4 Ideas to Help Build Partnerships Between Product and Sales Teams
We often see friction between teams, stakeholders, and departments in product and tech—sales and product is one area where we see friction. The product team gets frustrated, because the sales team comes to them with feature requests, but the product team wants autonomy—they want to focus on solving problems and delivering value. The feature that’s being requested might not be the right solution, or it might not be the right problem to solve.
The sales team can be product and design’s best ally though—they are out in the field talking to customers every day. If product and design can align and partner with sales, we can start to shift conversations from being focused on solutions and feature requests to being brought in when there are opportunities and problems to solve, and together the teams can evaluate problems and identify the right solutions for those problems.
Here are 4 ideas that can help build a partnership and shift conversations:
1. Talk to the sales team and build relationships
Better understand the sales process and strategy—what is the process? Learn how the sales team wins deals. What are your company/product’s value proposition and key differentiators? What are the biggest barriers when it comes to winning deals? What kind of language does the sales team use when talking to customers—what is their elevator pitch? The sales team not only has deep product and customer knowledge, but they have market and industry knowledge.
2. Align on the problem
When you get solution or feature requests, take a step back to understand and align on the problem together—before jumping into a solution. This takes practice, because people are very solution oriented. Align on what success would look like if you were to solve the problem—what are people doing differently if you solve the problem? What kind of behavior changes might you see? What are the user/customer benefits? What are the business outcomes?
3. Identify the unknowns together to de-risk ideas
Brainstorm questions and assumptions together with a cross-functional team and identify ways to resolve the highest-risk, most uncertain questions and assumptions. (See our strategic testing post to help with this step!)
4. Talk to customers
Ask the sales team to make warm intros to customers who are experiencing this problem. Especially if you’re in the B2B space or a highly regulated industry like healthcare or finance where it can be challenging to talk to customers. This helps keep the sales team looped in, helps the product team identify customers with this problem, and helps everyone better understand the needs, workflows, behaviors, and challenges your customers are facing.
A partnership between sales, product, and design helps teams align on problems, better understand customer needs and pain points, and build trust. This will help identify the right problems to solve and align on the right solutions together. Shifting conversations will help focus on outcomes that lead to more meaningful results for our customers and business.
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