Understanding the Job
Summary
TLDRThe video script narrates a story of innovation in marketing, highlighting the importance of understanding the underlying 'job' customers hire products to do. It uses the example of a fast-food restaurant trying to increase milkshake sales. Despite traditional product improvement efforts, sales remained stagnant. A shift in perspective led to observing when and how customers used milkshakes, revealing that they were used to make a boring morning commute more interesting and to stave off morning hunger. This insight, compared to other breakfast options like bananas or donuts, led to understanding how to improve the milkshake, making it a better fit for the customer's needs, thus driving sales and profits.
Takeaways
- 💡 Innovation is key in marketing and understanding the underlying 'job' customers hire products for is crucial.
- 📚 The traditional approach of improving products based on customer feedback may not always lead to increased sales or profits.
- 🕵️♂️ Observing customer behavior and understanding their needs in real-life situations can reveal insights that direct questioning might miss.
- 🚗 The case study of the milkshake sales revealed that the product was used to fill a specific 'job' during a morning commute, not just as a food item.
- 🥪 People used the milkshake as a means to make their long, boring drive to work more interesting and to stave off hunger until later in the morning.
- 🍌 Other potential solutions like bananas, donuts, bagels, and Snickers bars were considered but found to be less effective for the 'job' at hand.
- 🥤 The milkshake's viscosity and the fact that it could be consumed over a longer period of time made it the ideal product for the 'job'.
- 🏆 The success of a product isn't just about its features but about how well it performs the 'job' customers need it to do.
- 💭 When understanding the 'job', improving the product becomes more obvious as you can focus on what truly matters to the customer.
- 🎯 Marketers should aim to understand not just what customers say they want, but what they actually do and why they do it.
Q & A
Who is the speaker in the transcript and what is his profession?
-The speaker in the transcript is Clay Christensen, who is a professor at a Business School.
What is the main topic of discussion in the transcript?
-The main topic of discussion is innovation and understanding customer needs, specifically focusing on how people 'hire' products to do certain jobs in their lives.
What was the initial approach of the fast-food restaurant to increase milkshake sales?
-The initial approach was to ask customers for feedback on how to improve the milkshake based on various attributes like taste, texture, and price.
What was the outcome of the initial approach to improve milkshake sales?
-The initial approach did not have any impact on sales or profits, despite making improvements based on customer feedback.
What was the different question the colleague asked that led to a breakthrough?
-The colleague asked what job arises in people's lives that causes them to buy a milkshake from the restaurant.
What did the observation of customers buying milkshakes reveal?
-The observation revealed that nearly half of the milkshakes were sold before 8 o'clock in the morning to customers who were alone, bought only a milkshake, and drove off with it.
How did the researchers understand the 'job' that customers were trying to do by buying a milkshake?
-They confronted the customers outside the restaurant and asked about the last time they had been in a similar situation and what they 'hired' to do the job instead of a milkshake.
What was the 'job' that the customers were trying to do in the morning?
-The 'job' was to have something to do during their long and boring drive to work that would keep the commute interesting and also satisfy their hunger by 10 o'clock in the morning.
Why did the customers prefer milkshakes over other options like bananas, donuts, or bagels?
-Milkshakes were preferred because they were viscous and took longer to consume, kept the driver's hands relatively clean, and stayed fresh until they were needed to satisfy their hunger.
What is the key takeaway from the milkshake case study?
-The key takeaway is that understanding the actual 'job' customers are trying to accomplish with a product can lead to insights on how to improve the product and create a better customer experience.
Outlines
📚 Introduction to Innovation and Marketing
The speaker, Clay Christensen, introduces himself as a professor at a Business School and discusses his approach to teaching innovation. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the core motivations behind why people engage with products, suggesting that products are 'hired' to do specific jobs in consumers' lives. This understanding is crucial for motivating customers to purchase offerings. He shares an anecdote about a project with a fast-food restaurant aiming to increase milkshake sales, highlighting the limitations of traditional feedback methods and proposing a more insightful approach to understanding consumer behavior.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Innovation
💡Marketing
💡Customer Motivation
💡Jobs-to-be-Done
💡Product Hiring
💡Customer Feedback
💡Sales
💡Customer Needs
💡Product Development
💡Competitive Analysis
💡Customer Experience
Highlights
Innovation in marketing is at the core of what makes motivation difficult to achieve.
The key to motivating customers is understanding the 'job' they hire a product to do.
The traditional approach of asking customers for feedback on products often fails to improve sales or profits.
A study on a fast-food restaurant's milkshakes revealed that understanding the 'job' customers hire milkshakes for was crucial.
Milkshake sales were found to peak before 8 am, with customers often alone and buying only milkshakes.
Customers used milkshakes to make their long and boring commutes interesting.
The 'job' customers hired milkshakes for was not hunger, but the need for something to do during their drive.
Customers wanted a product that would keep them full until 10 am and fit in their cup holder.
The milkshake was competing with other breakfast items like bananas, donuts, and bagels, not just other milkshakes.
The milkshake's viscosity made it last for the entire commute, unlike other quick-to-eat options.
Understanding the 'job' to be done opens up new insights on how to improve a product.
Innovation is not just about product features but about fulfilling the customer's underlying needs.
Traditional market research methods may miss the underlying 'jobs' customers are trying to accomplish.
The 'job' theory of innovation provides a framework for understanding customer behavior.
By observing customer behavior in context, businesses can uncover the true 'jobs' their products are hired for.
The success of a product is not determined by its features but by how well it solves the customer's 'job'.
Innovative methods of understanding customer needs can lead to breakthroughs in product development.
The 'job' theory can be applied to a wide range of products and services to enhance their market performance.
Transcripts
hi my name's clay Christensen I'm a
professor
Business School I brought with me a set
of puzzles all related to innovation
we decided that the way we teach
marketing is at the core of what makes
motivation difficult to achieve the most
helpful way we've thought of it so far
is that we actually hire products to do
things for us and understanding what job
we have to do in our lives for which we
would hire a product is really the key
to cracking this problem of motivating
customers to buy what we're offering so
I wanted just to tell you a story about
a project we did for one of the big fast
food restaurants they were trying to
Goose up the sales of their milkshakes
they had just studied this problem up
the Gazoo they brought in customers who
fit the profile of the quintessential
milkshake consumer and they give them
samples and asked could you tell us how
we can improve our milkshake so you'd
buy more of them do you want a
chocolatier cheap or chunky or chewy or
they get very clear feedback they would
then improve the milkshake on those
dimensions and it had no impact on sales
or profits whatsoever so one of our
colleagues went in with a different
question on his mind and that was I
wonder what job arises in people's lives
that caused them to come to this
restaurant to hire a milkshake so we
stood in a restaurant for 18 hours one
day and just took very careful data what
time did they buy these milkshakes what
were they wearing were they alone did
they buy other food with it did they eat
it in the restaurant or drive off with
it it turned out that nearly half of the
milkshakes were sold before 8 o'clock in
the morning the people who bought them
were always alone it was the only thing
they bought and they all got in the car
and drove off with it so to figure out
what job they were trying to hire it to
do we came back the next day and stood
outside the restaurant so we could
confront these folks as they left the
milkshake in hand and in language that
they could understand we essentially
asked excuse me please but I got to sort
this puzzle out what job were you trying
to do for yourself that caused you to
come here and hire that milkshake and
they'd struggle to answer so we didn't
help them
asking other questions like well think
about the last time you were in the same
situation meeting to get the same job
done but you didn't come here to hire a
milkshake what did you hire and then as
we put all of their answers together it
became clear that they all had the same
job to do in the morning and that is
they had a long and boring drive to work
and they just needed something to do how
they drove to keep the commute
interesting one hand had to be on the
wheel
but somebody given him another hand and
there wasn't anything in it and they
just needed something to do while they
drove they weren't hungry yet but they
knew they'd be hungry by 10 o'clock so
they also wanted something that would
just pull down there and stay for their
morning good question what am I hire
when I do this job you know I've never
framed the question that way before but
last Friday I heard a banana to do the
job take my word for it never hire
bananas they're gone in three minutes
you're hungry by 7:30 if you promise not
to tell my wife I probably hire donuts
twice a week but they don't do it well
either they're gone fast they crumb all
over my clothes they get my fingers
gooey
sometimes I hire bagels but as you know
they're so dry and tasteless then I have
to steer the car with my knees while I'm
putting jam on them and then if the
phone rings we got that crisis I
remember I hired a Snickers bar once but
ah I felt so guilty I've never hired
Snickers again let me tell you when I
come here and hire this milkshake
it is so viscous that it easily takes me
20 minutes to suck it up that thin
little straw who cares what the
ingredients are I don't all I know is
I'm full all morning and it fits right
here in my cup holder well it turns out
that the milkshake does the job better
than any of the competitors which in the
customers minds are not burger king
milkshakes but it's bananas Donuts
bagels Snickers bars coffee and so on
but I hope you can see how if you
understand the job how to improve the
product becomes just obvious
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