In spite of the challenging economic environment we are going through there are many businesses that have actually experienced strong(er) growth during these uncertain times.

With certain routes to markets being closed off, albeit temporarily as a result of lockdown restrictions, many businesses have had to rethink their strategy to enable them to reach their customers more effectively.

Great products that serve the customer well will always perform strongly and we can see that from scrolling our linkedin feeds. However great products backed up with great insights, a well thought out marketing plan and a comprehensive sales process that puts the customer at the centre of what the business does will really drive revenue performance to another level.

So what contributes to rapid growth?

One concept that really makes an impact on the desirability of your product and therefore your sales volume is jobs to be done theory yet for some reason it’s not often covered in the usual sales and marketing guides. Although some of the themes run through the resources you come across, as a practice it somehow does not get the recognition and prominence it deserves.

So what is “jobs to be done theory”? Jobs to be done (frequently referred to as jobs theory) is a theory of consumer action - it’s built around the theory that people buy products and services to get jobs done. It helps you solve the right problem for your consumers by describing the mechanisms that cause a consumer to adopt an innovation. As people complete these jobs, they have certain measurable outcomes that they’re attempting to achieve.

That is generally the essence but what you’re effectively doing is aligning the company's value creation activities (your offer) to customer-defined metrics (their intention to buy and physical purchase). As a rule revenue generation follows value creation, so it’s your job to find out how your target market values your product. What emotional triggers does your product create? What does purchasing your product mean to them?

Too many times product businesses fail because they don’t focus on the right problem and building the right product. Jobs to be done theory helps you prioritise your product features by focusing on the job that people are hiring your product to do. The theory states that markets grow, evolve, and renew whenever customers have a Job to be Done, and then buy a product to complete it (get the Job Done).

So what does this mean for your business and how can you apply the concept to grow your business?

Only by getting answers to the question, “what job is your product being hired to do?” can you develop your messaging in a way that creates an emotional uplift with your customer and gets them to take the desired action.

To explain this in a more succinct way I have attached a link to a 7 minute video to demonstrate how McDonalds adopted the theory which unearthed a surprising discovery and as a result they were able to apply the findings with great effect.

Businesses often market too readily on product attributes and features which really limits their scope and may result in their offer becoming transactional and commoditised leading to desperate sales tactics to close a deal.

However by looking at the bigger picture based on truly understanding the value your product brings you will be able to come up with the messaging that resonates with your audience and of course by developing these insights you will have a stronger platform to increase your sales volumes and smash your revenue goals. Much like some of these companies that have experienced rapid growth during a pandemic have done.

There’s no escaping the fact that business development becomes a whole lot easier when selling an awesome product that completely addresses the requirements of your market and therefore out manoeuvres your competition.

So do you know what job is your product being hired to do? I would love to know your thoughts on the subject.

If you want to better understand the revenue generation ability of your business in context of how you perform in your market then take the FREE Revenue Gen-ability scorecard to get your results in an instant. https://revenuegenability.scoreapp.com