Job To Be Done (JTBD) Framework Explained to get you started (+ Interview Questions)
From selling to Solving - The easiest guide to Job To Be Done (JTBD)
Imagine you're at a bustling cafe and overhear someone at the following table talking about how they can't find the perfect pair of headphones.
They're not just looking for headphones; they want something that cancels noise, feels like they're wearing clouds, and doesn't make them look like they're piloting a spaceship.
This is where Jobs Theory, or as the cool kids call it, JTBD (Jobs-to-be-Done), comes into play.
So, what's JTBD? Think of it as seeing the world through the eyes of our customers.
It's not about the headphones themselves but about the "job" these customers are "hiring" the headphones to do.
In the above example, the job isn't just about listening to music; it's about finding peace in a noisy world, feeling comfortable for hours, and looking good.
Here's the kicker: JTBD tells us that people don't buy products; they hire them to make progress in specific situations. It's like, "Hey, I've got this situation, and I need something to get me from point A to point B." That's the job.
We determine what those jobs are and how our products can be the best candidates.
Now, why should we, as marketers, care?
Because it flips the script on how we think about our products and customers,
Instead of pushing features or categories, we pull insights from real human needs and desires.
It's not about being the best headphones on the market; it's about being the best at helping our customers find their peace, comfort, and style.
How do we apply this? We start listening differently.
We dive into our customers' lives, not just their shopping carts.
We look for those moments of frustration, aspiration, and decision.
We ask, "What job is our customer hiring for?" And then, we tailor our messaging, product development, and even our innovation strategy around answering that need.
So, next time you're brainstorming or crafting a campaign, think about the job your customer is trying to get done.
It's about making their life better in some tangible, meaningful way. And when we get it right, it's not just about creating a sale; it's about making a difference.
That's JTBD—seeing beyond the product to the progress our customers strive for. Let's make our products the go-to "hires" for those jobs.
Now that we've wrapped our heads around the why of JTBD, let's roll up our sleeves and dive into the how.
How to Create a Job To Be Done (JTBD) Framework
How do we take this fantastic concept and turn it into actionable insights that can drive our marketing strategies and product development? Here's a straightforward blueprint to get us started:
Listen and Observe: Begin with the customer. And I mean get into their world. This isn't about sending out surveys and calling it a day.
It's about observation, interviews, and digging into the experiences that lead them to seek solutions.
What frustrations are they voicing? What makeshift solutions have they created? This step is all about gathering the raw material.Define the Jobs: With your insights in hand, start outlining the jobs. Remember, a job is more than a task; it's the progress your customer seeks in a given context.
Think about the emotional and social jobs as well as the functional ones. What are they trying to achieve?Categorize and Prioritize: Not all jobs are created equal. Some are critical to your customers' success; others are nice.
It's time to sort through the jobs you've identified, categorize them based on importance and frequency, and prioritize them based on your product's ability to address them effectively.Craft Job Stories: Create a compelling story for each prioritized job. This should capture the essence of the job in a way that resonates with both your team and your customers.
An excellent job story includes the situation, the motivation, and the intended outcome. It's storytelling with a purpose.Align Your Offering: Here's where the rubber meets the road. Take a hard look at your product or service through the lens of the job stories.
How well does it "hire" for the job?
This might be a time for some tough love and honest reflection. The goal is to identify gaps between your customers' needs and what you're offering.Innovate and Iterate: Armed with your job stories and the insights from your alignment exercise, it's time to innovate.
Whether tweaking your product, adjusting your messaging, or overhauling your approach, use the jobs as your north star.
And remember, innovation is a cycle, not a one-time deal. Keep listening, refining, and keeping your product or service aligned with your customers' jobs.Communicate with Purpose: Last but not least, let's talk about talking. Communicating our product's ability to do the job can make all the difference.
This is about crafting messages that resonate and speak directly to the jobs your customers need to be done. It's not just about features and benefits; it's about understanding, empathy, and connection.
Creating a JTBD framework isn't just an exercise; it's a shift in perspective. It's about moving from product-centric to customer-centric, selling to solving, talking to listening.
Job Story timeline
Crafting a timeline for Job Stories within the context of Jobs Theory involves mapping the customer's journey from recognizing a need to choosing a solution. (
This process focuses on understanding the specific moments and motivations that lead customers to "hire" a product or service to accomplish a job. (image source)
Here's how you can craft a timeline for Job Stories:
Identify the Switch Event: Start by pinpointing when the customer switches to your product or service. This is the focal point around which the timeline is built.
Segment the Timeline: Break down the timeline into three main phases relative to the switch event:
First Thought: When the customer first recognizes they have a need or a problem.
Considering the Switch: The period where they evaluate options, including the emotional and rational factors influencing their decision.
Decision and Aftermath: When the customer decides and their reflections or reactions after using the new product or service.
Gather Data through Switch Interviews: Conduct detailed, exploratory Switch Interviews with customers who have recently switched to your product or service. Aim to uncover:
Push Factors: What issues or dissatisfaction with their current solution drove them to consider a change?
Pull Factors: What aspects of your product or service attracted them to make the switch?
Anxieties: What concerns or hesitations did they have about switching?
Habits: What routine or loyalty to their previous solution made switching difficult?
Analyze Emotional and Functional Forces: Look for the emotional (how they felt) and functional (practical reasons) forces across the timeline. This helps in understanding the complete context of the switch.
Plot the Journey: Use the insights from the interviews to plot the customer's journey on the timeline. Include key moments of frustration, realization, evaluation, decision, and satisfaction or dissatisfaction post-switch.
Identify Patterns and Job Stories: As you conduct more interviews, patterns will emerge. These patterns will help you define Job Stories that represent everyday customer journeys. A Job Story is structured around the situation, motivation, and outcome, highlighting the job the customer hired your product or service to do.
Refine and Validate: Use ongoing interviews to refine your Job Stories and validate their accuracy and relevance. It's a continuous process of learning and adjustment.
Create Job Cards: Summarize each Job Story into a Job Card that outlines the key insights and can inform design decisions, product development, and marketing strategies.
The timeline for Job Stories is not just a chronological sequence of events; it's a tool for understanding the deep motivations, barriers, and triggers that lead to a customer making a switch.
This understanding is crucial for developing products and services that meet customer needs and creating compelling marketing messages.
JTBD Case Study Example - Transforming Online Education with Video API
Background: One of my organizations delivers high-quality, customizable video conferencing solutions.
My focus has been on the education sector, aiming to elevate the online learning experience to new heights.
Target Customer Segment: I've been working closely to understand and cater to online educators and e-learning platforms who need tools to make virtual classrooms as engaging and interactive as in-person learning.
Listening and Observing with Purpose:
We dived deep into the online education community, engaging in forums, interviewing educators, and sifting through feedback from our users.
This exploration led us to identify a pivotal job educators needed to accomplish: "Create an engaging and interactive online learning environment that rivals in-person classes."
Defining and Refining the JTBD:
With this insight, we refined our JTBD focus on delivering content and crafting an immersive learning experience. This included:
Facilitating real-time interactions between students and teachers.
Enabling hands-on experiences through breakout rooms and interactive tools.
Integrating seamlessly with educational content and resources.
Crafting Relevant Job Stories:
A standout story from our journey was an online coding boot camp that leveraged our product to revolutionize their curriculum into an interactive, community-centric learning experience.
Students engaged in live coding, collaborated on projects in breakout rooms and showcased their work—all facilitated by our low-latency, high-quality video platform.
Aligning and Innovating Our Offerings:
Recognizing the need for enhancements, I spearheaded the development of new features, including:
An interactive whiteboard for collaborative learning.
Customizable breakout rooms equipped with subject-specific tools.
Advanced analytics for educators to monitor student engagement.
Communicating with Clarity and Empathy:
We shifted our marketing strategy to emphasize our product's role in bridging the gap between virtual and physical classrooms. Our campaigns, powered by HubSpot and personalized demos, highlighted true stories of educators and students achieving deeper connections and more effective learning through our platform.
Implementing, Iterating, and Innovating:
With the help of tools like Mixpanel and Hotjar, I ensured we continuously collected feedback on our new features. Our team remained agile, always ready to refine our offerings in response to the evolving needs of online educators and the latest e-learning trends.
Job To Be Done (JTBD) Interview Questions -
Q. Can you describe a recent situation where you needed a new solution?
What specific problem were you trying to solve?
Understand the customer's perceived need or problem.
How does this challenge affect your daily life or work?
Gauge the impact of the problem on their daily activities or productivity.
Q. Evaluating Options and Decision-Making
What solutions did you consider or try before choosing this one?
Learn about the alternatives they evaluated, providing insight into their decision-making criteria.
What made you try a new solution instead of sticking with what you had?
Identify push factors driving them away from current solutions.
What were you hoping to achieve by using this product/service?
Understand the progress or outcome the customer was seeking.
What features or attributes did you find most appealing about our solution?
Pinpoint pull factors that attracted them to your product/service.
Q. Aftermath and Evaluation
How has our product/service helped you achieve your goal?
Assess how well the product/service fulfills the job it was hired to do.
Is there anything that is still missing or could be improved?
Identify gaps or opportunities for enhancement from the customer's perspective.
Can you describe when you felt delighted with the product/service?
Capture specific instances of success or relief provided by your solution.
Q. Emotional and Social Dimensions
How did you feel when you encountered the problem you needed to solve?
Explore the emotional context surrounding the need for a solution.
How has your perception changed after using our product/service?
Understand emotional outcomes, including any confidence, satisfaction, or relief shifts.
Who else is affected by your use of this product/service?
Investigate the social impact or considerations influencing their choice and use of the solution.
Q. Looking Forward
Would you consider using this product/service for a different job? Why or why not?
Explore the versatility of the solution and potential unmet needs.
How likely are you to recommend our product/service to someone with a similar need?
Gauge the customer's overall satisfaction and perceived effectiveness of the solution for the job done.
JTBD Tech Stack in GTM 5.0 Era
Transitioning into the data-centric GTM 5.0 era, the approach to identifying and executing the "jobs to be done" (JTBD) for a seamless Go-To-Market strategy is evolving.
Consequently, this shift necessitates transforming our processes and the tools we utilize.
Moving away from conventional tech stacks, we've developed a streamlined process for generating pipelines, drawing on insights from extensive interviews with leading GTM professionals.
To construct a tech stack suitable for GTM 5.0, focusing on becoming more responsive to signals, here are the essential steps:
Identifying Target Accounts: It's crucial for the Revenue Operations (RevOps) team, with input from Marketing and Sales, to determine which accounts to focus on, guided by the target market and Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Tools such as Keyplay, ZoomInfo, 6sense, and Crunchbase are instrumental in this phase.
Account Prioritization and Segmentation: Following creating a target account list, it's time to segment and prioritize these accounts based on first-party and third-party intent signals.
Solutions like Pocus, Keyplay, Warmly, G2, and 6sense can provide valuable insights for this task.Comprehensive Account Research and Planning: A holistic understanding of each account is vital. Identifying key stakeholders, power users, and other critical insights helps craft a narrative for each account.
Tools recommended for this step include Pocus, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, CloseFactor, and Crunchbase.Identifying Key Contacts Within Accounts: The sales team's next step is to pinpoint the right individuals to contact within each account, including obtaining their contact details.
Tools such as Pocus, Apollo.io, Clay, Lusha, ZoomInfo, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator are beneficial here.Engaging with Intent: Recognizing and acting upon strong intent signals, such as a surge in product use or frequent visits to the pricing page, is key to timely engagement.
This can be done manually or through automated workflow rules using tools like Pocus, Warmly, UserGems, and Common Room.
By adopting these steps, companies can refine their GTM strategies to be more aligned with the dynamics of the GTM 5.0 era, ensuring that they are not just reactive but proactive in meeting the evolving needs of their target markets.
Conclusion
Embracing the Jobs-to-be-Done framework transforms how we approach product development and marketing, guiding us to focus intensely on the real needs and progress our customers seek.
By actively listening, observing, and engaging with our customers, we uncover the essential jobs they hire our products to do.
This insight enables us to refine our offerings, ensuring they meet and exceed customer expectations.
Crafting compelling job stories and aligning our messaging allows us to communicate with clarity and empathy, resonating with customers more profoundly.
As we navigate the data-driven GTM 5.0 era, adapting our strategies and tools in line with JTBD principles ensures our products are the preferred choice for customers, making a tangible difference in their lives.
Ultimately, JTBD isn't just a methodology; it's a mindset shift toward creating products that genuinely serve and support our customers' journeys.
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