What would you consider to be the most important PMM skills to have?

I'm going to answer your question slightly differently. PMMs can acquire skills as they develop in their careers, that's a given. So when I hire PMMs, I'm not just looking for skills, I'm looking for a specific customer-first mindset. Do you understand the customer problem you're trying to solve? How do you know it's a problem, and how painful is it? How do you typically engage with customers? How do you validate your ideas to make sure they resonate with your customer?

I will often hear things like "I validated my messaging with sales," or "the survey data says..." but to be an effective PMM you need to deeply understand your customers and their pain points. So the skill set matters much less to me than the mindset.

When selling a technical enterprise software product, what is the best advice you have for a product marketer?

This seems obvious, but master the product! Become an SME, learn how to configure and demo it yourself, and do booth duty to demo/pitch it. This all helps you craft messaging/content for the product which is deeper and will resonate better with your target audience. Also you gain credibility internally with others like product management, the field, enablement, and more. And to become an SM, lean on internal technical resources heavily incl seeing how they demo it.

In the past I’ve seen some product marketers for technical products not know how to use/or demo it, so they are limited to presenting ultra-high level messaging around the basic “increase rev/reduce costs” story. To get deeper content, they need to lean on SMEs/others which slows things down greatly and limits the Product Marketer. 

Which brings up a sub-point. Which is that buyers of technical enterprise software of course are technical themselves…they are allergic to high-level, fluffy marketing. You need to get into the details and speeds/feeds with them. Not just the basic “increase revenue, saves time/cost” story. Yes, things like ROI calculators and BVAs are great and key in large enterprise deals..but they come later in the sales process.

The most important skills you need to have to be a successful PMM include:

• Curiosity: Whether you're familiar with the space or are brand new, never assume you know the answer. Always ask "why," try things out, and don't be afraid to fail. Don't only question others, but question yourself and your own assumptions.

• Communication: Clear communication (verbal and written) is important for getting your company's message out. However, I believe actively listening to your customers, prospects, sales, CS, product, etc. is more important. Being able to ask thoughtful questions and dig deep into the discussion will help you ramp up in the company/space and will give you the foundation for almost every activity you'll do as a PMM (messaging, persona work, enablement, etc.)

• Focus: As a PMM, your day and priorities will shift quickly. Though it may get chaotic, focus on delivering the key rocks and pivoting to the next item. Also, this may be difficult, but be comfortable delivering something that's "good enough."

• Empathy: The last "skill" that I think is critical for a successful PMM is empathy. You'll work with tons of different stakeholders from across many departments. Being empathetic to what they are trying to do and what their goals are will help you build the cross-functional relationships that are important for your current role and any future roles.