GTM Monthly - March 2024 Edition

CPOs Shifting from Release Velocity to Sales Velocity 

Product executives have always worked diligently to optimize product delivery and release velocity to create value for customers. Today, however, some CPOs and VPs of product are responding to market conditions and engaging with stakeholders to impact sales velocity.

I had a great conversation with Laura Marino, a seasoned product executive and currently a VP and General Manager at Nubank on the GTM Disrupted podcast about the evolution of the CPO and product executive roles. In this discussion she offered a few practices that can offer support to the company’s go-to-market motion.

• Impact of Market Dynamics on Prioritization:

o  Fluid customer expectations and market conditions wreak havoc on a product roadmap.

o  Have a willingness to pivot rapidly when the conditions justify it. 

• Sales-Led GTM (Go-to-Market) Strategies:

o   Most B2B technology companies rely on a sales-led go-to-market.

o   Adopt a product strategy tightly aligned to business goals and objectives. 

• Transparency in Product Roadmaps:

o   Building trust between product and sales starts with 100% transparency.

o   Setting clear expectations with sales teams.

In no terms should navigating from release effectiveness to sales effectiveness be considered an abdication of the product executives’ job. At the core these ideas represent the need to maintain a balance between short-term tactical goals and the long-term product vision.

In our current environment there is a strong payoff for adopting a stronger business case orientation to help make very tough decisions on where to invest limited resources.

The downward pressure to fund only features that lead to short-term revenue opportunities vs. the desire to fulfill the 4-year product vision. In the current landscape these are extremes.

Successful CPOs are navigating this uncertainty by remaining steadfast to deliver value to customers and impacting key business outcomes, while remaining flexible on the product strategy.

None of these practices are new, many product teams have engrained these habits. Others might need to brush up on how to better engage with their sales counterparts.

What is your experience? Let us know in the comments.

The Customer Onboarding Roadmap: Urgent and Important!

Last year I worked with a mid-market B2B SaaS company in the HCM space to help their product team shift to a more market-facing approach.

A big challenge for this company was the time and effort it took to onboard customers. The weight of this effort sat squarely on the shoulders of the customer success team and a few implementation experts. The product team was empathic to the challenges but were struggling to keep up with feature demands for the core product. As a result, limited onboarding capabilities, while important, lacked the urgency to prioritize above some of the other core features.

I was able to reconnect with Ed Kless, Senior Director of Partner Development and Strategy for Sage Business Solutions on the  GTM Disrupted podcast. He shared some provocative insights encouraging product executives and product team members to rethink the roadmap with an eye toward onboarding.

“Embracing the complete and total productization of onboarding services will have massive impact on accelerating user adoption, driving cross-sell and upsell in a single motion.”

There is a lot of research to support this idea. According to G2 Research, 47% of your buyers expect to see ROI within 6 months. (2023 G2 Software Buyer Behavior Report)

Product leaders must prioritize closing the gaps in the customer onboarding capabilities.

How can product leaders move the needle and take the lead in this shift?

• Moving Off the Solution – guide your team to step back from the tech stack and view the challenge from the POV of a new user.
• Measuring Customer Perceived Value -- require PMs to sit with a cohort of users -- typical users. Conduct a discovery exercise. A small sample size is sufficient.
• Embrace the Change – this should require a complete change in mindset but a different orientation. Focusing the team on adoption, cross sell and upsell has clear near-term and long-term ROI for the company.

I suspect that many product leaders have launched initiatives like this. If you have re-prioritized your user and customer onboarding roadmap, what is your experience? Let us know in the comments.

Leading Product in Times of Uncertainty

I read a fabulous post from the team of Tom Kerwin and John Cutler at “The Beautiful Mess” on leadership and navigating uncertainty. Their post builds out a set of soft skills into a valuable set of questions that could be part of a hiring interview or interview panel. It is amazingly helpful. The post is “TBM 274: How Capable Leaders Navigate Uncertainty and Ambiguity.” Check it out!

I was inspired by the post and thought about the situation many product executives in mid-market technology companies have had to deal with over the past 12 to 24 months.

I see very resolute and enthusiastic professionals struggling to make sense out of their roles dealing with the cliché of “do more with less.”  Many of them must develop aggressive growth plans for the business while reducing resources. They are slashing initiatives on the roadmap while looking for ways to increase the team’s value contribution.

It is a frustrating paradox.

I wondered how the tools from the TBM post could be used to encourage product leaders in their existing roles. How can the CPO or VP of Product guide their teams to emerge stronger and better from the current uncertainty?

Context is everything. Some of what is shared may be applicable and some of it may not work for your situation. I embrace this fact and offer these ideas as tools not solutions.

Power of the Present –

In many organizations there is tremendous pressure to support two things that appear at odds and may be extreme. As a leader you can balance this tension and move you and your team forward if you solve for what you know to be true now.

Patient Divergence –

In our industry jumping into the solutioning stage too early is the default position. In times of certainty or stability this gives us, our teams and our company, the advantage of being first. In times of ambiguity and mixed signals this can be a disaster.

I am aware that waiting too long can be career limiting. Taking time to continue to discover, to explore, and more importantly seeking commitment, can create the momentum needed to surge ahead of your competition or the expectations of stakeholders.

Coherence vs. Alignment:

Too often I observe product executives seeking complete alignment with stakeholders on strategic and tactical initiatives. The energy and effort necessary can be overwhelming. Usually, the alignment is conditional and not robust. Is it a better option to agree with stakeholders on basic conditions and a sequence of steps; each with its own decision criteria to stop, start or continue?

Can you think of other soft skills that product executives might use to continue to thrive in the role?

Let us know in the comments.