While sales and product development are both crucial to the success of a company, it’s important for these two departments to operate independently of one another. Might sound Barney basic, but companies often make the mistake of allowing sales alone to lead engineering, resulting in some undesirable consequences.
Shiny Object Syndrome
Sales folks are scrappy by nature – adding on whatever bait they need to reel in the big fish. Understandable. And companies often benefit from that go get ‘em attitude. Where things start to go south is when sales is allowed to exert sometimes “shiny object” influence over engineering when that feature or enhancement request isn’t measured against real world target market data. All hands on deck in engineering to support a “one-off” to get the “big sale” that may never come will ultimately cost the company money. Time, resources and opportunity cost all take big hits with this approach.
Short Sighted Shenanigans
Sales teams are often focused on closing deals and making short-term gains instead of thinking about the long-term success of the product. Without a measured approach with product development, this invariably leads – you already know it – to a product that is not fully developed or doesn’t align with the needs of the customer and target markets.
This ham-handed approach is going to lead to another problem – a lack of balance in the product’s feature set. Sales teams may push for features that are not essential for the product’s success, and that can lead to a bloated, inefficient, cluttered, less user-friendly product and unhappy customers. Lions, tigers and bears. Oh my.
Product Management to the Rescue
OK, we get it. When sales is allowed to steer product development, it can lead to a number of negative consequences for the company. But what’s the remedy? A big ol’ dose of Product Management. When done right, product management acts as not only the gatekeeper to the roadmap and engineering resources, but also as the customer advocate, as well as ensuring all stakeholders are heard – including sales.
Map it Out
Product management is a critical component to the overall health and success of a company, ultimately ensuring that the products and offerings developed are driven by the needs of the customer, the target markets and the overall goals of the company.
– The Trident Team