If you were the owner of a fast food restaurant that sold milkshakes and they weren't selling well, what would you do?
Would you buy higher quality ingredients?
Would you run market research to see what flavours customers would prefer on the menu?
Or would you pick just one popular flavour and make it even better?
Don’t worry, Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen has the answer for you.
Customers don’t buy products or services; they 'hire' them to do a job.
You can see the "Jobs to Be Done" approach in some of the world’s most respected companies including Amazon, Uber, Airbnb and Chobani yogurt, to name just a few.
"Clayton Christensen’s books on innovation are mandatory reading at Netflix” -Reed Hastings, Co-founder and CEO of Netflix
What do you say?
An interesting video, right?
Why buy a milkshake?
Conventional perspective: "Because it tastes good."
Jobs-to-be-done perspective: "Because it keeps me full until noon and I can drink while I drive to work."
Armed with this insight, what would you do now?
Make the straw thinner or make the milkshake thicker so it would last even longer on a boring commute?
Add chunks of fruits to add a surprise element?
Move the milkshake stand closer to the checkout counter and offer pre-mixed milkshakes?
For the parents with kids, you could introduce smaller cup sizes so they would feel less guilty for buying their kids the milkshake.
To sweeten the deal, you could even consider including a toy.
Notice how understanding why people want to pull your product into their lives clarifies the whole strategy.
If you don’t know why they buy, you aren’t going to make it very far.
To create an innovative product or improve the existing product in an innovative way, there’s only one way to get people to buy something.
Create value for them.
Here’s how to do that.
Ask the right question.
Those who fail to innovate are simply asking the wrong question. (Check this rant)
Move from "How can I get people to buy my product?” to "What jobs are my customer hiring this product to do?"
Think of the practical role your product or service fulfills but don’t stop there.
Continue with the emotional and social dimensions that encompass the feelings customers get from owning or using your product. (Check this rant)
Document the journey from the moment a customer hires the product for the job to the moment they complete the job, or they give up.
Pay attention to barriers and frustrations they face.
Remove the barriers and remedy the frustrations to create a better experience.
"You think you know just what your customers would like, but in reality it can feel pretty hit or miss. Place enough bets and - with a bit of luck - something will work out. But that doesn’t have to be the case, not when you truly understand what causes consumers to make the choices they do.” - Clayton Christensen
Often, when you're selling, the reason that someone is buying is different from what you think.
And your job is to understand why they are really buying.
That is where the skill is.
Here’s my favourite passage from Seth Godin’s This is Marketing.
Seth is typing now:
Harvard marketing professor Theodore Levitt famously said, “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit. They want a quarter-inch hole.”
The lesson is that the drill bit is merely a feature, a means to an end, but what people truly want is the hole it makes.
But that doesn’t go nearly far enough.
No one wants a hole.
What people want is the shelf that will go on the wall once they drill the hole.
Actually, what they want is how they’ll feel once they see how uncluttered everything is, when they put their stuff on the shelf that went on the wall, now that there’s a quarter-inch hole.
But wait …
They also want the satisfaction of knowing they did it themselves.
Or perhaps the increase in status they’ll get when their spouse admires the work.
Or the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the bedroom isn’t a mess, and that it feels safe and clean.
“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill bit.
They want to feel safe and respected.”
Bingo.
Customers want what it will do for them.
They want the way it will make them feel.
And there aren’t that many feelings to choose from.
If you can bring someone belonging, connection, peace of mind, status, or one of the other most desired emotions, you’ve done something worthwhile.
Where is your target audience?
Point A.
Where do they want to go?
Point B.
What can you create to get them there?
The Bridge.
A person at Point A wants to get to Point B, and your product is the bridge that gets them there.
If your offering takes people where they want to go - if it transforms them - then it’s valuable.
Value is transformation.
Anyway, this is my rant.
I hope it resonates.
Stay positive.
Test negative.
P.S.1. Professor Christensen.
You will forever be missed.
You were such a great mind.
I’m so sad to see you go.
Thank you for teaching us all.
P.S.2. Like what you’re reading here? Well, you have three choices really.
1. Get more stories straight to your inbox. Subscribe in the page footer below.
3. When you are ready to level up, hire me.
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