Customer Jobs-to-be-Done Listening Skills (JTBD + BeSci )
They hear the subtle cues behind what customers say — the hesitations, contradictions, and emotional triggers that reveal why people really buy, switch, or stall.
This course teaches you how to listen through two powerful lenses:
Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD): Understand the progress customers are trying to make.
Behavioral Science (BeSci): Decode the psychological barriers holding them back.
Together, these lenses reveal the causal structure of behavior — what drives action and what prevents it.
Why Listening MattersMost customers can’t clearly explain their decisions. They tell post-rationalized stories — what they think motivated them.
JTBD interviewing helps surface the real progress they’re seeking.
But when you layer in BeSci, you also uncover why progress gets blocked — by fear, friction, habit, or cognitive bias.
In short:
🧭 JTBD helps you hear the progress.
🧠 BeSci helps you hear the barriers.
It's a practical, hands-on class packed full of eight tailored JTBD + BeSci listening exercises.
What you’ll learn
Leverage The Wheel of Progress® to learn advanced listening skills (JTBD + BeSci) for conducting customer JTBD research.
Confidently identify the functional, emotional, and social jobs customers are trying to accomplish in any conversation.
Spot the specific triggers and circumstances that spark change, switching, or new demand.
Quickly diagnose motivational, ability, and attention frictions that stall progress.
Identify which stage of the customer journey contains the most critical behavioral barriers to overcome — so you know where to intervene.
Use BeSci models (B=f(P×E), MAP, ABC) to interpret what is really shaping customer behavior.
Analyze interviews with a structured lens that reveals where behavior can be influenced or shifted.
Separate surface narratives from causal mechanisms—what actually drove the decision, delay, or switch.
Follow the chain of events to uncover the struggling moment, the forces of progress, and the forces of friction.
Become a more evidence-driven JTBD practitioner who can inform brand, market, product, and customer success decisions.
Build deeper diagnostic skill so you can uncover insights other teams typically miss—making your research more actionable and credible.
Who this course is for
A Startup Founder who wants to shorten their customer and product discovery efforts - find both product and language market fit faster.
A Product Owner who wants to prioritize and fall in love with the problem to be solved prior to thinking about the solution.
The Marketer who wants to better tailor their messaging speaking to the core job-to-be-done, motivational forces, desires and avoidances.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from JOHN GUSIFF in a real-time, interactive format.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Certificate of completion
Share your new skills with your employer or on LinkedIn.
Maven Guarantee
This course is backed by the Maven Guarantee. Students are eligible for a full refund up until the halfway point of the course.
Course syllabus
3 live sessions • 33 lessons • 7 projects
Week 1
Feb
2
Session 1: Overview of The Wheel of Progress (Cycle of Customer Progress)
Presentation Topic: Job Theory and Customer Progress
Presentation Topic: Jobs as Progress vs. Jobs as Activities
Presentation Topic: Job Hierarchy
Presentation Topic: Design Thinking and The Wheel of Progress(R) Framework
Presentation Topic: Job Types (aspirational, functional, emotional, social)
In Class: JTBD Assignment #1 Job Types (B2C advertisement)
Homework: JTBD Assignment #2 Job Types (B2B advertisement)
Presentation Topic: Forces and Desires (Switching Behavior)
In Class: JTBD Assignment #3 Forces and Desires (Personal 'Hiring' Experience)
Presentation Topic: The Cycle of Progress and associated Events
Presentation Topic: Multiple Cycles of Progress
Homework: JTBD Assignment #4 Events, Forces & Desires, Solutions
Feb
5
Session 2: Customer Progress and BeSci Barriers & Constraints
Quick Review: Session One Topics
Group Review: JTBD Assignments #1, #2, #3, and #4
Presentation Topic: Constraints (Internal, External, and Time-based)
Homework: JTBD Assignment #5 Constraints (Internal, External, Time-based)
Presentation Topic: Solutions (hired, prior, considered, make progress, etc.)
Homework: JTBD Assignment #6 Solutions (hired, prior, considered, etc.)
Presentation Topic: Customer Jobs, Pains and Gains
Presentation Topic: Job Statements (writing them), Do's and Dont's
Homework: JTBD Assignment #7 Identifying Jobs, Pains and Gains
Presentation Topic: Make It Toolkit for Behavioral Design and 5 Laws of Behavior
Presentation Topic: Barriers to Customer Progress (Motivation, Ability, Prompt)
Homework: JTBD Assignment #8 Identify Behavioral Barriers to Progress
Week 2
Feb
11
Session 3: Customer Progress and JTBD Listening, Additional Topics, other Courses
Group Review: JTBD Assignments #5, #6, #7, and #8
Other Customer JTBD Learning Opportunities
Presentation Topic: The Behavioral Audit (different contexts)
Presentation Topic: Core Principles of Job Theory
Presentation Topic: Customer Types to consider when doing JTBD Research
Presentation Topic: Customer JTBD Prioritization Methods
Free resource
Fast Track GTM Positioning Using Synthetic User Research
The Difference Between Synthetic vs. Organic User Research
Understand how synthetic (right-to-left) & organic (left-to-right) research differ, and how they complement each other.
How to Turn Synthetic User Insights Into Positioning Clarity
Learn to extract actionable buyer needs & struggles from AI-powered research, and translate into sharp GTM positioning.
Case Studies That Show How It Works in Practice
Examples from Ramp, ClickUp, and Narrio AI using synthetic user research to study buyer journeys and customer progress.
A Repeatable 10-Day Sprint Framework
Walk away with a clear framework for running a Customer Intelligence Sprint that goes from interviews → patterns → GTM.
Schedule
Live sessions
6 hrs
Three LIVE cohort sessions; group discussions; all sessions recorded.
Mon, Feb 2
8:00 PM—10:00 PM (UTC)
Thu, Feb 5
8:00 PM—10:00 PM (UTC)
Wed, Feb 11
8:00 PM—10:00 PM (UTC)
Projects
4 hrs
A collection of customer jobs-to-be-done listening exercises performed outside of LIVE sessions, but reviewed together in the next live session.
Async content
2 hrs
A collection of articles and/or videos providing additional background on job theory and jobs-to-be-done research methods.
Testimonials
- "We utilized the methods taught in this course to better understand our most important customers - their emotional connection to the brand and its' products. To better tailor our marketing messages and understand different loyalty drivers."
Jackie Poriadjian-Asch
Former CMO, Canada Goose - "Leveraging JTBD-based insights research helped us uncover the different motivations for adventure travel, why people choose (or not) G Adventure, along with the outcomes people are seeking to accomplish from dreaming about their trip to booking their tour to preparing for travel to the travel experience itself (along with sharing/remembering it)."
Lauren Mitchell
Former VP Customer Experience and Marketing, G Adventure Travel - "The Four Forces Model taught in this course is like 'gold'. It helped us build a better understanding of homeowner motivations and switching behavior related to moving in, repairing, upgrading, maintaining or improving their home."
Kyle Sandburg
Former VP Strategy, Porch.com - “Conducting jobs-to-be-done interviews across different luxury persona helped us uncover unmet needs related to finding inspiration, discovering new brands, shopping for an item, shopping for an outfit, finding good deals and getting the type of VIP experience they expect.“
Molly Chapman
Former Head of Product, Modesens - "We leveraged the jobs-to-be-done process to identify opportunities to improve our on-boarding experience, helping new Gympass members find the right plan, gym or studio for themselves along with getting started on their wellness journey.”
Minh Tran
Senior Director of CX, Gympass - “John has taught customer jobs-to-be-done based methods to clients across industries. He is skilled at both teaching and utilizing The Wheel of Progress® when conducting JTBD-based insights research.”
Eckhart Boehme
Creator of The Wheel of Progress® Framework
Frequently asked questions
$525
USD