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A framework for understanding consumer behavior put forth by Clayton Christiansen, the core insight of J2BD is that people often buy things for reasons that have little to do with the product itself, and plenty to do with its emotional and social function. In Christiansen’s classic example, he consulted with a company selling milkshakes whose every effort to improve the milkshake itself failed to deliver higher sales. Christiansen’s team studied the people buying milkshakes and found that most people weren’t buying milkshakes for taste or nutrition, but rather to stave off boredom and hunger on their long commutes. Satisfying this physical—and, crucially, emotional—need is the “job” for which people were “hiring” milkshakes, not just because they liked the taste of them.
When trying to sell things to people, consider that they reason they buy your stuff may not be the reason for which you create it, and only by understanding the underlying physical, emotional, and social reasons for their purchase, not just its function, can you better serve those customers.
A related adage is “people don’t want a drill, they want a hole”
See also: people don’t buy products, they buy better versions of themselves