{"id":154,"date":"2012-10-09T06:40:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-09T06:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/?p=154"},"modified":"2012-10-09T06:40:01","modified_gmt":"2012-10-09T06:40:01","slug":"jobs-to-be-done-analysis-taking-a-walking-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/thoughts\/jobs-to-be-done-analysis-taking-a-walking-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Jobs to be done analysis: taking a tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the post City touring for those who don’t use tour guides<\/a>\u00a0I alluded to the concept that people hire a guide for a walking tour for reasons other than just learning about a particular place.<\/p>\n

That sounds entirely counterintuitive. How else could there be any reason to hire a tour guide other than to learn about the points of interest on the walk? (Many of these also apply to bus tours as well as walking tours.)<\/p>\n

Gaining knowledge of place<\/strong> is certainly one job for which people hire a tour guide. But if one only wants to gain knowledge of a particular place then one could read a book, Wikipedia, or even take advantage of the new breed of apps that provide contextual information based on your location.<\/p>\n

What are some other jobs to be done<\/em>, and are there reasons that may be even more important than gaining knowledge?<\/p>\n

It’s a thing to do<\/strong>. When I actively wrote my blog on Buenos Aires<\/a> I was astonished that the #1 search phrase was “things to do in Buenos Aires”. The number of searches for that expression (and its variations) numbered in the thousands every month. When people travel they want to know what to do. A walking tour is a thing to do. The people who hire a tour guide for this purpose don’t necessarily even care about the quality of the tour. They may be entirely indifferent to what the tour guide is saying. They’re simply looking for a way to fill a morning or afternoon. To the dismay of tour guides this may very well be the largest segment. However, this customer segment is also price conscious: a $10 tour is just as good as a $100 tour. Tour companies that cater to volume seek out this customer.<\/p>\n

Walking tour as entertainment<\/strong>: a tour guide friend of mine often described his role on each tour as an actor giving a performance. Indeed, mystery tours often are given as performances with the tour guide in character and period costume. This segment builds on the things-to-do segment and also is price sensitive. Competing tour operators differentiate themselves by providing ever more entertaining tours. Or is it even better to characterize this type of tour as a show<\/em>? Is the factual quality or historical accuracy of the tour important? Those factors likely take a backseat to the entertainment quality. Some tour guides will scoff at that notion.<\/p>\n

The tour as entertainment is a job to be done<\/em> that has potential for disruption by technology. Entertainment is a basic human need<\/strong> that is more powerful than the need for knowledge or (for some) the need for companionship. Tour as entertainment deserves more analysis in a separate post.<\/p>\n

Hesitancy about the unfamiliar<\/strong>: travelers to a new destination, particular in a foreign country, are often reluctant to get out and explore neighborhoods on their own. This fear of the unfamiliar is not abnormal. We’ve all experienced it to some degree. For many the walking tour is a safe way to explore a large city. This customer segment always will be wanting to hire a person to take them around. Often this type of customer is willing to be carted around in a van or bus filled with a dozen other tourists. For some this is merely a way to get a quick orientation and then they’ll explore more on their own or with a hired guide. For others it’s the only way to travel.<\/p>\n

Afraid of missing out<\/strong>: nurtured by the guidebook industry to believe that there’s a list of must-see sites we’re afraid of missing that special place that supposedly will make our trip. People hire a tour to make sure they see those spots, even if for a few seconds as the bus rolls on by or the walking tour guide gently pushes you along to the next spot on the schedule. Guidebooks (print and digital) supplant the physical guide for this customer segment.<\/p>\n

Rent-a-knowledgeable-companion. \u00a0<\/strong>If you are a walking tour guide then this is the customer segment you want to target. These customers are willing to pay a hundred dollars or more for a personal guide that fulfills several jobs: knowledge of place, thing to do, entertainment, becoming familiar with the unfamiliar, and not missing out on important sites.<\/p>\n

Many of these jobs-to-be-done for tours are based more on human connectedness and that’s why the real-world job of a tour guide is not totally replaceable with technology (whether it’s print or digital). Yet, the customers that fall into these jobs-to-be done might only represent an overall small slice of travelers.<\/p>\n

If you’re planning a digital product in this space, then take a much closer look at the things to do<\/strong> and\u00a0tour as entertainment<\/strong>\u00a0jobs to be done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the post City touring for those who don’t use tour guides\u00a0I alluded to the concept that people hire a guide for a walking tour for reasons other than just learning about a particular place. That sounds entirely counterintuitive. How else could there be any reason to hire a tour guide other than to learn […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[27],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/endlesshybrids.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}