Every PMM team is expected to be more customer centric
..and every PMM team I know has struggled to even find customers to talk to
Even in organizations where PMMs play an active part in running formal VoC or conducting market research, the level of customer intimacy differs from individual to individual
Here is a compilation of ten ways I have seen PMMs can get closer to customers. I have personally used each of these tactics at different companies
Listen to customer calls. Sales calls, CS calls, support calls. Gong and Chorus.ai is your best friend
Be a fly on the wall: There are teams naturally talking to customers. Ask if you can shadow them. Just be a fly on the wall. If you are the one organizing calls, open it up for others to shadow. At one organization i worked at, we had Customer interview ride alongs organized by our wonderful Customer Advocacy team that were open for all to join. It brought everyone - PMMs, PMs, designers, even sales teams - closer to the customers
Support sales - Most materials used by sales (e.g. pitch decks, pricing presentation, external roadmap, case studies etc.) are often developed by PMMs. When launching a new piece of collateral, or an entire sales play - go offer to present it to early customers . Bonus- you will deepen your relationships and develop more credibility with sales.
Support sales engineering - The best PMMs can demo the product anywhere, anytime. If you have a sales engineering/solution architect team, go and support them. Build demos together. Deliver demos together. Watch them dodge curveballs with their selling skills and help them dodge curveballs with your understanding of the product. Bonus: You will truly learn about use cases and jobs to be done
Support CS - My favorite tactic. I personally think CS conversations are just the right altitude for PMMs to add value. They are less sales-y, more focused on value prop/use cases/feature adoption and already benefit from a strong relationship . Go and shadow QBRs. Better, co-lead a couple of QBRs with your CSMs.
Build case studies - If you have a dedicated team developing case studies, go and work with them. Shadow their customer interviews. Accompany them on customer shoots. Help them run the interview, clean up transcripts, write the case study or lead the process end to end. If you don’t have a team like this, this is a great step up opportunity for you. Bonus - A case study bring the best out of product marketers - it is anchored in customer value, it reinforces their usage of the product and it helps you practice your writing skills
Support UX research - If you are a somewhat mature SaaS company, chances are you have a UX research function that is interviewing users. Talk to them. Understand their research roadmap. Brainstorm some questions you’d like answers to, which will help drive user adoption. Bonus - you will learn a lot about the science of conducting user research from these expert researchers
Run message testing studies - Good PMM teams should always be testing their message. Tools like Wynter can help with quantitative studies, but you should always be having longer , qualitative chats. Every time you create a new play, launch a major product, refresh your value prop, run it by 5 to 10 customers. Ask your CSM for intros. You’d be surprised by how helpful your customers can be when it comes to validating your messaging . Bonus - your messaging is ALWAYS going be to better !
Lead customer events- Look around you. Surely your peers are organizing some customer event. Offer to lead the next prospect webinar. Or that wine tasting event your ABM team is organizing. Or that customer advisory board meeting. Or that customer training by your growth CS team ? What about that regional roundtable your sales team is putting together ? Bonus: This is a great way to up-level your public speaking skills
Adopt customers - Rare but possible. Go ahead and ‘adopt’ a few customers. Help their sales and CS teams so much that you have a direct relationship with your customer champion. Be ‘the product’ person for that account. Takes time and usually happens after years of developing credibility with your account teams. Bonus - those relationships will stay with you forever !