What To Do When You Hit a Wall in Product Management?
In the B2B space, why can a product manager nail the customer’s need, solve the market problem in a differentiated way, have compelling results that make the case, and still hit a wall? Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with the product and everything with your customer. And while I can say there is no magical formula to eliminate the wall, there are ways to sidestep it.
Now for some inspiration… Play the Rocky theme song.
“Brick walls are there for a reason. Brick walls are not there to keep us out. Brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop other people.”
- Randy Pausch
A great quote. Walls are there to stop other people, not you.
So why do walls that block our wonderful products exist in the first place?
Brick walls are corporate defenses or, as a former client liked to say, corporate antibodies. New products require change, and change is difficult for most companies. Companies engineer systems and processes to prevent unnecessary change. Patterns become the operating rhythms giving employees comfort. And here you come, great product in hand, looking to change the system, reboot the rhythms, and force people to learn new things.
Established patterns and rhythms can cause the best products to hit brick walls — companies and employees like stability.
Ok, so what do I do? How do I convince them? How do I create a new operating rhythm?
Unless you have time for a protracted war, you don’t.
Let it sink in for a second. It’s hard to win a war for new territory where the trenches are dug, significantly superior defenses are in place, you are at an information disadvantage, and the other side has well-trained soldiers that outnumber you.
So what’s the answer then? Surrender?
No. The answer is to avoid war altogether, convince the company you are an ally, and build a joint plan to help them take new territory. You need to make your customer the hero and help them take market share without disrupting the defense and plans they have in place.
Wars. Heroes. Allies. That’s all great, but what does that mean for me as a product manager?
It’s simple, become their guide, their ally, and don’t try and disrupt what they are doing. There is a science to getting products in the hands of B2B customers and critical strategies to execute.
As a product leader who has consulted with, worked for, and sold products to large companies my entire career, it comes down to three essential actions tied to a feeling you need to evoke. And remember, even if you have sold the senior executive, their team still needs to become allies in the deployment of your product.
First — Minimize or, best yet, eliminate the change needed.
Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer. Changes cost money — system changes, workflow changes, training, etc. As the product manager, these are costs hidden from you and chip away at your value prop.
They are also costs that most organizations have a hard time absorbing to try something new. What if instead of asking your customer to change, you changed your product, so it was net-zero or neutral from a total implementation cost.
You could then offer a zero implementation cost guarantee. Now that would be a differentiator. It would also remove the hang-ups in decision-making on the client side. The hand wringing around the cost and budget needed to implement. Zero implementation cost removes many objections as to why not or why not now.
Second — Acknowledge friction points and plan ahead.
Even with net-zero implementation, there will be friction points. You will have detractors you need to convince. Build a relationship map and determine whom you need to spend time with.
There will be other departments impacted who are downstream from your product. Chat with them. Understand the impact. Eliminate or minimize the challenges they face.
Ultimately, I find it helpful to show a blueprint covering all areas/departments and the net-zero impact. Partner with your customer on the blueprint development and, in the process, identify key stakeholders.
Third — Bring people along.
No one likes to be the last to know. It would be best to communicate often, intentionally, and clearly to all stakeholders and users. Get them engaged, plan events, give talks, and present at townhalls. Do whatever it takes to bring them along. This is how you create allies and ensure the smooth deployment of your products. You need to create a feeling of being part of the change instead of the change happening to you.
Above all else, don’t use the crutch that companies cannot get out of their own way. That’s an excuse. Instead, embrace the fact and plan to manage around it, sidestepping the brick wall. Ask, what is the way around as opposed to through the wall?
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