the product or its fee is way too much, or it doesn’t have good features which the customers are searching for. It can include features like investing, buying cryptocurrency, or financial management then you can try to sell your service or product which fulfills all the current problems of the customers. 

Try to Make a Solution for All the Problems

Now you have to understand what is your job, what are the customer’s goals, and how the customers are trying to achieve their outcomes. Now we have to find a perfect solution for it. This can be subjective. Either you can make a wholesome new product/service or modify the existing one. Let us understand with an example, 

Acorns is a budgeting application that helps customers to save money. Though, their solutions are not only applications but much more than that. It also possesses some features like investment opportunities and financial advice. They do so by estimating the buyer’s purchases to the closest dollar and investing the difference. Acorns is an application that saves money and helps effectively and quickly invests. 

Trial and Testing 

After all, this and you have found the solution then it is crucial to test the product/service with the customers. It is done to know whether the demands are fully achieved by your product/service. If it doesn’t fulfill it then you need to go back to the stage where you were drawing the interface and make amendments until the target is achieved. 

Conclusion

Jobs-to-be-done is a strong framework for comprehending your customer’s demands and creating solutions that meet the outcomes of the purchaser. This framework can be used by anyone whether an entrepreneur or manager or marketers and many more.  You have to understand what kind of job the buyer is trying to fulfill. You can try making a solution that fully achieves the expectations of the customer.

Kriti Saraiya

Kriti Saraiya is a blogger and journalism student and writes on technology and health related topics. She has good experience across technology, consulting and marketing. She has written for Thrv – jobs to be done.