AMA: Amperity Vice President, Product Marketing, Jason Perocho on Stakeholder Management

The best way is to help the product and engineering teams bucket and articulate their work and goals. 1. Bucket [or Theme] Product Development - Help your product managers and engineers create distinct buckets for their work. I have been a part of organizations with 40 features under development, but no one has gone through and asked how these are related to each other. Take what's being worked on and arrange them into 3-5 themes. 2. Partner with PM/Eng to Craft Vision for Each Bucket - Once bucketed, I ask, "Does this bucketing make sense?" then, "What are we trying to accomplish?". The goal is to develop a directional statement with what's happening in the workstream 3. Identify what 'so what' is behind each bucket - Identify what the impact on the project or business is for each bucket. Your Sr. Directors and VPs don't care about what's happening; they care about what each bucket means for the company. 4. Set Success Criteria - Ask your PMs/Engs about what success looks like. How will they know if they've achieved the stated goal of each bucket? 5. Set a Deadline and exit criteria - Now that you know the impact and success, partner with PMs/Engs to set a deadline for when to know if we should continue with that work stream. It's also essential to set what failure looks like up front so you can immediately move on. Communicate to VPs every week the business impact, what success looks like, what the deadlines/exit criteria are, and any blockers/asks that you may have to continue to push forward.

Let's pull back from this question because it does not provide a great premise to build on. Every for-profit business has the same objective of making money profitably. Making money profitable can be further subdivided into business metrics around acquisition, which can be further subdivided into business metrics around marketing and sales, which can be further subdivided into metrics around each stage of the funnel. Successfully influencing stakeholders requires finding the lowest subdivision for each relationship where collaboration would be meaningful and impactful. Once you've identified the objective, then I would take the following steps: 1. Build Relationships with your stakeholders: Approach every stakeholder like a product marketer to learn their pains and what motivates them 1. Learn their pains: Identify what's preventing them from being successful today 2. Learn their gaps: Identify what resourcing they wish they had but can't cover 3. Learn what great looks like: Identify what the ideal state of the job-to-be-done 4. Learn how they think PMM can help: Identify what their current beliefs of product marketing are 2. Sell Your Projects Benefits: PMMs sell ideas. You can connect the dots for each stakeholder to help them understand how your work helps them achieve or exceed their goals faster and/or easier. 3. Seek Executive Support: If you can't sell the stakeholder, move up the ranks and find a champion who will sell your project for you. Do not be afraid to bring in their boss or your boss to gain alignment around a shared goal. 4. Celebrate Every Little Success: Stakeholders may be wary of the relationship initially. Publicly celebrate each success and highlight how your shared work is getting you closer to your shared goal(s).

Great question! My stakeholders are generally extremely busy, so I try to limit the times I go to them for feedback. What I found worked the best was going to them when there was still a lot of wiggle room to adjust the asset. 1. Concept: I bring the concept to the stakeholders to ensure it's an asset they would use. I also have the stakeholder review messaging and takeaways to ensure the asset is valuable. 2. Second Draft: I bring them a draft to get feedback and ensure they have a say of what should and should not be included. 3. Final Draft: I bring them a final draft for approval, but I do caveat that I'm looking for feedback on what may be egregiously wrong and prevent them from using it.

Below are the key stakeholders and goals I have during my stakeholder interviews for positioning and messaging: * Focus Groups * [Prospective Buyer Focus Group] Dive down deep into pains, problems, and expected benefits * [Customer Advisory Board] Dive down deep into pains, problems, and expected benefits * Product Managers: * Identify what pains the new features/products is designed to solve * Understand how this provides a differentiated experience * Understand the value we want to deliver * BDR/SDR * Understand what high-level messages are and are not working in their outreach * AE * Understand what value customers are looking for * Understand our prospect's pains and priorities * Learn what messages are working and not * Understand what gaps we messaging gaps we currently have * Identify accounts and opportunities to go after with new product/feature * Solution Engineers / Consultants * Understand the big problems customers are solving for * Understand how they're positioning the product * Understand the nuances between the personas we sell to * Business Development / Partners * Understand what insights they have in building a new business * Understand how partners are messaging it * Get honest insights of how to position the product as part of a bigger solution * Demand Generation * Understand what's performing well in the market * Identify accounts and opportunities to go after with new messaging * Understand any perceived gaps * Customer Success * Understand the delta between what was promised and what we actually delivered * Understand the ultimate value we have actually delivered

That's great that you have not dealt with office politics! Those who navigate office relationships the best are empathetic, authentically themselves, and have a vision of what they want to do. 1. Be Empathetic - Everyone has their challenges inside the office and at home. Successful people take the time to understand what's driving their colleagues and show genuine compassion and kindness, even when their colleagues are not at their best. People are drawn to those who try to understand or manage the whole person. 2. Be Authentic - Your most significant asset is the trust your colleagues put in you. Authenticity is built by continually showing as the same person, following up on your promises, and always telling the truth no matter how hard the news or opinion may be. 3. Proactively Listen - We want to be heard in every facet of our lives. Proactively listening and responding to the presented information builds connections by showing you care about what your colleague is saying. 4. Assume Positive Intent - Address issues early and assume your colleague was trying their best with the information they have. 5. Stay neutral and don't gossip - It's easy to spiral when bad things happen in the office. Don't get caught up because 1) you may not know all the details 2) you may isolate someone and 3) whatever you say will come around. Besides, people like those who build people up rather pile on and bring people down.

I measure my success in two ways equally: 1. Company/Business Unit KPIs: Product marketing is a tough job because so much of our success depends on another team applying our messaging successfully in their work. If my team were doing its job correctly, we would have enabled our product, marketing, sales, and customer success to hit their pipeline, sales, and adoption numbers. My area of responsibility has grown over time by taking on more products and/or regions to grow the aforementioned KPIs. 2. Direct Report Growth: I believe the only way I can be successful is to ensure my direct reports are growing. If they're not growing toward their career, financial, or life objective, then that means I'm probably not getting the most out of them. I like to have monthly career conversation to outline short, medium, and "North Stars", then use them to create "KPIs" to measure if I am growing them. In my mind, there are thousands of different ways to solve a business problem. I try and find the way that's best aligned to a direct report's strengths and growth goals to get the most out of them.

I have not approached a situation where I could not find quantitative or qualitative data to support my point of view. In the absence of a lot of data, I would understand the motivations and goals of each stakeholder that I need to build a consensus with. I would then try to align as many motivators or goals as possible to gain alignment. I would then go and find champions in the people I have aligned with to help bring together anyone I couldn't find alignment with.

I use the following template to align internal stakeholders around a project: PMM STRATEGY BRIEF Goal: What impact are we trying to achieve on our business?(i.e. Awareness, PipeGen, Pipe Acceleration, Pipe Close, Adoption, Cross-Sell, Up-Sell, Increase Competitive Win Rates, Revewals etc.) Be Concise. Projected Impact [S/M/L]: Business Insight: Why are we doing this? Why Now? What trends are we seeing with prospects or in our customer base that led to us wanting to do this initiative? Program Summary: Describe the project's objective, typically a problem we're solving or an opportunity we're pursuing. Explain why it's worth our time & budget. Key Milestone: State the go-live date and/or any unmovable events. MLT to fill in additional pieces during the first review. Meeting Cadence: List when meetings will be held MESSAGING Persona: Who are we going after? Core Messaging: List the major Program this initiative rolls up to. Include the pillar pain and benefit below. Takeaways: Bulletize the takeaways we want the consumer of our content to walk away with. PRODUCT/FEATURE SUMMARY Product/Feature Name: What product/feature are we talking about? Current Situation: Describe [descriptive] what the persona does today. Product/Feature Description & Future State: What does the product do and how does it change what the persona does? Our feature: Now, customers can: Pains & Benefits: List 1 to 3 pains and benefits. State the business value of each (quantifiable) Screen Shot/Demo: Insert link to screenshot/demo to help the team understand the product/demo. REFERENCES Who is involved: List the people who are on your working team outside of and the stakeholders who're directly impacted by the project. Outline each person's role in the project. Subject Matter Experts: Who can the team go to for product insights, thought leadership, insights, ect. Essentially, who will you interview for information, who would be your webinar speakers, Blog authors, and Internal experts. Reference Material: Bulletize and link product marketing documents that may aide in development. DELIVERABLES Required deliverables and deadlines to get a message in market [webpage update, customer communications, sales tear sheets] Measurement Tied to T-Shirt Size and original goals. Work with cross functional team to establish what are our KPIs.

Great stakeholder management begins before a project like sales enablement even begins. 1. Vision: I quickly establish my vision for Product Marketing at the company. In the vision I define our guiding light, what we do, and how we do it. The vision is co-created with the rest of my product marketing team so that every feels a sense of ownership and will evangelize the vision. I get the vision blessed by my CMO, CPO, and CRO, then begin each meeting with it. See below for an example 1. Guiding light: We are the Buyer Experts 2. What we do: We craft compelling, value-driven positioning and messaging to showcase how Amperity’s unified customer profile is a future-proof solution to drive business growth in a rapidly evolving market. 3. How we do it: We act as the strategic connective tissue between product and GTM teams to sustainably drive pipe, ARR, and adoption. 2. Stakeholder Interviews: I conduct stakeholder interviews when I enter a new job or want to reset a relationship. I approach these interviews much like customer interviews. My goals are to: 1. Learn their pains: Identify what's preventing them from being successful today 2. Learn their gaps: Identify what resourcing they wish they had but can't cover 3. Learn what great looks like: Identify what the ideal state of the job-to-be-done 4. Learn how they think PMM can help: Identify what their current beliefs of product marketing are 3. Roles and Responsibilities: I then work to define the roles and responsibilities. I constantly update and evaluate my team's working relationships because objectives, jobs, and individuals change. Best practices include: 1. Write down responsibilities in the form of a JD. This will help bring clarity to what you or your team are doing. It also contextualizes where each relationship fits in your job. 2. Present the JD to your stakeholders. Highlight how the role and responsibility are crafted to solve their pains and gaps and get to what great looks like. 3. Give them comment access to the JD. Let them comment on the doc, then come back and have another conversation about why you are or are not accepting their suggestion 4. Operationalize: Finally, operationalize your relationship and every task underneath. It's important to consistently show or sell how this division of labor helps them achieve your shared objectives. 1. Agree on Goals and Objectives: Align everyone on the outcomes and KPIs you are going after so everyone knows what you're marching to. 2. Agree on DACI: Break down each objective into tasks and establish a DACI model (Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed). If there's disagreement here, try and resolve it in a meeting. If the problem persists, escalate. 3. Create a Tracker: Create a Google Sheets tracker that outlines tasks, owners, and deadlines for each task or deliverable. 4. Setup Recurring Meetings: Hold everyone accountable in a recurring meeting to ensure everyone is meeting their deadlines and staying in their swim lanes.

I have never considered making an empathy map. Empathy mapping is a time-consuming task that often doesn't produce actionable insights. Empathy maps are also limited in scope and only help visualize a specific problem. Instead, I recommend focusing on how you show up at work. This is a repost from another question, but thought it was still relevant here: 1. Be Empathetic - Everyone has their challenges inside the office and at home. Successful people take the time to understand what's driving their colleagues and show genuine compassion and kindness, even when their colleagues are not at their best. People are drawn to those who try to understand or manage the whole person. 2. Be Authentic - Your most significant asset is the trust your colleagues put in you. Authenticity is built by continually showing as the same person, following up on your promises, and always telling the truth no matter how hard the news or opinion may be. 3. Proactively Listen - We want to be heard in every facet of our lives. Proactively listening and responding to the presented information builds connections by showing you care about what your colleague is saying. 4. Assume Positive Intent - Address issues early and assume your colleague was trying their best with the information they have. 5. Stay neutral and don't gossip - It's easy to spiral when bad things happen in the office. Don't get caught up because 1) you may not know all the details 2) you may isolate someone and 3) whatever you say will come around. Besides, people like those who build people up instead of piling on and bringing people down.

There is no checklist but a routine I do every week to ensure I progress toward my goals and feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of each week. Every Monday, I write out my top priority and the three things I will accomplish this week. I share those with my team, my boss, and my stakeholders to get alignment and set expectations of where my time will be focused this week. Occasionally, my boss, team, or stakeholders will ask to adjust based on their view of the business. I weigh the options, and I'll make the change if pertinent. At the end of the week, I reflect on if I accomplished those 3 tasks and outline the three tasks for the next week. I communicate that to my boss, my team, and my stakeholders for them to think about through the weekend. They'll reach out on Monday to adjust and start my cycle again if needed.

The best advice for managing stakeholder input is to give them a read-ahead before major milestones and to set firm deadlines. Strategy / Proposal State audience and purpose of strategy document. Challenges Clearly state your point of view of this project faces. Mission Statement Take ownership and let the organization know what Customer Marketing stands for. The mission statement is an enduring guiding light that Customer Marketing will follow for the next few years. Use the following structure: * Northstar belief * What this project will do * How we will get it done Philosophy Expand on the mission statement by highlighting the philosophy in which we will get things done by. Strategic Pillars Highlight the major pillars of the program. Pillar Name * Overview * Goal: Succinct description of the business goal of the pillar * Strategy: Succinct statement of your strategy * Problem Statement * A brief description of the problem you’re trying to solve. I recommend using summarized quotes from your interviews to add weight. * Objective * State the objective of what you hope to accomplish. Said another way, what is the overall outcome you hope to achieve and what is the benefit to the company? * Big Bets * Project - Project summary. [State what project you want to take on in the next year to help you accomplish your objective. * Obstacles * Bulletize any obstacles that you may need help to overcome.

I handle disagreements by backing away from the decision at hand and first getting alignment on our philosophical approach to product design and then defining roles and responsibilities. I'm a firm believer that disagreements usually stem from a lack of alignment on the aforementioned.

I like to keep my approach consistent across stakeholders, but I do alter what I focus on to ensure that each team cares about what I have to say. My approach: * Objective: Summarize your objective in a sentence. * Overview * Goal: Succinct description of the business goal of the pillar * Strategy: Succinct statement of your strategy * Problem Statement: Clearly state the relevant challenges and the impact on the stakeholder you are talking to. * Don't dive into all the details that are not pertinent to the stakeholder. Stay focused. * Objective: State the objective of what you hope to accomplish. * Big Bets: State what project you want to take on in the next year to help you accomplish your objective. * Obstacles: State any obstacles that you may need help to overcome. * Ask: Be very clear about what you need and when you need it by * Restate Objective: Restate your objective for clarity and buy-in