Have you ever wondered how some companies seem to always be at the forefront of their industry? They seem to know what their customers want before they even know themselves. How do they do it?
The answer is something called the jobs-to-be-done theory. In this blog post, we will discuss what this theory is and how you can use it to view your market in a different light.
What is Jobs-to-Be-Done?
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The jobs-to-be-done theory is a marketing concept that was first formally popularized by Clayton Christensen in his book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma.” In short, the theory states that businesses should focus on understanding the job that their product or service is hired to do, not on the products themselves.
For example, when you go to buy a pair of shoes, you are not just buying shoes. You are hiring the shoes to do a job for you – protect your feet from the elements.
The same principle can be applied to almost any product or service. When you understand the job that your product is hired to do, you can better focus your efforts on creating a product or service that is the best possible fit for that job.
How to Use Jobs-to-Be-Done to Innovate
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Innovation is not about coming up with new ideas. It’s about taking existing ideas and making them better. And the best way to do that is to focus on the needs of your customer.
When it comes to innovation, the jobs-to-be-done theory can be a powerful tool. By understanding the job that your product or service is hired to do, you can better assess how to improve upon it.
When you view your market through the lens of jobs-to-be-done, you can start to see where there are opportunities for innovation. It’s not about coming up with new products or services, but rather it’s about making the ones you already have better.
In the previous example, we noted that shoes are hired to protect your feet from the elements. But, shoes are hired to create several other outcomes as well. Outcomes are metrics that customers use to gauge how well their job was done.
By applying the outcome-driven innovation process to market research, you can start to identify areas where you can improve upon your product or service.
Outcome-Driven Innovation
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The outcome-driven innovation process is simple. First, you survey your customers to understand what job they hired a product or service to do. Second, you identify the outcomes that they use to gauge how well that job was done. And third, you assess where there are opportunities to improve upon those outcomes.
When you uncover these outcomes that are underserved, you can define your market around those and scale your product. If you need any help in this department strategyn.com can surely be of help.
For example, if you were to survey customers and ask them how well their shoes protected their feet from the elements, you might find that some are not satisfied with the level of comfort that the shoe provides. You might also find that several customers want shoes that last longer.
You can apply this knowledge to innovate your product. Now, your market is not just people who need to protect their feet, but also those who need to comfortably walk around without needing to replace their shoes too often.
By understanding the needs of your customers, you can start to view your market differently. And by applying the jobs-to-be-done theory, you can better focus your efforts on innovation.
Elements Of a Job To Be Done
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As you understand by now, this is considered a theory. But in reality, it can be applied in everyday life with ease. For the most part, we get through our private and business life with this strategy. It’s just if you never think about it, you don’t fully understand that it’s happening. So, the first thing you need to know about the Jobs-to-be-Done Theory is that it revolves around services and products. Their purpose is to get the job done. This is clear from the get-go. Every job needs to be functional, but you’re allowed to put a bit of emotion into it together with many other social properties. After all, we are social beings.
One of its primary traits is stability. Something that gets the job done needs to be stable. Rare are things in life that happen overnight and finish work for us. It’s not how any of these functions. It needs to be stable and be a solution to an issue. It doesn’t matter what the issue is, it’s the way you apply the product or service to solve it. In order to bring this theory to fruition, you need to start from the analysis of the job and not the product or service you’re getting. The job is the centerpiece here.
You as a customer need to know what is a job you need to be taken care of. It is the only way anyone can advertise the product or service they’re selling. It’s hard to sell marketing to people with no understanding of their goal. If you’re streamlined it will be easier for you to find what you’re looking for as marketers are going to be more innovative and you’ll be easier to predict. It could be a win-win situation for both parties; the sellers and the buyers. Those who buy stuff want it to be cheap but still able to get the job done. The product itself doesn’t necessarily need to be cheaper. All it needs to do is to ensure that the work is done cheaper or faster.
These days, customers are more demanding, but despite that, they can still be pleased. Thanks to the development of the internet and various other technologies, everything is possible. The first thing many people seek today is the option to handle all of their business in one place. A single platform that sells a product or a service is what’s the hot commodity in today’s times. The only way innovation in this field can be predictable is if customers’ needs are tied to the job to be done. After reading this entire article you have a better view of the entire thing. It’s not too hard to get a grasp on it. All that it takes is to dig a little deeper into the customer perspective from a marketing point of the stand. It’s one way to get the job done, after all.
