Common Frustrations in Business: Insights from Industry Professionals
Businesses of all sizes and industries face various challenges and frustrations. In this article, we'll explore some of the most common frustrations experienced by professionals in different roles and organizations. We have gathered insights from industry experts, including their quotes, to provide actionable advice and solutions. Here are the top frustrations:
- Creating Insightful Sales Playbooks
- Product Marketing Management
- Communicating Technical Information on Websites
1. Creating Insightful Sales Playbooks
One frustration shared by many professionals is the challenge of creating insightful sales playbooks that actually get used. Savita Kini, Director of Product Management, Speech and Video AI at Cisco, says:
From enterprise B2B marketing experience, I would say types of content you create example sales playbooks - also depends on where you are in the lifecycle journey. If its still in the product-market fit or even when you are building / scaling, you may not know the story well enough for each segment of the market you are addressing. You are still learning as an organization. Unless product marketing is also in a few sales calls and visits customers, you may or may not know first hand - objections received, improvisation needed including customization by segment.
Savita suggests using a wiki-based format for sales playbooks to make them more dynamic and up-to-date. This would allow for constant updates, adding more details, and making content searchable.
2. Product Marketing Management
Product marketing managers often face numerous frustrations in their roles. Savita Kini also shares her thoughts on this topic:
I absolutely agree with the response above. I believe the "Craft of product marketing" is many companies is relegated to "content" but in order to product content, people don't realise that you have to first understand the industry, customer, problem, solution, why different, why now, how etc. Craft a solid messaging and positioning brief that senior leadership has also understood well enough, the message resonates and the pillars are aligned. Any good content writer / agency should be able to than create brochure, website content etc. PMM's can contribute to the roadmap discussion, market analysis, meeting customers, find ways to work with sales and more. The whole end-to-end of the 4 Ps of marketing.
Lauren Craigie, Head of Product Marketing at Cortex, shares her perspective on common frustrations:
Any frustrations I have are either a reflection of my ego getting in the way, or a failure on my part to communicate expectations or demonstrate value.
Some examples:
- Sometimes it's frustrating when sales comes up with their own messaging, and slideware. However, if they're doing that it's because what they have isn't working, or they haven't been properly enabled, or they're not convinced of the results existing content can produce. This can actually GOOD to some extent, because you're getting continuous testing of new messaging.
- Sometimes it's frustrating when product doesn't partner closely on new launches. However, if there's a clear launch playbook to follow (that PMM can create), then collaboration becomes a necessity—just a series of accountabilities split across the two groups.
- Sometimes it's frustrating when folks at the organization want to start at the message and back into position and product: "This is how I would explain what we do—we should have this tagline!" But, if you have a plan to revisit positioning, and test messaging, the answer just becomes, "let's find out!" instead of "no that's a baseless suggestion."
3. Communicating Technical Information on Websites
Effectively conveying technical information on websites can be a challenge, especially when trying to cater to technical buyers. Ivan Dwyer, Product Marketing at Okta, shares his approach:
Great question… this is easy to over index on either side – too much buzzword bingo or too deep in the weeds.
Personally, I like to follow a narrative from top to bottom – anchor to “the what”, hook with “the why”, and win over with “the how”.
But each section in that narrative has to be punchy and unique. I’m a Rule of 3 type – bullet points, icons, lists, etc. I get reinforcing key points, but nobody has time to scroll through the same statement over and over again! On each...
Personally, I care more about making an association with “the what” than trying to get creative. Just be prescriptive about what this product is to frame the rest of the content. I roll my eyes at abstract, meaningless website headers :)
Getting to “the why” is where I place most of my focus – this is where being punchy and unique is extra important. I like to speak to pain points, but not in a negative, condescending way (ahem, many security product websites, ahem), more in an encouraging way. As I’ve written about with personas here (https://www.workinproduct.com/blog/elements-of-a-positioning-system-part-2-customer-personas), I try to appeal to what the audience is on the hook for, helping them get by and/or get a head.
I don’t ignore “the how” – technical buyers need to be able to envision how your product works, not just in isolation, but with the rest of the tools & stack. This should be more visual than anything else.
And it probably goes without saying, but backing everything up with great documentation is always a winner – easier said than done, takes a lot of dedication and diligence. But pays back in spades.
Hope that helps!
In conclusion, common frustrations in business revolve around creating effective sales playbooks, managing product marketing, and communicating technical information on websites. By understanding these challenges and implementing the insights and advice provided by industry professionals, businesses can work towards overcoming these frustrations and achieving greater success.