Demand Side Sales by Bob Moesta is a great JTBD refresher. Traditionally businesses focus on product features, continually pushing new features to customers, this is supply-side thinking where the focus is on the product or service and its features and benefits. The flip-side is demand-side thinking where the focus is on understanding the buyer and user and what they are struggling with. Demand is created for a solution once you understand the struggling moment, that which is holding someone back from making progress. The central idea behind JTBD is that people hire solutions that solve their struggling moment.

The frameworks for demand-side selling:

1. Three sources of energy or motivation.
2. Four forces of progress.
3. JBTD timeline.

Three sources of energy

1. Functional motivation: how difficult is the process–time, effort, speed
2. Emotional motivation: what internal emotions is driving–positive and negative
3. Social motivation: how do other people think and feel–this is a very strong motivator to drive change

Four sources of progress

1. Push of the situation: the reason why change is necessary
2. Magnetism of the new solution: the realization that something better may solve the problem
3. Anxiety of the new solution: anxiety for change–how complicated is the change, and will it really bring a benefit
4. Habit of the present: you have learned to live with it, so why change now

The push of the situation and the magnetism of the new solution need to be stronger than their anxieties and habits before they will buy.

JTBD timeline

Through the years we’ve uncovered the six stages a buyer must walk through before making a purchase:

1. First thought
2. Passive looking
3. Active looking
4. Deciding
5. Onboarding
6. Ongoing use

…it all starts with understanding the customer’s JTBD, the triggers, and the micro-progress at each phase in the customer’s timeline.

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice is another great read on JTBD. My favorite take away from the book is the idea of focusing less on what your competitors are doing, instead relentlessly focusing on understanding what your customers are struggling with, and using the insight to drive innovation. In this way is is hard for competitors to copy you, because they lack the deep insight into your customers’ struggling moments.