I get it, we don’t want #productmarketing to get flooded with last-minute requests from sales.
And you don’t want ad hoc requests to become the norm.
But when an important deal is on the line, and a rep needs help…
You get in there and you help close the deal.
I come from companies whose go-to-market motions are mostly sales-led.
So for me, supporting the sales team has been one of the clearest ways to align my work with revenue.
But the relationship between sales and PMM can be a complicated one
Sales may not understand what product marketing does
PMM may feel like sales is difficult to work with or doesn’t respect their time
Luckily, you can figure these problems out.
And it starts by building strong relationships with sales PEOPLE.
Not the sales team, but individual sales reps.
After all, the thought of influencing a whole sales team can be scary.
But influencing individual sales reps is much easier.
And like tossing rocks into the river, you often find that a bridge soon appears to the other side.
What’s one way to do that?
Deal support.
It may take different forms, like strategizing on a deal, joining a sales call, providing messaging around a competitor, or creating a piece of content.
Would you believe it — every time I’ve worked with a rep on a deal, our relationship has gotten better.
You become more of a team than a service center.
And at the very least, you know that the messaging, slides, content, etc. you created is going to be used tomorrow to hopefully bring in revenue.
In a world where 99% (exaggerating) of content goes unused, that’s pretty sweet.
Of course, you can’t spend your days waiting around to respond to ad hoc requests.
You just wouldn’t get anything done.
Heck, I create systems to help PMMs avoid this very thing.
BUT, sometimes, responding to that last-minute request can help you build a better relationship with sales and directly impact revenue.
Which we could all use a little more of right now.
#enablement #salesenablement