Episode 17: Get B2B SaaS Competitive Strategy Right with the "Jobs to Be Done" Theory

In this episode, Adam speaks with Tony Flores, founder of Growth Science, a B2B SaaS competitive strategy agency. This episode is basically a follow-up to our interview with Jon Dome on the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) theory and framework, pioneered by Tony Ulwick and Clayton Christensen in the '90s to guide product innovation.

It has been typically harnessed by Fortune 500-sized behemoths. However, in this episode, Tony and Adam discuss:

• How JTBD's complex product innovation framework can be simplified, massaged, and applied to competitive strategy, an element typically rife with bias in B2B SaaS, choking revenue engines across all industries.

• How JTBD helps align GTM teams.

• How JTBD can be used to lead content and website strategy.

• The roles websites play in ABM/ABX, going upmarket, and customer marketing.

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Episode Summary

In a fast-paced and ever-evolving business landscape, staying ahead of the competition is crucial for the success of any company, especially for early-stage B2B SaaS companies. In this episode, Tony Flores, founder of Growth Science, sheds light on effective go-to-market and website strategies, as well as a fascinating market research framework: the Jobs to Be Done framework.

This summary explores the key insights and takeaways from their conversation, highlighting how Growth Science helps category challengers compete more effectively and solve their marketing problems.

Unveiling Market Research, Competitive Strategy & Go-to-Market Strategy Tony Flores, with his extensive expertise in the B2B SaaS space, noticed a lack of differentiation and redundant messaging in companies' go-to-market strategies. He attributed these issues to subjective funnel analysis and revenue attribution processes. As a result, he started Growth Science, a competitive strategy agency that aims to help category challengers compete more effectively and make better strategic decisions. By combining funnel analysis with market research, competitor understanding, and customer understanding, Growth Science enables companies to align their entire organizations around customer needs and a competitive position, granting them a competitive advantage.

The Power of Jobs-to-be-Done Framework in B2B SaaS Traditionally, customer understanding methods, such as NPS surveys and churn surveys, have been subjected to bias and subjectivity. However, Tony Flores advocates for the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework as a powerful alternative approach to understanding customers and their motivations. The JTBD theory suggests that customers "hire" products and services to accomplish specific jobs, measuring their effectiveness based on how well they help them achieve desired outcomes. This framework revolutionizes marketing by fostering customer empathy, enabling marketers to focus on customers' desired outcomes, and promoting a deeper understanding of customer needs.

Activating Functional Departments through Jobs Theory Flores stresses the importance of activating all functional departments within a company to generate a competitive advantage. He defines the responsibilities of each department, including evangelizing (founder), generating net new conversations (sales team), creating content and educating people (marketing team), ensuring product-like growth (product team), and contributing to the overall success of the organization (customer success team). Utilizing the Jobs Theory framework aligns these departments around a target customer outcome, which ultimately helps businesses earn market share and generate competitive advantage.

Defining and Addressing Target Business Objectives in ABM To effectively implement Account-Based Marketing (ABM), it is crucial to understand the broader business objectives of the target accounts, rather than solely focusing on individual needs. Flores highlights the significance of understanding the entire business and its challenges when selling to a buying committee. By providing content that addresses specific steps the account needs to take and offering resources that help define and address their issues, marketers can start building relationships with businesses in a less intrusive and more targeted manner. The combination of ABM and microsites tailored to different stakeholders further strengthens the relationship-building process.

Unleashing the Power of Market Research and Continuous Innovation Flores shares his market research framework, job-based market research, which is rooted in the principles of jobs theory. This framework emphasizes understanding the specific job customers are trying to accomplish and how they have chosen to solve that problem within a well-defined market. Flores recommends conducting in-depth interviews with customers, utilizing tools like Tegus, to uncover their underlying needs. He believes that good market research leads to successful product launches and differentiation in the market.

Conclusion In a world where meaningful differentiation and competitive advantage are essential for companies to thrive, Growth Science, led by Tony Flores, offers a unique approach to go-to-market strategy and customer research. Through the Jobs-to-be-Done framework and job-based market research, Growth Science enables businesses, especially early-stage B2B SaaS companies, to better understand their customers, build targeted strategies, and create products and services that meet their specific needs. By integrating market research, competitor understanding, and customer understanding, Growth Science empowers companies to compete more effectively and solve the marketing challenges associated with their business. If you're looking to gain a competitive edge in your market, reach out to Tony Flores and explore the power of Growth Science's approach.