A product feature and a customer task are different things
You may sell an analytics system while the buyer wants a way to confidently explain budget spending to their manager. This is a teaching example that needs checking in real conversations. Features enable comparison but rarely explain why someone started searching.
To apply this approach to your business, you can collaborative work on product value or try a practical workshop: Workshop: conduct a research conversation.
Reconstruct the most recent choice
Ask about a specific instance. When did dissatisfaction begin? What was the final straw? Which options were considered? Who was involved? What concerns delayed the purchase? The sequence of events is usually more useful than “would you like this product?”
Ask about the current alternative
Your competitor may be a spreadsheet, an assistant, an established process or doing nothing. The alternative already has trust, a known cost and familiar habits. More features are not enough: a new product must explain why switching is worth the effort.
Build a working map
- Context: what happened in the customer's life or work.
- Desired progress: what they want to do or feel differently.
- Alternatives: how the task is addressed today.
- Barriers: risk, habit, time, money and trust.
- Selection criterion: how the person knows the solution fits.
From interviews to an offer
Do not turn one striking quote into the whole company's positioning. Compare several stories, note differences and check who controls the budget. Then formulate an offer for one context and test it in a buying conversation.
Where AI is useful
AI can organise an authorised transcript by topic and suggest questions. An invented persona does not validate a real buyer's need. Check quotes and preserve the link between conclusions and the original recording.
A sign of a good result
After research, you can explain when the product is needed, why the current alternative is no longer satisfactory and what prevents switching. If you only have a feature wish list, return to the story of the choice.
Related: Siarhei Krasakovich's public JTBD session at BICC. To work on your own project, see the research conversation workshop or a product value consultation.
Discuss your challenge