The 3 Buyer Jobs Framework
The three jobs that need to be done when a buyer hires a vendor: discover vendors, build the shortlist, and validate vendors.
B2B buyers are increasingly outsourcing the task of building the shortlist to AI.
The buyer jobs begin when a buyer decides to take action and hire outside help, not when they become aware of a problem.
The 3 Buyer Jobs Framework is the model of the jobs that need to be done once a buyer decides to hire a vendor. It begins when a buyer cannot solve the problem on their own, their team cannot fix it either, and they need to hire outside help.
The 3 Buyer Jobs Framework is different from the inbound buyer's journey of awareness, consideration, and decision. That journey begins when the buyer becomes aware of a problem. The 3 Buyer Jobs begin later, when the buyer decides to take action and hire outside help.
Job 1: Discover Vendors. Identify which companies could solve the problem.
Job 2: Build the Shortlist. Narrow those companies to two or three worth evaluating.
Job 3: Validate Vendors. Confirm the choice and sign with one.
Job 1: Discover Vendors
Job 1 is where buyers begin their journey. It starts when a buyer determines they cannot solve the problem on their own, their team cannot solve it either, and they need to bring in an outside vendor. Job 1 is finding the list of candidate vendors who could possibly solve the problem.
There are five main channels for buyers to discover vendors.
Discovery Channel 1: Human to Human
Human to Human is how a buyer finds a vendor by talking with another person. It is the oldest, and possibly the best, way for B2B mid-market companies to be discovered.
Referrals
Recommendations
Conferences
Trade shows
Discovery Channel 2: Traditional Digital Marketing
Traditional Digital Marketing is how a buyer finds a vendor through the digital lead generation channels marketing agencies have offered since the early 2000s.
SEO
Inbound marketing
Social media
Email marketing
Paid advertising
Discovery Channel 3: Traditional Marketing
Traditional Marketing is how a buyer finds a vendor through outbound and advertising channels that are still used today.
Cold calling
Cold email
Direct mail
Print, TV, and radio
Discovery Channel 4: Authority Content
Authority Content is how a buyer finds a vendor who has established themselves as the subject matter expert.
Thought leadership articles
Podcasts and YouTube
Guest posts and press releases
Speaking engagements
Discovery Channel 5: AI Channels
AI Channels are the newest way for a buyer to find a vendor, and there are two ways for AI to surface one.
AI visibility comes from a single-turn prompt to AI. AI answers with citations and mentions, which is a list of possible vendors. This is what AEO, GEO, and AI visibility services produce.
AI discovery comes from a multi-turn conversation where the buyer describes who they are, what problem they are trying to solve, and what they are looking for in a vendor. AI answers with a list of candidate vendors and a reason why each one could solve the problem. What AI does inside that conversation is AI-mediated shortlisting.
Job 1 ends with a list of candidate vendors. Job 2 is deciding which of them to evaluate.
Job 2: Build the Shortlist
Job 2 is building the shortlist from the list of candidate vendors who could possibly solve the buyer's problem. It is not practical for a buyer to evaluate every candidate, so the buyer compares what they need against each vendor's capabilities and narrows the list to the two or three worth their due diligence.
The Three Inputs a Researcher Needs
Whoever builds the shortlist, a human researcher or an AI research assistant, needs three pieces of information from the buyer.
Who they are. The buyer's firmographics: industry, revenue, employee count, and location.
What problem they are trying to solve. The specific business problem that made the buyer decide to hire outside help.
What they are looking for in a vendor. The scope of work the buyer wants done, the experience and proof they expect the vendor to have, and how they want the engagement to run.
These three inputs are the buyer's requirements.
Buyers Are Outsourcing the Shortlist to AI
Buyers are increasingly outsourcing the task of building the shortlist to AI. Forrester has tracked the shift to AI-mediated shortlisting for three years.
In 2024, Forrester reported that 89% of B2B buyers had adopted generative AI, and that they were not just using it to discover vendors but to evaluate the differences between them and justify their purchase commitment.
In 2025, Forrester wrote that buyer questions had moved beyond keyword matches and that buyers now expect AI to understand their intent and deliver answers that are contextually relevant, credible, and actionable.
In 2026, Forrester found that twice as many buyers named generative AI or conversational search a more meaningful or important source of information than any other, ahead of vendor websites, product experts, and sales.
The reason is simple. Outsourcing the research task to AI saves time. Instead of opening a browser tab for every vendor and building a comparison document by hand, buyers have a multi-turn conversation with AI. AI does the research and looks for answers to the buyer's questions. A task that took days now takes hours.
The multi-turn conversation is where the buyer gives AI the context it needs: who they are, what problem they are trying to solve, and what they are looking for in a vendor. Over that conversation the buyer asks the same six questions buyers have always asked when hiring a vendor. Using this information, the AI research assistant finds the answers, determines which vendors' capabilities best match the buyer's requirements, and narrows the list to the two or three that do.
Job 3: Validate Vendors
Job 3 is the third and final job to be done before hiring a vendor: validate the two or three vendors that made the shortlist. This is where buyers do their due diligence. They dive deep into the vendor's offering, team, and product to make sure they are making the right choice.
Job 3 is also the first time the vendor sees the buyer. The buyer found and shortlisted the vendor without the vendor seeing either happen. Now the vendor's team sees them when they fill in the contact form on the website, call the office, start a chat, or send an email. The buyer is making contact because the vendor is on the shortlist and has already met their requirements.
What the Buyer Does in Job 3
The buyer is evaluating the solution and reducing risk. Nobody wants buyer's remorse.
Evaluate the solution. Demos, site visits, prototypes, and proofs of concept.
Meet the delivery team. The people who will do the work, not only the people who sold it.
Check pricing and contract. This is when the buyer asks for a proposal and wants to see exactly what the vendor will be doing for them.
Why Validation Remains a Uniquely Human Job
The vendors on the shortlist have shown they can do the work. What the buyer is checking in Job 3 is how a vendor does it, and how a vendor works is something the buyer has to experience.
It is like buying a car. The buyer researches the car before stepping onto the dealer's lot. They know the make, model, trim, and number of cup holders. They still want to test drive it, because researching the car on the website does not tell them what it is truly like to drive it. Does it have enough legroom? Are the controls easy to use? Does it handle well? They will not know until they take the test drive.
The same is true of a vendor. The buyer watches how the vendor's team responds to questions, if the delivery team matches what sales promised, and what happens when the scope changes mid-conversation. How a vendor works in the sales process is the best evidence the buyer has for how it will work once the contract is signed.
Buyers do use AI in Job 3, to analyze proposals and justify their purchase commitment. The decision itself stays with the buyer.
About the author
David Lee
David Lee is the founder of Do What Works. At Toyota Motor Sales, he was part of a team that selected a vendor, from gathering requirements to the final decision. He then ran a B2B marketing agency for ten years. Today he runs buyer conversations through ChatGPT and Claude to see how AI researches and shortlists vendors.