1. Terry Mosbaugh

2. Terry Mosbaugh

3. Value-Driven Product Management
WHAT IS IT?
6-Step Process to Drive Successful
Business Growth
 Product Lines
 Small Businesses
 Start-ups
$$

4. Value-Driven Product Management
Provides thought leadership by bringing
customer and market expertise to the strategic
planning process
Categorizes strategy implementation to better
manage details and apply best practices
Aligns the product team around a strategic vision
to drive execution towards:
Building Products & Services
Customers Want !!

5. Value-Driven Product Management
 Gives market insights
 Don’t be tricked into focusing only on major customer unique needs
 Drives alignment between executives and product
management team
 Aligns business strategy with product strategy
 Communicates the strategic vision to internal stake
holders
(i.e. Marketing, Sales, Product Development, Finance, Operations, Legal)
 Provides market feedback to help adapt and
improve along the way

6. Value-Driven Product Management
6 Steps to VDPM:
1. Voice of the Customer [VOC] Assessment
2. Product Profile SWOT Analysis
3. Product Portfolio vs. VOC Gap Strategy
4. Order Fulfillment Strategy
5. Go-To-Market Strategy
6. Infrastructure Review
Apply “Best Practices” within each step

7. Value-Driven Product Management
1.) Voice of the Customer (VOC) Assessment
- Ask lots of open-ended questions then “Listen”
- Utilize multiple channels for collecting VOC
- Summarize details in a MRD (Market Requirement Document)
 Who are your target customers ?
- Influencers, End-Users, Buyers
- Enterprise, SMB, SOHO, Consumer
 What do they do? What do their customers do?
 What are their “problems, needs, and pains”?
- True requirements may not be obvious at the start
- They mostly emerge during customer interactions
 What VALUE it is to them to address needs and /or eliminate pains?

8. Value-Driven Product Management
1.) Voice of the Customer [VOC] Assessment (Cont.)
 What is the overall size of the market opportunity?
 Why are customers buying existing products / technology?
 What was their fundamental needs? How did you address their
needs?
 What was their alternative solutions?
 What was their ROI perception?
 Did your products meet, exceed, fall short of customer’s
expectations?
 What prospects did you forecast to purchase products but did not?
 Why?
objections, barriers, competitive solution
 What is your competition [direct and indirect]?
 Do you have a differentiator over competition? Why now?
 What are the major roadblocks to you growing faster? Why?

9. Value-Driven Product Management
2.) Product Profile SWOT Analysis
SWOT = Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
 What do you have today ?
 Is it a solution or a product ?
 Does it offer
“Value”
to your customers ?
 How does it compare to competition ?
 Is the product portfolio sustainable (roadmap strategy) ?
 Do you have IP (patents or trade secrets) ?

10. Value-Driven Product Management
3.) Product Portfolio vs. VOC Gap Strategy
Options to Fill Gaps:





Repackage what you have
Private brand labeling
Create custom product extensions
Develop new products / services
M & A strategy

11. Value-Driven Product Management
3.) Product Portfolio vs. VOC Gap Strategy (Cont.)
 Regular evaluation of the portfolio and development pipeline to
assign resource priority (what offers the best ROI)
 Invest in product development technologies that improve the agility
and speed of the engineering portion of the product development
lifecycle
 Product Management is key to bridging communications between
Voice of the Customer and Product Development teams
Apply ‘Best Practices’
o LEAN - PD
o Agile Development Methodology

12. Value-Driven Product Management
4.) Order Fulfillment Strategy
 Manufacture Internally
 Outsource to Contract Manufacturer / ODM
 Private Label
 All of the Above
What is your Vendor, Logistics and Supply Chain Support
Strategy?

13. Value-Driven Product Management
5.) Go-To-Market Strategy
 Product [Packaging, MOQ’s, Vertical’s]
 Price [Standard, Tiered, Disty, eBusiness)]
 Promotion [Social Media, eMarketing, Lead Gen, PR]
 Placement [Sales Channels]
 Position = “Targeted Value-Add Solutioning”

14. Value-Driven Product Management
5.) Go-To-Market Strategy (Cont.)
Targeted Value Add Solutioning (Step 1)
1. Promote “Value” not Features / Benefits
 Customers do not buy product features nor benefits
 Focus sales enablement and marketing tools around the
value features and benefits bring to addressing identified
customer’s needs or pains

15. Value Driven Product Management
5.) Go-To-Market Strategy (Cont.)
Targeted Value Add Solutioning (Step 2)
2. Develop “Solutions” not Products
 Solutions can be a combination of products, services,
messaging, and operational best practices
 Solutions drive differentiating value resulting in greater
revenue and higher margins
 Solutions have less competitive pressures

16. Targeted Value-Add Solutioning
Targeted Value Add Solutioning (Step 2)
2. Develop “Solutions” not Products (cont.)
 Four Samples of Solutions are:
 Stand Alone: a product and/or service combined with Best-of-Class
Customer Service
 Vertical Market/Niche Market Specific: a product wrapped in value-add
messaging crafted for specific users
 Bundle: a combination of existing discrete products, services, and
operational best practices into a solution possibly with promotional
package pricing
 Integrated Solution: an offering that integrates multiple components
such as products, services, processes, intellectual property, and pricing
that delivers value beyond which each individual component could
provide on its own

17. Value-Driven Product Management
5.) Go-To-Market Strategy (Cont.)
Targeted Value Add Solutioning (Step 3)
3. Identify “Targeted Customer Needs”
 Be the expert on "Targeted Customer Needs" and how your
products are used to address the needs
 In addition to existing customers be sure to evaluate the
needs of new prospects, vertical marketing teams, sales
engineers, and channel partners (MSP, VAR, SI, Dealers)
 Focusing only on major customer unique needs can be
dangerous

18. Value-Driven Product Management
5.) Go-To-Market Strategy (Cont.)
Targeted Value Add Solutioning (Step 3)
3. Identify “Targeted Customer Needs” (Cont.)
 Influencers, Users and Buyers all have different needs
 Enterprise customers have different needs than SMB, SOHO
or Consumer
 Specific Vertical Markets have unique different needs
 Hunter sales people have different needs than Farmer sales
people

19. Value-Driven Product Management
5.) Go-To-Market Strategy (Cont.)
Targeted Value Add Solutioning (Step 3)
3. Identify “Targeted Customer Needs” (Cont.)
 Prioritize Target Customers
 “Execute” on GTM strategy

20. Value-Driven Product Management
6.) Infrastructure Review
 What infrastructure is required to support Steps 1 through 5?
 Create Org Chart with boxes of functionality
 Assess existing personnel / support groups
 Assign personnel / groups to best functionality
 Recruit / Hire / Train key performers – Fill function gaps
 Develop KPI metrics reporting dashboards
 Lead, Manage, Mentor and Motivate team(s)
Communicate
Communicate
Communicate

21. Value-Driven Product Management
VDPM Process
 Generates:
 Business Strategy
 Product Line Strategy
 Product Roadmap
 Gains Stakeholders Agreement
 Creates Milestones and Budget Allocations
 Set Target Dates to Achieve
 Can Monitor Budgets Status
 Monitors Progress via KPI dashboards
 Adjust Strategy [Pivot] as needed
 Be Flexible to Market & Customers Changes
 Anticipate vs. React
DIFFERENTIATION ISN’T ENOUGH

YOU HAVE TO BE BETTER

22. Value-Driven Product Management
Jim Brown
VP - Global Product Innovation and Engineering
Aberdeen Group

23. Value-Driven Product Management
WHAT IS IT?
6-Step Process to Drive Successful
Business Growth
 Product Lines
 Small Businesses
 Start-ups
$$

24. THANK You
ThankYOU
Terry P. Mosbaugh
terry.mosbaugh@gmail.com