AMA: ThoughtSpot Senior Director of Product Marketing, Christine Sotelo-Dag on Stakeholder Management

There are a few different frameworks that can come in handy here, but my go to method usually involves evaluating impact over effort - where high impact, low effort requests usually top my priority list. That said, prioritization should also take into account the goals of the business and how that ladders down to your team goals. I'd also be cautious of positioning you and/or your team too much as request takers. Rather, work towards partnerships with internal stakeholders that take your teams g ...Read More

This is a great question, and one that likely doesn't have one right answer. It likely depends on the context, however there are a few rules I like to live by when addressing conflict. 1. Quickly set up time with the involved individuals to talk face to face / in-person. There is a lot that can get misconstrued in emails and slacks, so meeting in person can help to reduce any confusion. The faster the parties address the issue, the more likely it is that it can be resolved before it escalates in ...Read More

I think the most important and first step here is to really understand who your stakeholders are, and what methods work best based on timezones, priorities, projects, etc. As a product marketer, I typically find my stakeholders spread between 3 main groups - product, sales and marketing. Of course there are other stakeholders like program management, data teams, research teams etc - but I try to prioritize defining how I will manage my relationships with my core 3 internal groups. With my market ...Read More

In my experience this varies based on the size of the company, and how much AR is a priority for the company. Typically I've partnered with someone focused on Analyst Relations, usually sitting within the Corporate Marketing team. That person is responsible for managing the relationships with analysts, setting up the appropriate briefings and driving initiatives like the Magic Quadrant. That said, Analyst Relations is truly a team sport - one that requires input from product, marketing and techn ...Read More

Promoting your or your teams work is really important, and often gets overlooked for fear of self-promotion, or just due to being busy doing the work. Outside of self-promotion, it is also beneficial for visibility and gaining support for your work. Here are some easy ways to promote work, without having to create too much of a lift for yourself or your team. Share on internal comms tools like newsletters, or dedicated slack channels Plug into team meetings. Most teams have regular meetings, and ...Read More

I love a good collaboration with a user research team. There is so much rich information research teams can provide to better understand the users and customers of your product - and this should definitely feed into how you message and position your products. I'd start with understanding what the user research team has on their roadmap. Build a relationship where you're able to check in regularly on the work they are executing on and access to the readouts that come out of it. In my experience, ...Read More

People are inherently afraid of change, so coming into an organization and changing the way things have historically been done can certainly cause fear and doubt - primarily people might assume you are making their roles irrelevant. So with that in mind, I'd lead with building trust. Of course your instincts will tell you to get in and take action - but try and carve out time to bring people along on the WHY behind the necessary changes. If the changes you're making are aligned to company object ...Read More