One of the hallmarks of a Job-To-Be-Done approach (our series) is not to ask the people what they want. A better approach is to understand what job people want to do. That means looking at how people hack your product or when there is zombie revenue. It means what people do, not what people say. Here are two additions to our collection.
Of the thousands of first Title Nine catalogs only a handful of orders came in. But…
“Many of the people put a sports bra on their order. So while I may not have been the quickest study, you don’t have to tell me twice, wow, sports bras are the most essential piece of sports equipment for the average American woman.” – Missy Park, How I Built This, October 2021
Park built her first catalog by choosing the clothes she wanted. Park grew her business by solving the JTBD.
Our second comes from another CEO:
“Being with F-150 customers is like having a barbecue with the next door neighbors, we know them that well. The Homer had a doughnut maker and beer dispenser. If you ask people what they want, you get a Homer, but if you know the customers really well you can surprise them with twelve kilowatts of power to power their home. They won’t tell you that. They won’t tell a focus group that. But if you know them well enough you know they’ll like it.” – Jim Farley, Decoder with Nilay Patel, April 2021
Whether the Ford Lightning succeeds remains to be seen, but the fact that they promote the frunk’s ability to hold two carry-ons and one full-size suitcase shows a JTBD focus.
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My first collection is 26 Jobs to be done, it’s $3 on Amazon.
The Waiter's Pad 