It’s Not About Your Product. It’s About Their Job.
HR and corporate training leaders are under immense pressure. Budgets are shrinking. AI is changing what a job even means. Plus, keeping good employees from walking out the door is still the biggest challenge.
Given all this, why would they buy your new learning platform, leadership workshop, or DEI program?
The answer isn’t complicated: They are all trying to get a specific, critical job done.
Behind every purchase is a need for progress. Understanding this underlying “job” is the single most effective way to grab their attention, keep them engaged, and turn them into a customer.
Why “Jobs to Be Done” Is Your Best Marketing Tool
The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework is simple yet powerful: people don’t buy products—they “hire” them to solve a problem and make progress. What is the Core Idea of JTBD? The foundational idea, popularized by Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, is simple:
Customers don’t buy products; they “hire” products to get a job done.
This framework shifts the focus away from the features of your product or the demographics of your customer, and places it squarely on the progress the customer is trying to make in a specific circumstance.
Think of it this way:
- A VP of Learning doesn’t buy your LMS. They “hire” it to produce the data that proves their training budget drives performance and helps secure funding for next year.
- A Talent Director doesn’t buy your leadership program. They “hire” it to develop and keep their high-potential managers, protecting the company’s future leadership pipeline.
Every purchase in Corporate Training and HR is an investment in an outcome. Marketers who focus on that outcome—the job—will always connect better than those who just rattle off features.
The Three Core Needs Driving Every Purchase
To truly connect with buyers, you need to understand their motivations across three dimensions: functional, emotional, and social. These three categories represent the complete range of needs recognized by the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework.
1. Functional Jobs: What They Must Deliver
These are the obvious, measurable, practical tasks—the bare minimum required to succeed.
- Prove ROI on every talent program they run.
- Rapidly upskill employees to adapt to new technology.
- Build scalable training that works for a remote, global workforce.
- Ensure compliance across the organization to minimize legal risk.
2. Emotional Jobs: How They Need to Feel
Buyers are human. They want to personally feel good about their decisions and their professional life. They want to feel:
- Confident when presenting big results to the CEO.
- Certain that their expensive initiative will actually make a difference.
- Relieved to have a vendor who simplifies their process, not one who adds more complexity.
3. Social Jobs: How They Want to Be Seen
HR and L&D leaders and decision makers want to be respected contributors, not administrative overhead. They want to be seen as:
- Strategic Partners to the business, focused on growth, not just costs.
- Innovators who are modernizing the workplace and driving cultural change.
Your solution must help them succeed in all three areas to build real trust. And it’s your job to convey that in a meaningful way… But, how? Read on!
The Messaging Shift: Stop Selling Features. Start Solving Jobs.
When you only talk about features (WHAT your product does), you’re just adding noise. When you talk about their job (WHY they need it), you create instant relevance.
This shift moves you from selling a tool to selling an outcome.
The Right Data Reaches the Right Job
A smart message is useless if it reaches the wrong person.
A simple title like “Director of HR” is too vague. It could mean someone focused on benefits, employee relations, or talent acquisition—each with a completely different “job to be done.” You can’t guess their need based on a generic title.
You need data that segments contacts by their actual area of responsibility (e.g., Talent Acquisition vs. Learning Technology) rather than relying on an ambiguous title.
When you know a contact’s true role, you can accurately predict their main challenge and tailor your message perfectly. This precision means you’re not just targeting HR leaders; you’re reaching the right leader with the right solution at the right time.
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Up Next: Part 2 — Turning Insight into Action
Understanding the “Jobs to Be Done” is just the first step. In Part 2 of this series, we’ll explore exactly how to align your marketing and sales strategies with these buyer jobs—from creating razor-sharp segmentation and messaging to campaign examples that resonate and convert.
When you truly understand what corporate training and HR buyers really want, you stop chasing generic leads and start building lasting, high-value partnerships.
Ready to Know Exactly Who to Target?
Reaching L&D and HR decision makers doesn’t have to be guesswork. It requires combining a thoughtful strategy with verified, high-quality contact information. Accuracy isn’t a nice-to-have; it’s the backbone of outreach that works.
Want to stop guessing and start connecting with the people who matter most?
Mentor Tech Group specializes in Market Intelligence for companies targeting Training and HR professionals. Our proprietary database includes over 35,000 verified U.S. decision-maker contacts—the exact audience you want to reach.
- CLICK HERE to learn how our unique JOB Codes give you the exact decision makers you need for your marketing efforts.
- Contact us at (651) 457-8600, Ext. 1 to learn more about our hand-built databases!
