The document discusses the importance of direct customer relationships for product managers. It advocates building relationships directly with executives and end users rather than relying on middlemen. Some tips provided for establishing these relationships include traveling with your CEO, leveraging board members, and directly contacting customers' personal assistants. Face-to-face meetings are emphasized as invaluable for obtaining feedback to shape products based on customer needs. Examples are given of companies that shifted their strategies and saw greater success after their product managers met directly with multiple customers.
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All you need is
1.Integrity –you’re there to help them, don’t sell
2.Product knowledge –know your system
3.Market knowledge –a broader perspective
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Tips –Getting the Access
Tag along your CEO
Leverage your board members
Create a customer advisory board
Coordinate a roadmap roadshows
Leverage the VP Marketing / Community Manager
Direct approach (leverage the PA)
Conferences
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Tips –Running the Meeting
Agenda: e.g. roadmap, market trends, or specific solution
A little small talk, then straight to the point
Verify and address the customer challenges
Share market information, disruptive trends
Finally –ask 1,2 questions you need answers to
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Company has over $20B in marketing cap
Approached: Chief Actuary (20 yrsexperience)
Worked in many of the prime insurers in Europe
We needed to create UI to a new product that models the customer risk analytics process and practices
Recipe:
1 Long & trusted relationship
3 meetings x 2 hours each
Shake well, serve with an olive
Results: PRD defined & verified
Case Study -Financial Arm of a UK Retailer
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PRD
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More Tip
•Respect
•Delivering on your promises
•Be grateful
•Following-up
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Case Study –MellanoxUFM Software
•Network Provisioning Product wasn’t selling
•Product Manager (Tom Thirer, Mellanox) went on an ‘around the world in 80 days’ tour
•Sit down with >10 customers
•Thru Europe and US
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Priceless Input
Vertical A
Vertical B
Vertical C
Monitoring & Root cause analysis
Device Management
Fabric Provisioning
•Result: shift from Provisioning to Monitoring
•Over 100,000 licenses to date and counting
•Couldn’t have done it without that input
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Summary
Direct Customer Relationships -
A Key to Product Manager’s Success