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Product Marketing and the Sales Process
Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, May 01, 2008 @ 11:16 AM
What follows are some helpful tips on how to, or how not to, use a Product Marketing/Management executive as part of the sales process. This is a guest post written by someone who recently read Tales from A Gatekeeper. I found it informative and funny and wanted to share! - Trish Bertuzzi
I am a Product Manager. I recently ran across the Sales Tips: Tales from a Gatekeeper post on this blog and thought I would address the Inside Sales Experts Blog community of Sales Executives & Sales Managers.
What follows are based on my experiences and impressions as a Product Manager for software sales companies. Comments are welcome! I would also love to hear what we Product Managers can improve upon.
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- DO NOT use me as the next step in the sales process.
Does the sales process really run: get lead -> call lead -> confirm pulse -> throw Product Manager against wall -> see if it sticks?
- DO NOT introduce me on a call and drop this classic lazy sales guys line:
"Great Bob, thanks for taking the time. Chris has some questions he would like to ask you." I do, but they center more around why I waste my time on calls with you - "Mr. 60% of quota"!
- DO have some perspective.
I understand that your perception about your most recent deal (win or loss) is your reality. But I have a Product to manage. The fact that Prospect A did not buy from you last week, does not drive my roadmap. You losing a single deal to a competitor I have never heard of does not make a fully researched and polished competitive analysis my new #1 priority. I appreciate that you are in the fray every day, but my job is to take a step back and think strategically.
- DO share your experiences with me.
I need Sales to share G2 with me (customer feedback, objections, competitive tidbits, price sensitivity, feedback on product benefits) to be successful. If you lose to a competitor we have identified in our space, let me know. If you gain traction in a certain vertical, share that with me. I want the product and you as a sales person to be successful. I want to be listening to the market as much as possible. Be another set of eyes and ears on the street for me and I will back you up. At quarter end, I will be there for you and your prospects.
- DO NOT over commit.
Remember that training where you were "sure" you heard that new killer feature was generally available TODAY? Really?!?! I was there. In fact I was the one giving it. Nice try though.
Also, you cannot trot me out in front of your key account and expect me to back up your promises, over-commitments and straight-up BS. I want to win as well, but there is this guy - he is a my VP and he frowns upon bamboozling an account into buying from us.
And finally....
- DO try to understand what I do here.
Think of me as the GM for the Product. I don't make the product, but I care about why, how and when it is made. I don't sell the product, but I want to make sure the value, positioning, messaging and pricing are spot on. I don't support the product, but I demand that it delivers and that our customers love us.
Thank you for listening. Happy Selling.
COMMENTS
Son, we live in the world of software , and that software needs to be sold. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Mr. Product Manger? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for your product and you curse the sales people. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: over zealous sales practices , while tragic, probably saved jobs. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, creates YOUR job. You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me in sales, you need me sales. We use words phrases like cold calling, lead generation and closing. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent selling something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under a blanket of the very revenue I produce and then questions the manner in which I produce it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a telephone and make a sale. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to."
@ Colonel. You made me LOL!! And yes sir, you are one of the "Few Good Men".
There are some great books written about the whole organization becoming a "sales organization". Everyone, not just sales, is responsible for building the business and bringing in clients.
@ Troy. Don't be shy. Share the titles of the books here or add them to the Sales Books: Learning How to Sell post. Thanks in advance!
Well, I think some of these points are valid, but your delivery needs a lot of work. Sales is a critical function, and organizations certainly function better without mid level manager than they do without front line sales.
I don't take this rant to be anti-sales as a whole. All organizations have underperforming sales reps who, more often than not, are a drag on the resources of others. I think it is funny to read what must really be said when bad sales people leave the room.
Well, I think it goes back to the fact that sales reps are like water--they take the easiest path to a close (within ethics and reason, of course). If closing deals and qualifying prospects is "easier" because they think they can run them off on a manager at any time, then the manager probably needs to evaluate whether A. the rep is any good or B. are they doing something that would give reps the idea that their company's sales process allows for that. It's more process and management-related than it is the rep's at that point.
I think that 'Product Manager' makes some good points. Selling high value technology solutions in a B2B environment is a team effort that requires involvement and commitment from many parts of the organisation. In this environment the sales person takes on the lead role and brings on the supporting actors in the right sequence and at the appropriate time using good judgment and experience. But lets be honest, who has not at some time or another taken a shortcut by introducing high value resources into an account we have not qualified? Who can say they have never over committed because they were under extreme competitive/management pressure to win the deal? Or left the pre-call briefing with our colleagues to the cab ride on the way to the client's office. Unless we show due respect for the role our fellow team members play in winning a deal, how can we expect them to deliver their part with competence?
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