Your team just launched a brilliant new feature. The GTM messaging is polished, highlighting how your product is more "powerful," "efficient," and "streamlined." You launch the campaign, sit back, and wait for the flood of high-quality leads.
But the flood is a trickle. Demos aren't landing, and the sales team reports that prospects just aren't "getting it."
It's a frustratingly common scenario. The problem often isn't the product—it's the messaging. While you're talking about your product's features, your customers are thinking about their agonizing, multi-step process for getting something done. Your message is flying at 30,000 feet while they are stuck in the mud.
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The solution is to stop selling features and start selling progress. At thrv, we've refined this approach through our work with portfolio companies, using our AI-powered platform to help teams identify specific job step friction points in hours rather than weeks. You need to show how your product improves your customer's performance at the specific steps of the job they're trying to accomplish.
From Vague Promises to Tangible Value
For decades, marketers have been told to be "customer-centric," but this often translates into generic benefit statements. To truly connect, you need to adopt a Jobs to be Done (JTBD) mindset.
The core idea is simple: customers don't buy products; they "hire" them to get a job done. A project manager doesn't buy project management software; she hires it to "ensure a project is delivered on time and on budget."
But here's the crucial next step most companies miss: that big "job" is made up of dozens of smaller, distinct job steps. And it's within these individual steps that customers experience the friction, delays, and errors that cause them to seek a new solution. This is where your marketing can make a real impact. Research from the Clayton Christensen Institute suggests that 95% of new products fail, not because they are inherently bad, but because they fail to connect with a real-world job a customer is struggling to get done.
Your customer isn't measuring their entire day; they're measuring the success of each step in their workflow. Our experience implementing JTBD methodology shows that understanding these specific friction points is critical for accelerating growth—we've seen portfolio companies achieve over 25% revenue growth by precisely targeting these job step pain points.
What Customers Really Care About: The Performance Metrics That Drive Decisions
For every step in their job, your customer is subconsciously evaluating performance using metrics that align with what we measure through Customer Effort Score (CES) analysis. At thrv, we assess job difficulty based on three key dimensions:
Effort Required: How much work, time, or resources does this step demand?
Speed of Execution: How quickly can this step be completed without compromising quality?
Accuracy of Execution: How reliably does this step produce the correct outcome without errors or rework?
These are the performance metrics that matter in their world. When your GTM messaging speaks directly to reducing customer effort at specific job steps through improved speed and accuracy, it transforms from a vague promise into a tangible, desirable outcome that customers immediately recognize and value.
Consider that B2B buyers are often 57% of the way through their decision-making process before they even speak to a sales rep. Your messaging on your website, in your ads, and in your content has to do the heavy lifting of proving you understand their specific workflow challenges, not just your product's capabilities.
A 3-Step Guide to Messaging That Resonates
So, how do you find these golden insights and bake them into your GTM strategy? It involves a shift from looking at your product to analyzing your customer's job using proven JTBD methodology.
Step 1: Map the Customer's Job
Before you can write a single word, you need to understand the process your customer goes through. This isn't about their journey with your product; it's their journey to get their job done, independent of any specific tool. This process of discovery is fundamental to identifying the core functional job and uncovering the most significant unmet customer needs.
Break down their job into a chronological sequence of steps. For example, consider a hypothetical financial analyst preparing a quarterly earnings report. Their job might include steps like:
- Gather raw data from multiple systems
- Clean and normalize the data
- Perform variance analysis
- Create visualizations and charts
- Draft the narrative summary
- Get approval from stakeholders
Step 2: Identify High-Effort Job Steps Using CES Analysis
With the job map in hand, analyze each step to identify where customers experience the highest effort levels. This is where our AI-powered platform excels—rapidly identifying patterns across customer segments to pinpoint the most problematic job steps.
For each step, evaluate:
Effort Required: What makes this step resource-intensive? What causes it to consume disproportionate time or energy?
Speed Barriers: What slows down execution? What creates delays or bottlenecks?
Accuracy Challenges: Where do errors occur? What requires constant double-checking or rework?
Let's revisit our hypothetical financial analyst. They might reveal that "gathering raw data" requires high effort because it involves logging into three different systems. The "clean and normalize the data" step suffers from accuracy challenges due to manual copy-pasting between systems.
Step 3: Translate CES Insights into Compelling Messages
Now, you can connect your solution directly to reducing customer effort in specific job steps, using the language of measurable outcomes. This is where you build messaging that resonates immediately.
Take our hypothetical financial analyst's struggle with data accuracy:
Before (Feature-based message): "Our platform features robust API integrations."
After (Job Step CES-based message): "Stop spending hours hunting for copy-paste errors. Instantly and accurately consolidate data from all your systems to build quarterly reports you can trust."
The "After" message works because it:
- Names the specific job step: "build quarterly reports"
- Identifies the effort challenge: "hunting for copy-paste errors"
- Highlights reduced effort: improving accuracy ("reports you can trust")
- Demonstrates speed improvement: ("Instantly consolidate")
McKinsey research shows that companies that obsess over the customer journey can increase revenue by 15-20%. Your messaging is the very first touchpoint in that journey. It sets the expectation that you don't just sell a tool; you deliver a measurably better way of working.
From Theory to Practice
Let's see how this CES-based approach looks across different scenarios:
Scenario 1: A SaaS tool for sales teams
Job Step: A sales rep updating their pipeline after a client call.
High Effort Point: Manual data entry is slow and tedious, so reps delay updates, leading to pipeline inaccuracy.
Before Message: "The #1 CRM for modern sales teams."
After Message: "Update your pipeline in 30 seconds, right after the call. Never let an opportunity fall through the cracks again."
Scenario 2: An inventory management system for e-commerce
Job Step: A warehouse manager conducting a cycle count.
High Effort Point: Manual counts require significant effort and are prone to human error, creating accuracy problems.
Before Message: "Powerful inventory management software."
After Message: "Achieve 99.9% inventory accuracy. Eliminate costly stockouts and overstock with real-time, error-free cycle counts."
These examples demonstrate how focusing on specific job step performance transforms generic product messaging into compelling value propositions that customers immediately understand and desire.
For more insights on implementing customer-centric growth strategies, explore our comprehensive Jobs to be Done framework.
Advanced Implementation: Scaling Job Step Analysis
The methodology becomes even more powerful when applied systematically across your entire customer base. Our approach involves using AI to identify patterns in customer effort across different segments and job contexts.
Segment-Specific Analysis: Different customer segments may experience effort differently at the same job steps. A enterprise customer might struggle with integration complexity while a small business struggles with setup simplicity.
Competitive Positioning: Understanding where competitors create high effort for customers reveals positioning opportunities. If every competitor focuses on one job step, there may be an underserved step where you can dominate.
Product Development Alignment: Job step analysis creates a clear product roadmap. Features that reduce effort at high-CES job steps should be prioritized over features that optimize already-efficient steps.
Learn more about how we help companies create value through customer-centric innovation at thrv.com.
Measuring Success: From Job Steps to Business Results
The ultimate validation of job step messaging comes through measurable business impact. Companies that successfully implement this approach typically see:
Improved Lead Quality: Messaging that addresses specific job steps attracts prospects who recognize their exact challenge, leading to higher-intent leads.
Shorter Sales Cycles: When prospects immediately understand how you reduce their effort, objections decrease and decisions accelerate.
Higher Conversion Rates: Specific, measurable value propositions convert better than generic benefit statements.
Enhanced Customer Success: Customers who clearly understand the job step improvements you provide are more likely to achieve successful outcomes and expand their usage.
Our portfolio companies have demonstrated these results consistently, with implementations leading to improved Net Promoter Scores by 20% when customer success teams focus on job completion rather than feature usage.
For case studies demonstrating these results, visit our portfolio company success stories.
Stop Shouting into the Void
In a crowded market, the most effective GTM messaging isn't the loudest—it's the clearest. It holds up a mirror to the customer's challenges and shows them a measurably better, more efficient way forward.
By moving beyond generic benefits and focusing on how you reduce customer effort at specific job steps through improved speed and accuracy, you stop selling a piece of software and start selling the one thing every customer is looking for: progress.
The methodology we've outlined represents years of refinement through real-world application with portfolio companies across multiple industries. When implemented systematically, it creates sustainable competitive advantage because competitors using traditional product-focused messaging simply can't match the precision and relevance of job step performance communication.
Ready to learn more about the methodology that powers this entire approach? Explore how our Jobs to be Done platform can be the engine for your company's product innovation and growth strategies at thrv.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is job step analysis and how does it improve GTM messaging?
Job step analysis breaks down a customer's overall job into individual steps and identifies where they experience the highest effort levels. Instead of generic messaging about product benefits, you can create specific messages that address how your solution reduces effort, improves speed, or increases accuracy at particular job steps. This creates immediate recognition and relevance because customers see their exact struggle reflected in your messaging, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
How do you identify which job steps have the highest customer effort?
The most effective approach uses Customer Effort Score (CES) methodology to measure the percentage of customers who report difficulty at each job step. This involves customer interviews focused on their current process, behavioral data analysis to identify bottlenecks, and systematic evaluation of effort required, speed barriers, and accuracy challenges at each step. AI-powered platforms can accelerate this analysis by identifying patterns across large customer segments in hours rather than weeks.
Can job step messaging work for both B2B and B2C products?
Job step messaging works effectively across both B2B and B2C contexts because all customers follow processes to accomplish their goals. For B2B software, this might mean addressing specific workflow steps like "generate monthly reports" or "onboard new team members." For B2C products, it could focus on steps like "decide what to cook for dinner" or "find a reliable babysitter for date night." The key is identifying the specific moments where customers experience friction and showing how you reduce effort at those precise points.
What's the difference between job step messaging and traditional benefit-focused messaging?
Traditional benefit messaging makes broad promises like "saves time" or "increases efficiency" without specificity. Job step messaging targets precise moments in the customer's workflow with measurable improvements. Instead of "saves time," you might say "reduce monthly report preparation from 8 hours to 30 minutes." This specificity makes the value immediately tangible and credible because customers can envision the exact improvement in their current process.
How do you prioritize which job steps to focus on in your messaging?
Focus on job steps where customers report the highest effort levels and where your solution provides the most dramatic improvement. Use Customer Effort Score analysis to identify steps where the largest percentage of customers struggle, then evaluate where your product creates the most significant reduction in effort, improvement in speed, or increase in accuracy. Your primary messaging should address the highest-impact job step, with secondary messaging covering additional steps for prospects further in the evaluation process.
What mistakes do companies make when implementing job step messaging?
The biggest mistake is focusing on job steps where customers are already efficient rather than targeting high-effort pain points. Companies also fail when they use job step language but still communicate generic benefits rather than specific performance improvements. Another common error is addressing job steps that are important to the company's product development team but not where customers actually struggle. Successful implementation requires rigorous customer research to identify genuine effort challenges rather than assumed pain points.
How long does it take to see results from job step-focused messaging?
Most companies see initial improvements in message engagement and lead quality within 30-60 days of implementing job step messaging. More substantial impact on conversion rates and sales cycle length typically appears within 3-6 months as the messaging is refined based on customer feedback and market response. Companies that systematically implement job step analysis across their entire GTM strategy often achieve 15-25% improvements in marketing effectiveness and sales performance within the first year.
How does job step analysis integrate with existing marketing and sales tools?
Job step insights enhance existing tools by providing customer-centric context for targeting and messaging. CRM systems can incorporate job step fields for better lead scoring, marketing automation platforms can create campaigns triggered by specific job step challenges, and sales enablement tools can include job step-specific discovery questions and positioning materials. The analysis provides the strategic framework that makes existing tools more effective at addressing actual customer needs rather than internal assumptions.
Transform your GTM strategy with job step performance messaging. Learn more about our proven methodology and AI-powered platform at thrv.com.
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