Jobs-to-Be-Done for a Local Shop Jobs-to-Be-Done

People do not buy a product for its own sake. They hire it to do a job. Here is how that idea helps a small shop.

There is a well-known marketing saying: people do not want a drill, they want a hole in the wall. It is a nice way to remember that we buy things for what they do for us, not for what they are.

A framework called Jobs to Be Done takes that idea seriously. It is worth knowing if you run a small shop, because it changes the question you ask about your customers.

The idea

In a 2016 article in Harvard Business Review, Clayton Christensen and his co-authors Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David Duncan argue that many companies study the wrong thing. They look at customer profiles, such as age, income and location, and at patterns in data. The authors say the better question is: what job is the customer trying to get done?

They use a simple picture. When we buy a product, we "hire" it to do a job. If it does the job well, we hire it again. If not, we "fire" it and look for something else.

Jobs can be small, like passing the time, or big, like finding a more fulfilling career. The authors say the circumstances matter more than the buyer's traits. So the same kind of product can be hired for very different jobs.

The milkshake story

The best-known example comes from Christensen's work, and Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge site tells it like this.

A fast-food chain wanted to sell more milkshakes. It picked the typical milkshake drinker, asked them what an ideal milkshake would be, and made changes. Sales did not improve.

A researcher then spent a day in a restaurant and watched who bought milkshakes and when. He found that about 40 percent were bought first thing in the morning, by people taking them to go. When he asked those customers why, many said the same sort of thing: they had a boring drive ahead, only one hand free, and they expected to be hungry by mid-morning. The milkshake beat a bagel or a doughnut because it was neat,

So the chain made the morning milkshake thicker to last through the commute, and added fruit pieces. The job was never about taste alone.

A shop example (illustrative)

Here is a made-up case to show how you might use it. A small sweet shop sells boxes of sweets in the weeks before a big festival.

If the owner thinks the product is "sweets in a box", the plan is simple: sell more boxes, lower the price, compete on taste.

Now think about the job. Many buyers are not buying sweets for themselves. They are saying "I thought of you" to a relative, a boss or a neighbour. Maybe they have little time and want something that looks good without much effort. The job is gifting.

That changes the plan. You might:

• Offer ready-wrapped boxes at three price levels, so choosing takes ten seconds.
• Add a small card they can sign in the shop.
• Offer delivery to the recipient, since some buyers are busy.
• Take orders early, because gifting buyers plan ahead.

None of these improve the sweets. All of them improve the job. And again, this example is invented, so test it with your own customers before you try it.

Notice what changed. The sweets stayed the same. What improved was how well the shop helped the buyer finish the job they came with.

How to find the job

You do not need a research team. Try this:

1. Ask your last ten customers one question: "What made you decide to buy this today?"
2. Listen for the situation, not the product. What was happening? Who was it for? What were they afraid of?
3. Look for patterns. Two or three jobs usually come up more than once.
4. Ask yourself: what else gets in the way of this job, and can I remove it?

The authors give another example worth knowing. Developers building condos for retirees who wanted to downsize had weak sales at first. They realised they were really helping people through a big life change. They added services to help with the move and with deciding what to keep, and sales rose.

Where the idea is weak

Jobs to Be Done is a way of looking, not a formula. Two people can describe the same purchase differently, and customers do not always know their own reasons. Asking five or ten people gives you clues, not proof. Treat what you hear as a guess to test: change one thing, such as the box, the card or the delivery option, and see if people respond.

It also does not replace the basics. If the product is poor or the price is wrong, understanding the job will not save it.

What I take from this

The question I want to ask is not "who is my customer?" but "what is my customer trying to get done, and what is in the way?" It makes me look at the situation around a purchase, which is usually where the real reason hides.

Try this week: Ask five customers why they bought today. Write down the situation, not the product.

Sources

• Christensen, Hall, Dillon and Duncan, "Know Your Customers' Jobs to Be Done," Harvard Business Review, September 2016.
• "Clay Christensen's Milkshake Marketing," Harvard Business School Working Knowledge.
• The shop example is illustrative.