When you order a coffee, you hire it to do a job. A specific job. It may be to wake you up, warm you up, hype you up, or slow you down. It may be to help clear your head, help with digestion, or even as a delivery mechanism for something else. The fact is that when you buy something, you’re buying that something for a very specific purpose. And a lot goes into understanding what motivates that decision. Even just for yourself. It’s kinda like the complexity your customers bring to a sales call when considering a purchase. So keep reading to learn how understanding the job you hire your coffee for can help reduce confusion and get you closer to closing the sale.

Before I answer that, let me give you a high-level overview of Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD). According to Jobs Theory - The theory is based on the notion that people buy products and services to get a “job” done. Jobs Theory goes on to say that by understanding in detail what that “job” entails, companies are far more likely to create and market solutions that will win in the marketplace. I first learned about JTBD in Clayton M. Christensen's book - How Will You Measure Your Life? in his chapter titled "What Job Did You Hire That Milkshake For?" In the chapter, Christenen shares a story about one of the big fast-food restraunts who's trying to increase the sales of their milkshakes. The company's focused on all the things they can do to make the milkshake more appealing. Making it chocolatier. Cheaper. Chunkier. The company was focused on what they thought the consumers wanted when in reality the primary buyers of the milkshakes were buying them for two very specific purposes. They had things they needed and they were hiring the milkshake to do the job. Similarly we often enter sales calls thinking we know what the customer needs or why they've come to us. The reality is, until we understand the job they're trying to complete, we're just the fast-food company trying to make things chocolatier. Cheaper. Chunkier.

First, the reason you order your coffee likely changes based on a series of variables. Time of day. Level of energy. The type of coffee. And, your needs in the moment. Similarly, the reason customers come to you likely has the same or greater number of variables based on the job they're looking to accomplish. But when it comes to sales calls, the reality is that the majority of salespeople struggle with knowing what specific job the customer is looking to solve. Many salespeople make the assumption they know the job the customer is trying to solve based on the surface level information they get from the customer. But similar to the fast-food company that made their milkshakes chocolatier, cheaper, and chunkier based on consumer feedback, we'll remain stumped by the lack of change if we fail to ask a better question.

When the fast-food chain was stumped one of Christenen's colleagues, Bob Modesti, asked a better question. He asked:

I wonder what job arises in people's lives that causes them to come to this restaurant to 'hire' a milkshake?

When a customer comes to us, we as salespeople need to ask a better question. Instead of asking , what would get this customer to buy from me. We should instead ask ourselves this question: I wonder what job arises in customer's lives that causes them to come to this company to 'hire' our product?

When the fast-food chain asked their customers they got two very distinct responses. The first was the morning crowd who wanted something that would take a decent amount of time to consume so that had something to do while driving on the morning commute, and would also hold off any mid morning stomach rumblings. The second was the afternoon and evening consumers who were typically fathers who had to say "no" to their kids for various things, but could say "yes" to the milkshake. I'm over simplifying things for the purpose of this post, but the reality is that selling the same milkshake to each of those groups in the same way would have completely different results. Similar to the various reasons you may buy a coffee, customers have their own personal reasons for buying our products and it's our job to find out what that is?

So how can we use this information to drive better conversations with prospects and customers? Here's a simple but practical first step, start every customer meeting by asking the customer what they're looking to accomplish in that meeting and what would be a win for them? And, don't move on from that question until you have a complete understanding of what they're looking to accomplish. When we start from this perspective our customer feel much more understood. We can ensure we get them what they need, and we can be sure that we're the right solution to fascilitate that need.

Think about all the reasons you may buy yourself a coffee. What job are you hiring the coffee to complete? Now imagine just how much better your local barista could serve you if they knew the exact reason you were purchasing that day. Now ask yourself what it would take for you to know the exact reason your prospect/customer was talking to you that day. What job are they hiring you to complete? When we know the answer to this question we can better serve our customer. Help them solve problems. Give them hacks. Offer them solutions. Understand their goals and deadlines. You could even provide business cases that help them to justify their purchase. Using these tips and strategies, you’ll be able to close more sales and get your customers more excited about their purchase and the job they're hiring you to be completed.