Molly Friederich

Storytelling provides helpful guardrails to against falling into the trap of rattling off features. In telling a story, you're thinking about the hero (your target persona), the pain they're facing or mountain they need to overcome (and why), and how your solution will help them. As you write content, think about the emotional drivers of your target persona that lie beneath the surface of the tactical; for instance, what happens if they do a given task well? How are they personally rewarded (tim ...Read More

I've used a few different panel providers for large-scale segmentation studies, messaging feedback, and more. I won't call them out by name here, but I'll suggest things to look for as you evaluate options:  How well can they recruit against your unique market, and how will they make sure to meet their targets? What will it cost to meet your goals?  When responses come back, how do they filter out bad responses, and what visilibity will you have to the data coming in (before you're out of field) ...Read More

First clarify your goals in terms of "getting info" for yourself so you can better frame for your PMs. For example, are you looking to be pulled into early validation of problem areas? Convey the value this provides them, such as allowing you to create more resonant messaging thanks to early and direct exposure. Do you want detail on committed ships? Show them the initial scaffolding of your GTM plan and gaps you need to fill in. After taking time to clarify your needs, and after getting to know ...Read More

This is a passion area for me! I work to carve out time for learning and exposure. It's always tough when you have pressing timelines for deliverables, but that work will be far more efficient and strategic when you invest in time for the fundamentals. Here are a few things I invest in doing: Know the team. Be of value to them.  Go where your sales team is, be a fly on the wall in the places they discuss their goals and strategies (live or async). Have Gong? Download the app. It's a treasure tro ...Read More

Congrats, scrappy startup phase is exciting, lots of opportunity to make a big impact!  I suggest starting by getting a baseline understanding of their sales cycle today. What has their approach been? Where are they seeing success, and where are they bottlenecked? Your focus should be different if they're not able to get in the door (help them with ICP insights and positioning for outbound targeting!) vs. struggle to get from first call to pitch (work on discovery questions!).  As you go through ...Read More

Regular reminders and reinforcement! Sales teams obviously face a ton of pressure to hit quota, and they need to be as efficient as possible... And while some are awesome at experimentation, many will struggle to adopt new assets/messaging when they're moving fast and rely on what's familiar.  On the flip side, be sure to manage outdated materials as best you can... If there are old decks/n-pagers floating around, label them as such, and if you see things pop up from people's "private collection ...Read More

If the playbooks are insightful and get used... I'm not frustrated! ;)  Creating sales playbooks is frustrating when we're in a loop of perfection over progress. Oftentimes we forget how powerful a small amount of clear, digestible insight can be over an incredibly robust, in-depth asset. I picked up a mantra from a consultant that I love: "consumable over comprehensive." Adding depth over time is both more sustainable for you as a PMM and more digestible and actionable for your stakeholders. Ge ...Read More