AMA: ServiceNow Director of Product Management, Rosa Gonzalez Welton on Consumer Product Management

I think of interviewing as a muscle that you develop and keep strong. Approach interviewing in an intentional way, and get additional help where you need it. I recommend picking up one of the popular product interview books. They cover the basics about telling your own story, and describe the range of interview styles and questions you'll face. You’ll learn about the difference between behavioral interviews and case interviews. Take the time to do real mock interviews. What do I mean by “real mock”? Pair up with others who are interviewing or are willing to listen to give you feedback on your responses to interview questions. Doing this with another person (face-to-face or via video) helped me get over the nerves of being on the spot, answering a question I wasn’t ready for. The practice sessions helped with my confidence in my responses and ability to handle an unexpected question. Once you have the baseline preparation done, find someone who is more experienced in your industry or works at one of your target companies, and ask them to go through a mock interview or give you feedback on a specific case question. They’ll have a better sense of where you’re doing well and where to keep learning and practicing.

When I first made the transition from B2C to B2B product roles there were two areas that surprised me, and which I had to approach differently. Customer and Buyer Personas: I had been used to thinking about different customer segments and their needs, but generally my target customer was also the buyer. My experience was different in a B2B role. I learned that I had to discern (via research, surveys, conversations with customer and with account execs) a range of customer personas, and that usually only one of them would make the buying decision. The other personas were important influencers in the buying decision, and I had to think about my product's value proposition for their needs as well. As I've gained experience in this area I have a better sense of which set of customer needs are important to focus on in different parts of the buying lifecycle. Voice of Customer: A related challenge was how I gathered customer insights. In a B2C context, I partnered with Customer Insights to bring prospects and customers into the usability lab, and I had access to a long list of users who had opted into contact from people like me. In a B2B setting, I worked with my go-to-market team to identify good candidates to talk with, then with the account management team to help recruit them for conversations on specific topics. Over time this evolved to a standing Customer Advisory Board that helped my team share early plans, gather insights, and build relationships that helped us take a collaborative approach to problem solving. 

I would suggest starting a with reflection about your long-term goals. Spend time to create a vision for where you want to go, identify the milestones to get you there, and the experiences that support that journey. That clarity can help guide your decision about focusing in one segment, industry, etc. The fundamental product skills will serve you well in either role. When I look at candidates I focus on the type of work they owned and what results they drove. For example if I was hiring for a role focused on bottom-of-funnel conversion, I'd consider the skill-set (from B2B or B2C) to be applicable to the different segments. Beyond the experience however, I am also look for evidence of continuous learning and growth, a sense of curiosity, and how someone incorporates customer insights and data into their decision-making.

When I joined my company, my mandate was to improve the way that customers got to value quickly. With the support of a research team, designers, and lots of conversations with customers, I saw an opportunity to build a resource center that consolidated best practice resources and pointed new and experienced customers to the steps needed to get the most value out of their products. The resource center would help customers with self-serve onboarding. Because I was building a post-sales experience I had to think through my KPIs, and how they could capture or measure good outcomes for the customer. Over the long term, lagging indicators could tell me much benefit this resource brought to customers and their continued satisfaction. However in the short-term I had to lean on available leading indicators. Where I landed was to measure engagement (traffic, clicks, content consumption) and adoption by the customer base (in other words, what percentage of our customers used this resource center?). I also layered in more data points to help me measure success, such as time to upgrade, and qualitative feedback from our customer advisory board. Taken together, I could use the KPIs and insights to tell the story of what was going well and where we needed further iteration and evolution.