As I describe in part 1 of the Outcome text, based on the book by Anthony Ulwick, the customer-requirements-gathering process is one of the most critical in business, which is why it is worth focusing on Jobs, Outcomes, and Constraints of users. It is enough to pay attention to help some job done in general, get more jobs done, help get a job done better, or simply help overcome an obstacle to getting a job done in a given situation.
How determine what jobs, outcomes, and constraints represent the best opportunities?
When you capture the customer inputs, you need to determine which of those jobs, outcomes, and constraints are underserved or can be improved or represent unique opportunities. An underserved outcome is defined as something that customers want to achieve but are unable to achieve satisfactorily, given the tools currently available to them. These underserved outcomes point to where customers want to see improvements and where they would recognize additional value.
First, we need to determine what jobs people are trying to get done in general.
Then, what jobs are underserved when a customer is using an existing product/service, or under what conditions is a customer unable to perform a job?
When we know it, it’s time to prioritize.
What Mistakes Are Made in Prioritizing?
- Lacks the methods needed to prioritize.
- Instead of focusing on what is easy to complete and putting difficult tasks at the bottom of the list, we should focus on what represents the best.
- Intuition.
Instead of relying on opinion, intuition, and guesswork, we should focus on data.
- making unnecessary improvements in well-satisfied outcomes
It’s a waste to improve the products that have already satisfied the market well. Just because a company can continue to make improvements in this area does not mean it should. Making product improvements that address well-satisfied or over-served outcomes can add unnecessary cost to a product, misdirect people from real opportunities, and fail to add additional customer value.
- making improvements to satisfy unimportant outcomes
It’s when you focus on what can be done rather than what should be done that you can focus on an outcome that is just not that important to customers. This is a waste of time, resources, and additional cost of the product, making it less competitive.
- making improvements that, while satisfying certain outcomes, have a negative effect on more important outcomes
When customers make requests for new product features, they are usually focused on solving just one problem and are not thinking of how their requested solution will impact other product or service functions. When they realized, the added feature turned out to be worthless because of the problems it caused.
There is a big difference between the level of importance and the level of satisfaction.
If an outcome is important and „unsatisfied”, it is an obvious area of opportunity.
Where is the Market Overserved, and where is it underserved?
Almost as important as knowing where the market is underserved is knowing where it is over-served. Jobs and outcomes that are unimportant or already satisfied represent little opportunity for growth.
- Keep your eyes on the job; customers are trying to get done, not on your competitors' product features.
- Identify your Competitors' Products, Strengths, and Weaknesses to know what improvements exist in a market and who does the best and worst job of addressing each opportunity.
- DO NOT copy your competitors. You don’t have to meet or beat their product’s specification.
How to do the market segmentation?
What if we, instead of talking about addressing the unique needs of customers, focus on unique, underserved jobs or outcomes? These classifications are based on creating a population that:
- Has a unique set of underserved or overserved outcomes.
- Represents a sizable portion of the population.
- The population agrees on which outcomes are underserved or overserved and responds in the same manner to appropriately targeted products and services.
- Makes an attractive strategic target (consistent with the philosophy of the product).
- Can be reached through marketing and sales efforts.
The key to successful segmentation lies in finding groups of customers with unique sets of underserved outcomes.
What should be the message about the Product's True Value?
We can develop a great product, but if it fails to communicate the product's value, it will not optimize its sales revenue. When you are aware of the jobs, outcomes, and constraints that represent the best opportunities, use messaging that hits the market. Precision, not vagueness, is the key to communicating a product's true value.
Whether the message is created around a specific outcome, you are closing the communications gap with customers by focusing their attention on the true value of the product. I could be emotional or functional. When companies use the brand name to link the product to the job being done, it makes people think about the brand every time they think about the job, creating a lasting impression. It is so simple.
To sum up, to gain a competitive advantage today, it is not enough. A product that delivers customer value is also not enough. We must also know how much more value our product will deliver. There are different methods to measure value. But the main idea is one. Generate just a handful of ideas that specifically and satisfactorily address customers' underserved outcomes. We just need to follow five guidelines: stay focused on the targets, aim for breakthrough improvement, constrain thinking to enhance creativity, eliminate bad ideas quickly, and optimize the best idea for cost, effort, risk, and sustainability.
If you are interested in this topic, I encourage you to read the book: Anthony W. Ulwick, “What customers want. Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services”.
