One-Off Features: The Price of Committing Too Often
If you’re a software company, committing to one-off features just to win a single deal has been a long-standing business practice. Making a habit of it, and worse yet, getting good at it, is the equivalent of throwing your company into a death spiral then perfecting your spin. Here’s why. Every time you commit development resources to a one-off project, you’re simultaneously mortgaging another piece of your future and further handicapping your ability to compete in your most lucrative markets. The Playbook: […]
Overcoming Product Demo Objections
Product demo objections are a staple of the sales process in the B2B software business. Your competitor’s products have just as many or more deficiencies than yours. Don’t get too worked up over it. Successful demos require that you master the art of making certain product deficiencies seem trivial in the grand scheme of the overall solution. How do you do it? By asking the right questions early in the sales cycle. The Playbook: […]
Using White Papers to Generate More Quality Leads
To this day, white papers are still largely viewed as more educational than propaganda. For all the white papers produced, many B2B organizations fail to get the maximum marketing value for their efforts. The Playbook:
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Strategic and Tactical Product Management – A Bad Idea
There are two issues with the labels of strategic and tactical product management:
- The tactical label lacks the glamour of a strategist, not to mention all the hard work that goes with it.
- Neither label is conducive to market/customer focus.
The Playbook:
Removing Speed Bumps in Your Product Planning Process
Opinions are like noses. Everybody has one when it comes to your product planning process. Just like noses, no two opinions are alike, making it difficult to garner broad support for any product plan. The speed bumps pop up every time you’re asked for more information leading up to the approval process. The Playbook: […]
Answering the “Product Vision” Questions With Something…Visionary
“What’s on our strategic roadmap?” “What’s our product vision?” If you’re the head of products or strategy in a B2B organization, you’re constantly fielding the “product vision and strategic roadmap” questions. A different approach to answering these questions will help you articulate a vision that energizes everyone and simplifies the execution of your product, marketing and sales plans. The Playbook: […]
