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In crowded markets with tight competition.
We obsess over the deals we lost.
But, how do you really drive differentiation as a PMM?
Analyzing losses and conducting loss interviews will help you learn just that — why you lost.
But that mainly helps you you fill gaps between your product and the competition. Building features that put you at parity.
“We lost because the we didn’t have feature X. We need to build feature X.”
This puts the competition in the driver seat. You’ll never differentiate. You’ll always be following.
I’m not saying this analysis isn’t important. Some gaps do need to be filled. And loss analysis will help you uncover confusion and weaknesses in your positioning and messaging, sales approach, value proposition, etc.
But if you want to differentiate, you need to be interviewing the customers that CHOOSE YOU over the competition.
Understand their specific job to be done and why they believe your products and services are stronger than the competition. Why it’s a better fit for them.
Work closely with those customers and make them successful. Build your roadmap to better meet their specific needs.
That’s one way to create space between you and the competition.
How you become the leader - not the follower.
What do you think?