Thorsten, Markus and Lena bought for completely different reasons, and Klaus hasn’t decided yet – four very different buying jobs. We condensed 13 interviews into four segments, one bottleneck and five levers.
A homeowner didn’t want a cheap PV quote – he never wanted to be left without power for hours again, as he had experienced first-hand. (A typical buyer from this segment, condensed from several interviews.)
None of this was in a quote or an advert – it lies between the lines of the in-depth interviews. What are your buyers telling you between the lines?
A power cut, lasting hours, experienced first-hand. His own 100% dependence suddenly became tangible.
With his own camper van and its solar system, he had long been travelling self-sufficiently. What worked on the road, he wanted at home too.
‘I drive a camper van, and I have a solar system on the camper too’
What he bought wasn’t a single module, but whatever was still missing for independence.
Storage, heat pump and wallbox form one closed loop. What started out as his first motive is now everyday life.
→ Vulnerability and a role model tipped the balance – not the price. Are you there when the balance really tips for your customers?
Green = gain · Red = problem. Columns: existing vs. new solution. Rows: drives vs. holds back.
‘I really am 100% dependent on electricity. That’s simply a thought I don’t like.’
‘How fragile the whole thing is, we’ve actually experienced first-hand ourselves – … no power for hours.’
‘Independence. First and foremost, independence.’
‘That was the last box left to tick on the list.’
‘The topic was dead for me, because I was of the opinion that it wasn’t worth it.’
‘That lasts maybe two days. And we wanted to be independent.’
‘I must have called five or six times without … getting any information. Afterwards I was really angry.’
‘That was my big worry, that the roof wouldn’t be watertight afterwards. That would be stupid.’
→ A provider could actively move three of these four forces – being reachable after the purchase, a clean installation, a visible closed loop. Do you know which one tips the balance for your buyers?
Representing the self-sufficiency segment: three layers. The functional one is in the quote – the emotional and social ones tip the balance. Each comes with the yardstick the segment uses to measure progress.
What the ‘packaging’ says so far
Turning his home into an energy-independent system that doesn’t depend on the grid, utilities or political whims.
Seeing himself as someone who looks after himself and stays in control when others are sitting in the dark.
Coming across to the people around him as a forward-looking, self-reliant person – not as an outsider.
Thorsten didn’t buy kilowatt-peak – he bought the end of his dependence. Anyone who sells solar on price and technology misses this driver.
Anyone who buys independence also wants a contact person after commissioning. If you can’t be reached then, you lose the referral.
Storage, heat and car as one closed loop was the job – not an add-on. Self-consumption beats feeding into the grid.
A buyer worked through every item – and decided when colleagues told him about their own systems. His calculation: €450 a month, for ten years – and utility bills down from €330 to €130. (A typical buyer from this segment, condensed from several interviews.)
None of this was in a quote or an advert – it lies between the lines of the in-depth interviews. What are your buyers telling you between the lines?
Extra costs that had become all too real made the status quo untenable – it was worth doing the maths.
Several colleagues at work already had a system – happy with it and saving noticeably. A maybe turned into a calculation.
It wasn’t the cheapest price that convinced him, but a sound calculation with a reliable forecast.
Utility bills down from €330 to €130 a month – the system delivers what the forecast promised.
→ Markus wasn’t looking for a discount, but for a figure he could trust. Are you there when your customers really do the maths?
Green = gain · Red = problem. Columns: existing vs. new solution. Rows: drives vs. holds back.
‘From 1 July you have to pay a custody fee now, from 50,000 euros’
‘it’s actually almost the same, just as expensive as if I were filling up with fuel’
‘In the end, it costs me nothing a month.’
‘I now get 450 euros every month, for 10 years, without having to do anything for it, because the sun shines.’
‘several colleagues at work told me they’d done it, that they’re very happy with it and really are saving money’
‘I’m a crafty one. I went online and looked for the cheapest electricity provider every year.’
‘not look for just any company on the internet that might make the best offer, but then I only have problems afterwards. I didn’t want that.’
‘The first year they’re happy and the second year they’re annoyed. It’s always like that.’
→ A provider could move three of these four forces – forecast, self-consumption, a provider who is still there after the first year. Do you know which one tips the balance?
Representing the ROI optimiser segment: three layers. The functional one is the calculation – the emotional and social ones tip the balance. Each comes with the yardstick the segment uses to measure progress.
What the ‘packaging’ says so far
Investing capital in an energy solution that verifiably pays for itself and visibly lowers ongoing energy costs.
Seeing himself as someone who calculates soberly, checks and does the right thing at the right time – instead of leaving capital idle.
Being regarded by the people around him as competent and credible – someone who speaks from first-hand experience when asked and gives reliable recommendations.
Zero euros a month convinced him, not the price reduction. Here, a discount tends to arouse mistrust rather than trust.
Colleagues’ experience beat any advert. In our view, a structured referral programme is the most effective lever.
A sound calculation with a reliable forecast won against the cheapest provider. Trust in the figure is the product.
A young couple renovated their house from the ground up – without gas, with an energy loop of their own. The driver wasn’t returns, but identity: taking action instead of watching. (A typical buyer from this segment, condensed from several interviews.)
None of this was in a quote or an advert – it lies between the lines of the in-depth interviews. What are your buyers telling you between the lines?
Daily climate news and being personally affected created the wish to take action herself.
Financial help from her parents – the concrete catalyst that turned conviction into action.
The house was planned from the ground up without fossil heating – a visible, everyday contribution.
→ The driver was about identity, not economics. Are you selling the experience of being a pioneer – or the promise of saving the world?
Green = gain · Red = problem. Columns: existing vs. new solution. Rows: drives vs. holds back.
‘You keep hearing more and more through the media, about climate change, about the climate disasters.’
‘We ourselves are affected by the flood disaster right here in our immediate surroundings.’
‘we talked about climate protection and simply thought about what contribution we could make’
‘we have our own loop, we’ve reached a certain self-sufficiency here and produce our own electricity, which we turn back into heat ourselves’
‘We’ve never been fans of paying for things out of running income, only to end up, let’s say, stuck in some 0% financing deal or other.’
‘Otherwise we wouldn’t have done it yet, but at some point in … five, six, seven years.’
‘I don’t really know a hundred per cent about the quality of the modules either.’
‘One company sent the quote after five weeks – even though I’d chased it in the meantime.’
→ A provider could move three of these four forces – expert reassurance, a fast quote, the visible closed loop. Do you know which one tips the balance?
Representing the pioneer segment: three layers. The functional one is the system – the emotional and social ones tip the balance. Each comes with the yardstick the segment uses to measure progress.
What the ‘packaging’ says so far
Making her home a visible, everyday contribution to the energy transition – generating and using as much of her own electricity as possible.
Seeing herself as someone who acts instead of just watching – true to her own convictions, for her family and the next generation.
Being seen by like-minded people and the community as someone who doesn’t just talk but acts – and shows others the way.
Lena wanted to see herself as someone who acts. Saving the climate misses the motive – being a pioneer hits it.
Years of conviction only became a purchase through a concrete event. Recognise the catalyst and you get the timing right.
The energy loop of her own is the experience – not the kilowatt-peak. Visibility beats specification.
A prospective buyer spent years researching – and still hasn’t decided. It isn’t money holding him back, but the worry of buying something today that will be seen as a mistake in five years. (A typical prospective buyer from this segment, condensed from several interviews.)
None of this was in a quote or an advert – it lies between the lines of the in-depth interviews. What are your buyers telling you between the lines?
He read up on it, year after year – and still came no closer to a decision.
What he mostly heard from the people around him were reports of systems that didn’t perform as promised. Each one made the risk seem bigger.
The worry of buying something today that will be seen as a mistake in five years – and no reliable basis to dispel it. The decision was put off.
Without a reliable, neutral basis, the impression remained: a lot of effort, little concrete benefit.
→ It wasn’t the price that blocked Klaus, but the worry that it would turn out to be a mistake in five years. Do you address your customers’ specific doubts – or send yet another data sheet?
Green = gain · Red = problem. Columns: existing vs. new solution. Rows: drives vs. holds back.
‘What bothered me most … was that every expert tells you something different.’
‘He told me what makes sense and what doesn’t’
‘researched in 2018 too and in 2019 as well. Since Corona I’ve taken a bit of a break’
‘Well, apart from my conscience and more effort, there’s nothing in it for me at the moment.’
‘what’s considered totally great right now may in five years be seen as … not so clever after all.’
‘They had nothing but problems. Then feeding into the grid didn’t work.’
→ Here, habit and anxiety hold him back more strongly than push and pull drive him forward. Do you know the doubts that make your buyers hesitate?
Representing the decision-seeker segment: three layers. The functional one is the decision – the emotional and social ones tip the balance. Each comes with the yardstick the segment uses to measure progress.
What the ‘packaging’ says so far
Making a five-figure decision on a reliable basis in a market of contradictory expert opinions and unclear figures.
Seeing himself as a confident, rational decision-maker who handles a complex investment on his own terms – without a guilty conscience.
Being regarded by the people around him as someone who pursues the project with serious intent and in a way that is in keeping with its surroundings – neither showy nor an eyesore.
Klaus didn’t need a price reduction, but a neutral basis. Our reading: a discount would more likely have fed his scepticism.
More PDFs don’t resolve contradictions. An adviser who addresses the specific doubts wins this job.
Not more choice, but a reliable calculation with his own figures gets the hesitant decision over the line.
From 13 interviews, four clearly distinct buying motivations emerged. The same provider wins all of them – but only with a separate language, trigger and proof for each job.
One message for everyone loses all four. Address a generic solar customer and you address nobody.
Turning my home into an energy-independent system.
Investing capital in an energy solution that measurably pays off.
Making my home a visible, everyday contribution.
Deciding with confidence in a market of contradictory opinions.
→ Four jobs, four languages. Across how many buying jobs is your marketing currently speaking with one voice?
In three of the four buying jobs, someone from the buyer’s own circle with a system of their own helped trigger the purchase – for Markus, his colleagues – never traditional advertising. In our view, a structured referral programme is the most effective lever of all.
Several buyers report waiting weeks for quotes – the chosen provider replied within a day. That isn’t a service feature, but the strongest differentiator – and it was invisible online.
From the customer’s point of view, he rarely competed with other solar firms. His real competition was this:
Carrying on paying €330 in utility bills – until colleagues talked about their savings.
rejectedThe decision was put off.
keptA low price signal, but without sector coupling or a proper specification.
rejectedSectors separate instead of coupled – no closed loop of self-generated power.
rejected1-day response time + a coupled closed loop instead of a single product.
chosenThe strongest competitors were putting it off and staying on grid power – not the other solar firm.
The question that decided the purchase – ‘Does a coupled system pay off for MY house?’ – couldn’t be answered online. The provider made its strongest advantages (1-day response time, sector coupling) invisible – and the advertising budget attracted exactly the stand-alone PV bargain hunters it didn’t want.
All without additional advertising budget – through visibility of the real advantages and the referral channel.
M1 was non-negotiable: the sector coupling calculator.
Enter household, electric car, heating → net savings, payback period, self-consumption rate. Zero marginal cost.
A public call-back promise, the strongest differentiator as the headline promise.
Video series with real customers and real figures (€330→€130, €450 a month).
One per buying job instead of one message for everyone.
Activate existing customers and interview participants as the first wave.
Traditional marketing measures the wrong things – clicks, reach, target audiences. Jobs to Be Done measures why people really buy, and puts everything that follows – product development, marketing, sales – on a sound footing. In a few weeks, you’ll have this compass for your own business. And if you don’t find out which job really makes your customers buy, your competitor might find out first.
We run six to eight sprints a year, depending on complexity.