A2A: How can I help the sales team when I’m not in the marketing department?
Interview one or two sales guys and you’ll probably learn a dozen things you can do to help sell products. Take an approach of “How do I solve this for everyone?” The goal of marketing is to move all sales forward, not just one deal. Think along the customer’s journey, from awareness to interest to decision and action. What should customers know to help them buy?
When I was in sales, I put together a sales playbook with a one-page product description, a public roadmap, an interview guide, probing for pain questions, a problem-oriented presentation—I forget what else. I shared the playbook with my office and our sales soared. I shared it with the entire sales force and got moved from sales to product management.
A company without a marketing department astounds me. Without a dedicated person or department, sales people are the marketing department. And because they have to create marketing materials, sales people don’t spend as much time helping customers and closing deals. I prefer to arm the sales team with a proven sales playbook so we can get our sales people in front of customers as soon as possible.
Enabling sales is a key step in launching a product. What techniques do you use to supercharge your sales efforts?
About Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson is a product management process coach, author, speaker, and advisor. His approach is based on the belief that minimal process and simple templates result in a nimble product marketing and management team. Before founding Under10, Steve was a Pragmatic Marketing instructor for over 15 years and personally trained thousands of product managers and hundreds of company senior executive teams. Learn more at www.under10playbook.com
In his spare time, Steve enjoys making music, and has an album available on iTunes. Check out Steve’s music at notExactlySteve.com