Marie Francis

I agree with James that it is best to go third pary, but I have seen data and heard from customers that while they will discount the validity of any materials coming from the vendor as being slanted, they will pay attention to results metrics and use them in their buying decisions. So I believe it is still worth the effort to measure and present economic impact results to prospects and customers, even if you don't have the option to go with best practice. If you are going to do this in house, I ...Read More

Have a true desire to partner, and explictly tell them that's what you want to do.  Tell them what you are working on and why. Show them how they can be involved. Be specific. Ask what the 2-3 most important things they need from you are. Learn why those are the things they want. Figure out how to give them what they need without blowing up your priorities. Tell them what you need from them, then ask how best to make that happen so it doesn't duplicate or burden. Be nice, even when it's hard or ...Read More

The end game is for customers to choose your solutions and brand over the competition, so the most meaningful KPI is your win rate against against different competitors when you encounter them in deals. To measure that, you need to make sure your sales team is documenting who they encounter in each opportunity.  As a personal KPI, you could provide a quarterly or even monthly analysis and update with actionable insights and recommendations regarding competition. In my experience, a lot of real-t ...Read More

Hiring! My big challenge right now, to quote our head of sales, is that there's not enough of me to go around. That's not meant to be self-congratulatory--when the need for your function exceeds your resources, it's a challenge and frustration! You have to be relentless in your prioritization and accept that you will not do things that people need sometimes. All the other challenges are the type that a person is lucky to have in their job. A lot of PMMs find that other leaders in the business wa ...Read More

Revenue, revenue, and revenue.  Assuming the product is launched to generate revenue. Not all are. Some products are launched to test ideas, some might exist simply to check a box with influential audiences, others might be there to block or signal to the competition. There are also different metrics that should be considered at different points in time and are dependent upon your business model. Obviously, revenue is not solely attributed to a successful launch. Lack of revenue certainly can be ...Read More

Agree with Steve (Hi, Steve! 👋) and would like to add that there should be a push-pull relationship. Some good conversations to have with your brand marketers are around how brand and category positioning should show up within product marketing, and how product differentiation should show up in brand identity.  It's a good place in the business to apply some consumer marketing conventions...  "Our Brand is where these buyers find this category of product with these special characteristics to get ...Read More

While I agree with Mary's answer ("data") and the other great points that have been added here, I would caution against taking the exact same approach you would to influencing product as you would to influencing culture. If data were sufficient to change culture, the world would look dramatically different.  Culture is theoretically owned in people, HR, operations, and exec leadership. It's an intangible and can be attached to personality. That's a different audience and perspective than a group ...Read More

I made a major career change a few years ago from public sector to enterprise tech, and some of the most useful things I did were adjust my language, incorporate marketing terms into my vocabulary, and learn how to explain in marketing terms what I did in other places. Many skills and experiences translate across industries and roles, with "translate" being the keyword here. If you are going to be a marketer, you need to speak the language of your audience. Practice this in conversation with fri ...Read More

I periodically survey my sales team and ask them what their most challenging conversations are with buyers, what materials they have found the most helpful and WHY, and what their most burning need is. When I push them new materials or highlight something I've already sent them, I specifically reference the survey results whenever possible. And whatever the biggest request is, I make a point of delivering ASAP, again connecting the dots for them: "You asked me for this, and now I'm delivering it ...Read More