How do you handle the conflicting voices between sales, marketing and product?

My first piece of advice is to reframe ‘conflicting voices’ as different perspectives. When you think about it as different perspectives, it removes the negative connotations associated with conflict, and can be easier to dig into the perspectives themselves (vs. getting caught up in the discomfort of disagreement). Sure it would be easier if everyone’s perspective was the same or in agreement, but it would probably also mean you weren’t thinking exhaustively about a problem you were trying to s ...Read More

- Anchor on the highest priority for the company, versus any one team. One of the hardest but also most liberating things about product marketing is that we are an inherently flexible function. Our skillsets are diverse, so we can quickly get into formation behind whatever is most important and strategic to the company at any given point in time. This is our greatest strength (and, if handled poorly, our greatest weakness; see below response), so don't let it go to waste! If the most important i ...Read More

It’s a useful exercise to determine first what the company’s most important objectives are rather than any one team’s. PMM, being as cross-functional as it is, acts as sort of a layer of utility business athletes within the organization, pushing for whatever the most important outcomes are that the business needs to achieve in that specific period of time. Once you clearly understand what the company’s goals are, you can push for alignment between these three groups and prioritize which voice ne ...Read More

I wouldn’t view them as necessarily conflicting, but more so that PMM brings a different perspective :) First of all, I would lean into data as much as possible. That not only makes the conversation more objective, but also strengthens your case. That could be quantitative (surfacing an increase in product usage by a new persona) or qualitative (buyer research with non-customers to identify market requirements). Secondly, I would think about where PMM can add a unique perspective; what are some ...Read More