Get into flow with Enablement

“Keep your friends close, and your enablement team closer” - Thomas Parke D’Invilliers Enablement teams are critical partners to product marketers. Great enablement increases your impact on the business.Strong relationships with enablement will make you a better PMM. PMM & Enablement In FlowI’ve been lucky to work with some terrific enablement folks. PMMs bring expertise in the … Continue reading Get into flow with Enablement →

Use Titles & Headlines to Get Your Way

First Impression RulesI could have called this post “Overview of slide titles and headlines”Ugh. Titles and headlines are precious, because they are: The first thing people see An opportunity to make the audience think or do something A chance to hook their emotions Tell Me What to Think or DoThe best presentation titles and slide … Continue reading Use Titles & Headlines to Get Your Way →

Design a Great PMM Team

PMM leaders thrive when they lead a high-impact, innovative, and happy team. Everything’s clicking.Everyone is doing great stuff.The company sees it and calls it out. I was on teams like that 5 times in 21 years as an employee.In 7 years of coaching, I’ve seen it another 2 times. It’s rare. Each high-performing team had great … Continue reading Design a Great PMM Team →

3 Critical Thinking Behaviors for PMMs

My best CEO taught me that a lot of product marketing’s value is influence on company decisions. To that end, she taught me (and demanded) 3 critical thinking behaviors. Why Critical Thinking Matters to Product MarketersPMMs influence decisions with lots of people involved, and lots of ambiguity.Our job is to drive good discussions around those … Continue reading 3 Critical Thinking Behaviors for PMMs →

Growth Signals

Last week, a PMM made me smile from ear to ear. We’ve been working on impact using emotion and point of view. Our first work – a year ago – was on a presentation to the CEO & exec team. She’d prepared 17 well-reasoned, objective, detailed slides.All facts, no emotions, no point of view. We … Continue reading Growth Signals →

Put Social Conflict to Work

When we hear the word ‘conflict’ we think of wars and attacks.We think of loud verbal arguments.But assault and loud arguments are just extreme types of conflict.Those are counter-productive at work.Don’t do them. But there is a productive type of conflict: social conflict.Social conflict helps groups of humans perform better. Embrace social conflict:Ask for advice or help.Ask … Continue reading Put Social Conflict to Work →

Leadership & Behavioral Alloys

Recently, I’ve spent an unusual amount of time interviewing candidates for CMO and VP of product marketing roles. Beyond my standard approach to interviewing PMMs, when I interview people for leadership roles, I look for specific combinations of behaviors – what I call behavioral alloys. Curiosity & thoughtfulnessPeople motivated by curiosity outperform those motivated by … Continue reading Leadership & Behavioral Alloys →

Get Your Way without Being an Asshole: 5 Good Behaviors & 5 Bad Ones

The PMMs I coach want to grow their impact on the business, and they have ideas that they want to get their way on – but most of them say they're worried about being perceived as assholes. Getting Your Way vs. Being an Asshole Getting your way requires you to lead & get support from … Continue reading Get Your Way without Being an Asshole: 5 Good Behaviors & 5 Bad Ones →

Build an ROI Calculator in 6 Steps

Why an ROI Calculator A return on investment (ROI) calculator is a great way to land your differentiation and value with customers. In a sales cycle, an ROI calculator lets your sales people equip your champion at the prospect with a business case to get budget & overcome objections. Plus every element of an ROI … Continue reading Build an ROI Calculator in 6 Steps →

A Foundation for Great Executive Presentations

Want to get better? Up your game on presenting to executives. Because your work will achieve *way* more, with executive support. And your work & impact will improve with good executive direction. Plus you’ll get: Faster decisions & clearer feedback Better executive relationships & career advancement Shorter & fewer meetings In this post I'll cover the … Continue reading A Foundation for Great Executive Presentations →