AMA: Crossbeam Senior Director Product Marketing, Amanda Groves on Competitive Positioning

November 2, 2023 @ 10:00AM PT

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VP of Product Marketing · Zywave

👋 Hi I'm Amanda Groves.. Philly native (Go Flyers!), Pittsburgh transplant (Go Panthers!)

💼 I currently am the VP of Product Marketing at Zywave, an InsurTech company focused on helping carriers and brokers manage, protect, and grow their book of business intelligently.

👀 Topics of interest for me are managing M&A and integrating offerings... AI product innovation/roll out and building high-performance PMM teams.

🤝 Topics I am help with... adopting agile marketing, core PMM/Solution PMM, new product introduction process/tiering and pricing and packaging.

🍦 Favorite ice cream flavor.. mochi!

Where do you typically uncover the most competitive insights? What frameworks do you use to get clarity on the competitive position?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

I uncover competitive insights from using social listening tools like Gong and Chorus. My PMM team has filters set up so we can listen for key concepts, competitors, and competitive terms. From there we can see historical data and trends on whether or not our positioning of key differentiators influences closed/won rates overtime. This is helps us proactively understand what is top of mind for our prospects in competitive deal cycles. Another way to suss out competitive insights is your standard ...Read More

437 Views

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How often do you talk to customers, or do qualitative + VOC research?

Is it continuous or at specific campaigns?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

Pretty regularly. I talk with customers at least once a week! To do this I have automated campaigns that share my availability with customers to set up time with me (via calendly). This results in at least 1, sometimes 2-3 customer calls a week. Do not sleep on talking with customers - it is arguably the most important part of the job. The customer is the ultimate aligner so if you understand their voice, and present their voice, you have influence.

437 Views

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How do you create competitive intel that is really beneficial to sales (i.e. they actually read and use it)?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

I love how candid this question is! It's true - we build a lot in PMM and largely don't know if it's being used. If you have a tech stack that has a social listening tool (gong) + enablement tool (klue, crayon, guru) you should be able to build, track and measure efficacy of the PMM programs you're building around competitive intelligence. One way we reinforce this at Crossbeam today is by using quizzes and courses in a tool called workramp - that way we test our sales teams' knowledge and make ...Read More

447 Views

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How do you disseminate competitive positioning to your sales team?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

I use a standard product marketing brief for launches that includes competitive positioning. I'll include a section for where we win along with key value props and differentiators. Another way I do this is via regular team enablement syncs, dedicated slack channels, and guru cards. The key is making sure the content is visible, searchable, and referenceable in centralized place that sales uses.

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How do you differentiate when competitors constantly copy new products and features?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

People, speed, customer success and employer brand are the secret sauce to any business because they are proprietary and CANNOT be replicated. This is your differentiator and it makes up your brand. Invest in talent. Ship quickly. Build and nurture customer advocates who authentically love your product and brand. If you do this - it won't matter what bits and bobs are across the competitive hall. Your Brand is the differentiator and the aforementioned pillars are the raw ingredients that make it ...Read More

1,099 Views

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Competitive insights is often a back burner to launches and other PMM work. Are their tips in prioritizing and making research actionable?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

Prioritizing competitive insights and making research actionable is crucial for product marketing success. Here are some things to keep in mind so your efforts are moving the right needles: Align with Strategic Goals: Ensure that your competitive research aligns with your company's strategic goals and product roadmap. Prioritize insights that directly impact your product's success or market positioning. Regular Cadence: Establish a regular schedule for competitive research. Set aside specific ti ...Read More

407 Views

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How do you recommend communicating and sharing the competitor analysis with the team/stakeholders?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

Context is queen! Here are some ways I tend to approach sharing competitive intelligence with my teams: Customize for the Audience: Tailor the comms to the specific needs and interests of different stakeholders. Executives may want a high-level summary, while product managers might require more in-depth details. Regular Updates: Provide regular updates on competitor analysis, whether it's on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, to keep everyone informed about changes in the competitive landsca ...Read More

464 Views

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What are some common mistakes that companies make when trying to differentiate their products from competitors?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

I think everyone forgets about "status quo" and "no solution" competitors. These two more often than not - make up the vast majority of whitespace / addressable market for a company. We get excited by stories - which are told by our competitors. The problem is they are distracting to us and our market. Focus on the people who are doing things the old way or have not yet made up their mind. Convince them by focusing on why YOU win. What makes you different. What are the 5 things your product does ...Read More

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How do you recruit test subjects from your ICP (that aren't yet your customers) for preference tests?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

I think there's a way to do this via experimentation in top of funnel campaigns. Target prospects in performance advertising campaigns (linkedin for example), and see what sticks for them via messaging and positioning. Use dynamic messaging on websites powered by tools like Mutiny to test preferences with targeted copy/features etc. Then change course and influence decisioning based on your findings.

531 Views

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How do you enable sales in deals where competitors claim to have the same functionality but don't?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

If you can objectively point to artifacts where there are gaps in functionality e.g., website, customer reviews via third-party sites, etc - that would be my suggestion. From there, take control over the conversation and instead focus the sales conversation on where you win and how you're the best choice to solve the customers unique problem (with defensibility). I way to position an objection to this, "We've heard from customers that x, y, z is very important to them - is this important to you? ...Read More

380 Views

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Which framework can Product Marketing and Product collaborate on to exchange competitive insights for prioritizing the product roadmap and achieving successful attachment rates?

Amanda Groves

Zywave VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 2y

Here is my spicy take.. and it's not likely not how you've been trained to operate. Stay with me... First, it's critically important to align on exactly "who" is your competition. This will vary by segment and Ideal Customer Profile. Second, I rely on Donald Miller's Storybrand framework to help suss out who the competition is with product. Each quarter, we do a narrative kick-off exercise where we delve into the following "hero's journey" by answering the following questions: Who is the charact ...Read More

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AMA: Crossbeam Senior Director Product Marketing, Amanda Groves on Competitive Positioning

View AMA Answers

Where do you typically uncover the most competitive insights? What frameworks do you use to get clarity on the competitive position?

How often do you talk to customers, or do qualitative + VOC research?

How do you create competitive intel that is really beneficial to sales (i.e. they actually read and use it)?

How do you disseminate competitive positioning to your sales team?

How do you differentiate when competitors constantly copy new products and features?

Competitive insights is often a back burner to launches and other PMM work. Are their tips in prioritizing and making research actionable?

How do you recommend communicating and sharing the competitor analysis with the team/stakeholders?

What are some common mistakes that companies make when trying to differentiate their products from competitors?

How do you recruit test subjects from your ICP (that aren't yet your customers) for preference tests?

How do you enable sales in deals where competitors claim to have the same functionality but don't?

Which framework can Product Marketing and Product collaborate on to exchange competitive insights for prioritizing the product roadmap and achieving successful attachment rates?