3 builders who never spoke to each other

Interview for the trigger, not the profile

Ask what was happening on the day someone went out and bought: where they were, what had just gone wrong, what else they tried and what it cost them. The situation that pushed them to shop predicts far more than their industry or job title, and it tells you where and when to be present.

The method

1. 01

   Stop profiling buyers by their characteristics and identify the event that caused the purchase instead.

2. 02

   Hunt for the trigger event, the moment the buyer went from not knowing they had a problem to shopping, because that is where the cheap channels are.

3. 03

   Reduce the interview to the single job the buyer hired you for, and treat the situation they were in as more useful than their age or job title.

4. 04

   Interview buyers about the circumstances of the actual purchase - the date, where they were, the time of day, the weather, who was with them, how they paid and what else they bought then.

5. 05

   Segment on the situation people were in just before they became customers, rather than on industry, demographics or the competitive set.

What it returned

• 2013

  Clayton Christensen at Startup Grind 2013: circumstances create a job, and people hire something to get that job done.

• 80

  Katelyn Bourgoin cites marketers using trigger events spending 80 percent less on direct marketing, and Marcio Santos of Nerd Digital doubling sales of a client's online course after finding one.

• Clayton Christensen defines a job in Competing Against Luck as whatever progress somebody is attempting inside a particular situation, with products hired when they deliver it and fired when they do not; for her own buyer the job was working out fast what moves a client's buyers.

• Alan Klement's opening interview questions; Justin also recommends the JTBD course by Chris Spiek, Bob Moesta and Ervin Fowlkes.

Sources

• Unlock the Power of Customer Insights with Clarity CallsRamli John · customercamp.co · undated
• Oatly - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · 🧠 How Oatly Uses Buyer Psychology · undated
• Katelyn Bourgoin's Trigger Technique Framework - Why We Buy 🧠Katelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · The Trigger Technique: How to turn customer stories into actionable insights · undated
• Who wants this today?Justin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Look to past behavior · undated
• What is jobs to be done?Justin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Customer interviews · undated
• Why people buy productsJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · Why people buy products · undated
• The roadmap to Product/Market Fit (PMF)… maybeJason Cohen · longform.asmartbear.com · 3. Customer Fit: Find the ideal customers first. · 2023-12-24