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Jam Khan

AMA: 6sense Former Senior Vice President Product Marketing, Jam Khan on Building a Product Marketing Team

July 20 @ 10:00AM PST
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6sense Former Senior Vice President Product Marketing, Jam Khan on Building a Product Marketing Team
Top Questions
What's the most effective way to scale a Product Marketing team beyond the first Product Marketing Manager?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
This depends a lot on the companies business goals. In the beginning you'll be on the hook to support the GTM with assets so focus on content creation. It's pointless trying to be too strategic in the early stages. Look to the exec team for priorities and focus on the most important use cases and......Read More
459 Views
3 requests
We are growing our product marketing team, and I'm wondering how to structure the roles and work for a team of three.
i want to know who i need to hire to start my product marketing team. We are starting with product insights, product launches and sales enablement
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
A team of three needs to be really agile and nimble. At the same time if you don't really prioritize you're going to risk burn out and poor quality work. For a team this size I would prioritize sales needs above all else. You probably want three areas of focus: 1. positioning and competition: ......Read More
368 Views
3 requests
How do you communicate product marketing updates and activities to the rest of the company?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
The key here is consistency. Find a channel that works and stick to it. Else it becomes to fractured and fragmented. You can use a slack channel, you can have a dedicated section in your sales enablement platform, you can issue regular emails with links to content. Just make sure you stick to an ......Read More
509 Views
5 requests
What key metrics do product marketing managers need to meet in order to get promoted?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
I'm not a fan of connecting metrics to promotions for a role like product marketing becuase there are so many other dependencies that can't be controlled. Rather I like to establish some expectations of responsibility for each seniority level. Seniority levels can usually be attached to the level......Read More
715 Views
8 requests
How do you create and reenforce a culture for you product marketing team as you scale it and what does yours look like?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
Product Marketing teams sit at the nexus of so many other functions in the organization. While this makes for a pivotal and strategic role, it can also create an atmosphere of pressure, and the feeling that you're always behind.  A big part of creating a culture is reenforcing the impact that ......Read More
328 Views
3 requests
With the job market so hot, how do you structure the recruiting process to go slow enough for you and the team to evaluate several people and fast enough not to lose them to another company?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
There's no room to go slow. I ensure that for a particular role the first interview after the recruiter is with the hiring manager. This gives both parties a feel for working with each other. Ideally the candidate feels a connection with the hiring manager and vice versa. If that instant connecti......Read More
389 Views
3 requests
What have been your biggest learnings on scaling a business globally?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
Cultural nuances are a real thing. Get comfortable with not having the same amount of high touch, but bear in mind that the regional differences do matter. In the UK words that we would spell with a Z (materialize) are spelled with an S (materialise). These innocuous differences do matter. In a f......Read More
774 Views
3 requests
How do you stay aligned while agile?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
Trusting the team and tracking key results and progress versus tracking what people are working on. Tracking what they are working on ends up being micromanagement. Things can change fast, especially if you're in a startup.  Stay agile, get disciplined about the key results you feel support th......Read More
793 Views
3 requests
How do you roll out new collateral, content, and product training to a remote sales team?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
These days everyone is remote is it's important to establish a process that works for your organization. Content and collateral can exist in so many places it can overwhelming. A sales enablement platform is essential for evergreen content. Tools like slack are great for quick updates and real ti......Read More
848 Views
4 requests
What are your biggest challenges in enabling global sales teams, and how do you overcome them?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
Regional needs differ. We tend to look at things through a US lens and that's a mistake. Buyers in EMEA vary even within that region. Southern and Northern Europe are different. UK is different in its own way.  If possible in person meetings (QBRs) are one of thr best ways to understand local ......Read More
316 Views
3 requests
What are the key processes you'd set up when expanding the Product Marketing team from 1 to multiple people?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
Map out the various deliverables your team is responsible for. Some are consistent (launches) and others are point in time (website relaunch). List out all the stakeholders you interface with regularly: product management, Sales, Sales Enablemenrt, Marketing comms. Develop a process thats sustain......Read More
425 Views
6 requests
In hiring additional Product Marketing Managers, is it more important that they have Product Marketing experience, or that they're a well-rounded marketer/communicator?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
This depends on where you are in building your org, and your own experience. My path to PMM is that of a career generalist. I started my career as an engineer, then a sales engineer, then made my way to product management and marketing. I then took a left turn into consulting services before retu......Read More
282 Views
3 requests
How do you build a business case to quickly grow a product marketing team? What metrics do you look at to make sure you're driving ROI for the business overall?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
There are few things i'd look at based on the rhythm of the business. How fast is the business growing? How fast is the organization innovating, and how fast is the sales team growing. How many product managers are there (the PM to PMM ratio should be at least 4:1).  How often are there launch......Read More
784 Views
2 requests
What are the biggest challenges in growing and scaling a team? What were your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome them?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
The hardest part in growth and scale is the balance between process, oversight and autonomy. A 5 person team is well aligned, you know what everyone is working on, and easily collaborate on projects. A 20 person team, not as easy. The first step once you get past a team of 7 is to start thinking ......Read More
366 Views
3 requests
What has been your experience ensuring that the value proposition is distributed amongst international teams. And do you use a framework to ensure everyone is following the same value prop.
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
International teams are no different and should go through all the same enablement. In my experience since international teams are used to getting a lot less they are scrappy and more self sufficient. My advice is not to treat them as "international" teams, rather to carve out time to connect wit......Read More
914 Views
3 requests
What is your call on that most of the B2B SaaS Companies are Failing To Target The Right Audience?
Jam Khan
Jam Khan
ZoomInfo SVP Product Marketing • July 20
I actually don't that's true. We tend to be really hard on ourselves when it comes to messaging and positioning. The number of solutions in each vertical has just exploded and getting audience attention is just really hard. And buyers have so many more options to do their own discovery these days......Read More
1034 Views
5 requests