Can’t find target market fit? Go back to the basics
A review of Competing Against Luck, finding out how to beat the target-market fit issue
First and foremost
The success of a product or service is dependent on two things:
1. What job does the product or service do? Like what actually is the True Job that is being done, and is the product or service fulfilling the job above and beyond — which the book talks about
2. Is the product or service to be provided monetarily feasible in proportion to the true job that must be done — not talked about in the book
Here the true job that must be done is best explained by the milkshake example the book provides (based on a true story).
There was a fast food shop that made its profits primarily from milkshakes. They wanted to expand that portion of the business to increase revenues, so the company decided to ask customers questions on how to improve the milkshake.
They asked questions like “should we make the milkshake sweeter,” “should we give more size options, or even flavor options?,” thinking that they had to compete with milkshakes that other places sold. But none of these questions were based on the true job the milkshake was providing.
To solve that problem, they had to go back to the origins, and switch to the perspective of “why are people buying milkshakes.” Thats when the shop owners soon realized that milkshakes were providing a very important solution to a job that was required.
What is that job you ask?
Welly, they realized that the milkshakes were being bought by morning commuters who wanted something that would satisfy them for a morning breakfast while driving.
This meant that the milkshake was competing with other breakfast foods like cereal, yogurt, or even bananas. But there was a reason why people would choose milkshakes over the other options. They chose milkshakes because it was more filling than the other options, and also gave them something to do while driving.
However, while you may be able to identify a true job, the solution that is to be provided must be proportional to how big the job is.
For example, in the given milkshake example, one should try creating a milkshake that perhaps would be more thick, so as to be more filling and slower to drink. This would give the customer a sense of satisfaction in terms of not being bored while driving and also be relatively full for the morning.
One should not, however, spend millions and millions of dollar to create some super drink that would satisfy both of those behaviors because the cost of developing the product would not be worth the job it would be solving.
Second and secondmost
A job must be chosen and described sufficiently, and is best done by trying to create a “movie script”. This means that a job must have a:
1. Functional component
2. Emotional component
3. Social component
For example, imagine this, we know that adults in their 60’s have a problem with their bowel movement, and that this has led to the creation of adult diapers. The thing is, while the product solved the functional component of the job, it forgot to solve other aspects of fulfilling the job to be solved. Simply put, the solution forgot about the emotional and social component.
I mean look at it? Even when you’re in your 60’s, do you really want to wear this?
Emotionally, potential buyers did not want to buy adult diapers because of the stigma that surrounded them, they were crinkled and white like baby diapers. Simply put, they did not look pleasing.
This was driven by the social component of thinking “what would other people think of me if they ever knew I was wearing an adult diaper.” This then lead to many potential buyers to fall into the category of nonconsumers.
Luckily a company that realized this took it upon themselves to create under garment that would have the same functional purpose while also being something that looked pleasing. This solved both the emotional and social aspects of the job, which was: I need a way of protecting my bowel movement while not having to worry about actually buying the product nor what people may think if they were able to see me wear one.
Furthermore, one would realize that many a times, there are many products or services that have non consumers because the service is not sufficiently completing the job that must be done. And if one can find such an example, that is a blessing.
Third:
People tend to change the product or service that completes the “job” only if their past solution to the job is insufficient. Normally, they dont because of habit.
I mean, we all know what it feels like to keep a bad habit right?
I mean, the thing is people are natures of habit and therefore do not want to change the method by which they solve a problem because that requires effort. Emotional attachment to their current methods also prevents people from changing. However, if the job that must be done is not met sufficiently enough and causes frustration for people, they may be willing to take a chance upon a new product. And thats what you target.
When looking for a new house to buy, people think about the act of moving and it becomes hard for them to imagine how they might go about doing this. When a person moves into a new house, they must decide what must be kept and thrown away from the old house.
Without a doubt there are objects that one does not want to throw away, like a dining table, because all of the memories it shares from the past: birthdays, celebrations, comforting, etc. This may deter a person from moving. However, having taken this into account, when sales people decided to accommodate the potential buyer regarding this choice and offered a storage unit as a part of the deal for however long the buyers wanted (so they could decide what they actually wanted to keep after moving), many potential buysers turned into actual customers.
Fourth and thirdmost (Where should you find a job to be solved)
One can find a job in many locations:
1. Look for things people DON’T want to do, this is a field where nonconsumption is available and you are competing with people doing nothing vs using some service.
Think of the adult diaper example. Many people decided not to buy the product because of the stigma associated with it.
2. Look at unusual uses of existing products.
Baking powder was originally sold for cooking, but people began using it for other products such as laundry or washing. Customizing specifically the formulation of the baking powder for those other uses helped increase its sales.
3. Find a job you can relate to (nearby)
Think of a problem you have ever been frustrated with your family, friends, or customers. Have you ever been daunted by the task of having to rent a car, especially at an airport, because all of the issues associated with it? Like making sure the car has enough fuel when returning it, waiting in line to see what car you want to get, to even making sure the person initially evaluating the car for any scratches catches all of the things you do? Then a solution like Uber came where they made it so you could just get a on the demand transportation service to get you to the place you want because the true job you wanted was a hassle free method of going from place A to place B?
Fifth and forthmost
A common fallacy that new companies make after having found a “job” that must be done is to shift from thinking qualitatively about the job that must be done to looking at more objective metrics like sales data.
Objective data seems to much more robust and reliable because they are easily comparable. But fundamentally objective data is subjective because someone must have chosen to use those objective data as a metric when another similar yet slightly different measure could have painted an entirely different story. Depending on how the job that must be done slightly changes or the method to complete the job changes, the “objective” measure must also change subjectively to appropriately tell the story. Always think about the “job” before seeing how metrics explain how well the product is solving the job.
Sixth
As a new company, be aware of developing laterally rather than vertically. A newspaper that tries to provide services to match customers who want:
1. To be informed
2. To be entertained while bored waiting in line or in the evening
3. To see movies and their times and reviews
And tries to do all of them might be able to do so at first. And this may indeed seem good on the spreadsheets intitialy, one one would soon realize that the newspaper is not truly good at one function, therefore letting other sources fulfil each individual job — thus taking away from the newspapers customer base.
Seventh
As the company grows it becomes difficult to ensure that everyone in the company has the same vision because it is easier for people to be modular looking at a spreadsheet. To solve this problem have processes that act like subroutines. Subroutines should be easily be able to be used in many different sections of the company. This allows for modularity in the company. And this allows it so that rather than people focusing on subjective objective datasheets, they can focus on thinking which data is actually important to focus on (by using the subroutine) for the actual job the company is actually trying to solve.
