Katie Duzan (O'Brien)

The "one and done" model for kickoff does not work, so it's a great question. What happens AFTER kickoff is equally, if not more, important than sessions at kickoff. Follow-up resources and activities: Immediately after kickoff, be sure that Sales has access to the content shared, so they can refer back to it. Content should be easy to find in a single place. Ideally, a sales leader emails this notification out to their teams to reinforce the importance. About 3-4 weeks after kickoff, have check ...Read More

One idea (I can't take credit for it) that we've implemented was sales confidence as a product marketing KPI. It can be a leading indicator to a change in win rate (if you have longer sales cycles). So, before kickoff, survey sellers and sales leaders to ask 1) their overall confidence to sell certain products, 2) known support needed (usually customer evidence, competitive battlecards, etc), and 3) their belief that product marketing partners with them. We've set KPIs for field confidence pre-k ...Read More

This answer really depends on your company's operating model. If you are in enterprise software, then the best approach would be to go to the beta or early adopter customers of the MVP to get their feedback. This is often done alongside product management and happens at various stages in their adoption (e.g. at requirements gathering, pre-implementation, during implementation, 3 months after, etc). These early customers are often your best stories when taking the MVP to market more broadly. If y ...Read More

Techniques vary depending on the scale of launch and product vs feature, the number of sales teams/people, and your overall business model. But, generally: Know your audience -- how will sales make money from this new launch? Help them follow the money and what they care about. Keep it simple -- as a former Head of Sales used to say, training should be "crayon simple." Don't cover all the great features. What are the most important things they need to know? Net it out the takeaway and tell them ...Read More

In general: Start with what you want to DO with the feedback (once you have it later). Data gathering will only be as useful as what happens with it. So, start with the end in mind. What will success look like? Who are those stakeholders? Do they agree with that goal? List the open questions that most need to be answered. Prioritize. Scope is everything here -- focus on the most important questions. Start your research brief. What is your methodology? Sample size (if conducting new research)? Wh ...Read More

Sales performance data can suggest a few things: At the product level, which ones are not meeting targets or are taking LONGER than expected to close? This could, for example, highlight a need for more education on newer products, a need for more competitive differentiation, or even a product/market fit disconnect. At the regional/territory level, do you see a large variation in sales performance? Focus where there are gaps and learn why. It could be training, leadership, or a local issue (like ...Read More

Ideally you can have a core message house that distills your biggest value points for target personas -- relevant across regions. For example, does everyone care about efficiency or retention? What motivates your target personas to act? Localization stems from that and can either add specificity into one of your message pillars (e.g. regulations) or add a new, unique message. The key is labeling so it's clear. That way, you have a core message that is broadly applicable, but it can also target s ...Read More

In addition to my answer about post-kickoff activities, I think it really boils down to finding your sales evangelists and go from there. It's understanding your sales persona. :) If it feels like "product marketing content," they probably won't use it. From their POV, they've got a number to hit and what does product marketing really know anyway? They're the ones in front of customers every day actually selling the stuff. Instead, it has to feel like your company's materials (not PM materials) ...Read More