Hiring the Best Product
Clay Shirky speaks to this great article on the job a product does and how thinking in this way can help you see things that typical research behavior does not allude to. Shirky unfortunately wrongly attributes the article to HBR. It's in fact that other great thought provoker - MIT.
The set up of the article makes it clear:
Most companies segment their markets by customer demographics or product characteristics and differentiate their offerings by adding features and functions. But the consumer has a different view of the marketplace. He simply has a job to be done and is seeking to “hire” the best product or service to do it. Marketers must adopt that perspective.
So many marketers get caught in the trap of obsessing over existing product use or rejection as opposed to understanding what customers need. They either make changes to the product and use this as an excuse for a new communications campaign or they get obsessed with reasons for rejection and disappointment and offer revisions or guarantees to stop the loss.
With so many clients, I have pleaded for them to get out of meeting rooms and get in to the street. The next step is to help them learn to see again - to observe, to listen, to converse outside of the context of their product.This article provides excellent advice on the skills needed.
To view the document I'm referring to, search jobstobedone and look for a pdf download - posting it here causes copyright issues.
