On the advice (and prodding) of my friend Jim Holland, I also recently read The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson of the Corporate Executive Board. Like Jim, I then picked it up again, with a highlighter and pen and started again. (Side note – Jim was referred to this book by Steve Johnson.)

Jim wrote a great post about what he learned, as a product leader. In his post, he focuses on the main point of the Challenger Sale, that it is not about sales building relationships, but to challenge them. To rethink, reshape and change how you engage and lead. He further explains three models related to product leaders that are relevant: understanding the buying process, buyer personas and speaking the language of the buyer.

Yes, the Challenger Sale is about the buyer, it is a sales model after all. However, what struck me the most was the emphasis on story telling. In a Challenger Sale, you, as the sales organization, disrupt the norm by creating a teachable moment that provides insight for the customer to consider a new way of thinking. You are asked to push the limits, to be big, innovative, make it risky and cause a difficult conversation. No, not a conversation that is antagonistic or angry; but, a conversation that makes the customer respond “I haven’t thought about that in this way before.’ In the Challenger Sale, this disruptive conversation, the teaching moment, will provide you the opportunity to then tailor the message that is delivered for the rep to take control of the sale.

The sales model explains that your primary value is not in what you sell, but rather, it is what you teach.

What does this mean for product marketing? EVERYTHING! The value that product marketing brings to the sales team has been elevated two thousand times over what it was before! Even the authors said that “marketing is the insight generation machine.”

Product marketing is responsible for the market knowledge. It is our responsibility to know the problems of the market, as we learn in our persona research. No, not the standard problems of reduce cost and improve efficiency; but, the real problems we only learn by having conversations with the market. Maybe the problem is as simple as unplanned purchases are killing the budget (an example illustrated in the book,) or that disparate phone systems require 45% more administration and support. Whatever the problem, it is product marketing’s to learn.

Once the problem is defined, the teaching moment can be created. It is during this teaching moment that the understanding, the value, of your market is evident. It is imperative that you explain and solve the problem in the buyer’s language, as Jim references in his post. It is imperative that you remember that customers don’t want to talk about your solution, but they will talk about their business. But, it is just as important that you share the teaching in a story that will resonant. The tailoring of this message is critical. Tailoring belongs to product marketing.

In the end, the authors state, “the customers that do best at this approach have learned to segment their customers by need or behavior.” These are the core elements of proper personas. Looking in from the outside, companies that engage in the Challenger Sale model need to rely upon the role of product marketing to provide the insight into the market to develop the story the sales teams will teach the customer. As Dixon and Adamson eloquently state, “If you fail to provide insight you fail to provide value.”

The session is (tentatively) titled “Agile vs. Product Management,” and the idea is to have a 45 minute courtroom scene. One side, an esteemed colleague (played by W. Alejandro Polanco) who has agreed, will argue that Agile is a benefit to the field of product management while the other side (played by me) will argue that Agile is killing product management.

First, we need to propose the session and it needs to be voted in. But, as we both prepare for the “trial,” we would love your feelings – from both sides. Please present your argument in the comments below. Who knows, you may be asked to call-in as an “expert” witness.

Have fun with this! We plan to!

No, I’m not splitting hairs. There is a difference.

Leads are simply names and info of people. There are different qualities of leads to consider, from the name provided simply for them to receive your offered trinket – to the name offered because they recognize that you solve their problem and are genuinely interested.

Demand is creating a “buzz” which leads to the highly-qualified leads. It’s about creating an interest, a desire, for someone to pay a price for a product or service that solves their problem.

Leads belong to marketing. Demand belongs to product marketing.

Leads are about promotions, offers, specials and deals. Demand is about understanding the buyer and their problems and needs. Demand generation is using sales and marketing tactics to help your potential customers or clients realize that they need what you provide. You solve their problem.

Quality demand generation starts by understanding your buyer persona. If you don’t have personas in place, you can still achieve demand.  You need to start by listening before you speak. Learn about the potential buyers, Learn what they care about, what they read, where they trust to go so they may learn and gather information. Learn how to speak their language, not yours. It’s about knowing where they go so you can be there.

Once you know where you need to be to create demand, you need to focus your content. Again, if you have personas, the personas will help you shape the conversation you need to have that will yield the results sought. In either case, with or without personas, it’s time to build value for the market. Keep your message focused to keep your audience focused. Keep your content balanced, a combination of education with some product/service . Too much education and no one will know what you are doing there. Too much product/service information and you will turn off the audience who didn’t go there for a sales pitch. Your audience is smarter than you want to believe. Don’t annoy them, they will – and do – leave, despite your solution being the best. Creating demand is not a one-time and done activity. You need to be consistently providing the education and knowledge to keep the demand funnel flowing.

In either case, don’t fool yourself. Your product needs both – leads and demand. But, looking in from the outside, the more successful you are in creating quality demand, the more successful you will be in creating the high quality leads that can progress through the sales process and yield the positive results that you crave.

What?!? Heresy you say! Of course they need, and want, my product. Well, maybe not. Think about it. It’s about the customer, the buyer, the market – not you.

It’s not about the product, it’s about them. It’s about their problem and how you solve it. Do you understand their problem? Do you understand their buying process? Do you understand their language? Do you have buyer personas that are real?

It’s a simple formula. (And, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I’m into simple.) Once you have the persona who speaks for the buyer, you can start looking at your market strategy position. Once you understand the strategy you can start to work on positioning. Once you understand the positioning, you can align it with their buying process.

In aligning with their buying process (not what you think they do or what they should do, but how they actually buy the product,) you have to develop a story. The more memorable the story, the better it will be for you. The story has to be about how you have helped others solve similar problems, remembering it’s not about your product. Once you have a story, you can engage in a relationship. The relationship will lead to trust, and buyers always – and only – buy from those they trust. Until you have their trust, you can’t promote the product. Product don’t garner trust, people do.

Looking in from the outside, it’s not about the product. As a product professional, you have to keep the customer, the prospect, first. It’s their problems that matter. They control the process; and, they control the checkbook. Your understanding, and acceptance of this, is the only way to drive the product success.

The pendulum has shifted to the buyer. The internet enables buyers to research the market, understand options and narrow choices without ever interacting with a salesperson. Product marketing must reach beyond current customers and talk to the market and uncover non-buyers.

The role of the new product launch has to change to meet this evolving market. It has to enable the buyer to “find” the new product by placing relevant educational content on the internet where it will be found. The new model includes blogs, e-books, videos, case studies, webinars, white papers, customer reviews, and an active social media presence.

Sirius Decisions recently wrote about this in their post “Product Launch Has Changed, Have You?”  They end this post by saying, “the cadence of launch will change. Planning must accommodate the longer lead times required to build content that frames buyers’ issues.”

These educational activities take time. In order to coordinate an effective product launch, the product marketing team must be embedded with the product managers to understand the new product features and the timing of availability. The way to overcome these longer lead times is to become more involved in the upstream product planning process. Product Marketing cannot wait for the product to be finished and tossed over the wall or the launch will be at risk.

Looking in from the outside,  Product Marketers now, more so than ever,  not only need to be closely integrated with the sales process, but also need to be intimate with the product managers. While building trust. While avoiding politics. To ensure a successful product.