Daily Lab: Do they need something, or want you?
It’s not enough to merely present ourselves to the market and tell them that we have what they need.
As Bob Moesta once put it, “We don’t create demand, we uncover it. The Struggling Moment creates demand.”
Something happens in the life or the day of a potential customer, and they suddenly have a need—a “Job to Be Done”—that someone like us is suited to serve.
And so we can think that all we need to do is tell them we have what they need, and that we can provide it at a good price.
But the Struggling Moment is, well, momentary. And all it does is bring a potential customer into the market.
It doesn’t send them to us.
No, it’s not enough to merely present ourselves to the market, to a potential client, and tell them that we have what they need.
We need to demonstrate to them that they want what we have in particular.
Many other businesses may be able to solve their problem or provide for their need, and probably for cheaper.
So it’s up to us to demonstrate to them the additional value we provide based on the specific tradeoffs we’ve made to serve them best.
A customer need is necessary, but not near enough.
More than that, they’ve got to want to work with us in particular.
And that takes demonstrating value at a distance.
