Product managers should assume several roles

Product managers should assume several roles

 

"These people do not say hello in advance ." Zhou Yang muttered and walked into the office, with a clear face of dissatisfaction.

"What's wrong, Yang Ge ?" Liang Zi asked with attention when he saw Zhou Yang's face wrong.

"In the morning, the sales department called me and said that there was a customer, the KT company that had been talking with us all the time. This morning, I suddenly called the sales department and said that their BD director had time today, let's ask our product department to send a person to talk about the details of product cooperation."

"Isn't that good? The KT company is too long. The product department started to talk about it when it was not established. It's almost two months and there is no clear answer, isn't it the best to do it today?"

"But it was too sudden. We are outside the Fifth Ring Road in the north. They are at the International Trade Center. This is just half a day. Who will let us go? We have all arranged things to do ." Zhou Yang is obviously dissatisfied with the sudden disruption of KT's work today.

Liangzai smiled and said, "This is not easy to handle. We can send anyone who has at least things ."

As soon as his voice fell, we all turned to him.

As soon as he saw it, he quickly said, "I have many things to do today. You see, there are two documents to be completed and a meeting to attend ......"

"The two documents are about yesterday, and the meeting is about tomorrow. It seems that you are fine today. liangzai, it's hard for you to come over and ask you after a while from the sales department, prepare." Zhou Yang took out a cigarette and said with a smile.

"Let me think about it again. Today I have a lot of things ." Liang Zi wants to argue again, but when he sees that public opinions are settled, he will die and pack his notebook to prepare for work.

"This is a hot day, from this side to the international trade, suffering! I still don't want to wait for the sales department to call it. Let's take the initiative ." After that, I went out with my notebook.

As soon as he left, he smiled in the office.

"In fact, he is also the most suitable. He is most familiar with the product that he cooperates with KT. He will talk about it with sales. Today, there will surely be a result ." Zhou Yang said with confidence.

In the early morning, the product department obviously had less active atmosphere.

After lunch, I was snoring on the desk and suddenly woke up with a scream. I looked up and saw a person in front of me, shouting: "What time are you sleeping? What time are you doing! It turns out that I have something to do with this product department. You have nothing to do with it. You know you are sleeping and xiaojuan is still stealing food there. Liu Yu is here, ah, where did Yang Ge go?"

You don't have to think about it. It must have been Dawn.

I opened my eyes and said to him with dissatisfaction: "What is the time? This is not just one point. I will be back when I come back. It's not just a trip, as if I have done something ."

The bright boy sat down in the chair and put his feet on the table. He proudly said, "bubble, don't believe it. Today, my brother, I have shown my face, the BD director of KT company was stunned and let them know that cooperation with our company is definitely a strong cooperation. By the way, xiaojuan took a bottle of your iced tea and thirsty me !"

Xiao Juan reluctantly took out a bottle of iced tea from the drawer and put it on the table.

"I'm so stingy, I have taken it out. I don't want to send it yet. Isn't it just a bottle of iced tea? Let Yang Ge buy it for you ."

Just as the voice fell, the ice tea came to the head of Liangzi, but xiaojuan threw it over a beautiful parabolic curve.

"Put your leg down !" Just as the bright boy hang his head, Zhou Yang came in and shouted to him very sternly as soon as he saw him.

I don't know if other people have heard it. I heard Zhou Yang say this to Liang Zi, not just because Liang Zi put his legs on the table, but there must be other reasons.

"Liangzai, come in and talk about something !" Zhou Yang entered the small meeting room as he spoke.

Liang zi also felt that something was wrong, so he quickly put down his leg and walked into the meeting room with Zhou Yang.

I, Liu Yu, and Xiao Juan started to work in their own hands as soon as they saw Zhou Yang's situation.

My work station is on the side of the small meeting room. Out of curiosity, I tried to hear what I was talking about, but I thought it was definitely not a good thing.

"What are they talking about ?" Xiaojuan opened her mouth, but asked me with a very low voice. She asked me what I thought I could hear when she saw me close to the glass wall in the meeting room.

Liu Yu also stopped his work and looked at me with expectation.

I shook my head and threw out my tongue. It meant not to count on me. I couldn't hear anything.

We all sighed. Just as we were about to give up eavesdropping, a high voice suddenly came out from the conference room, which was roughly saying, "Do I have to do this? I am a product manager, not a pre-sales support !"

I quickly put my ears close to the wall and wanted to hear what it was, but the silence just now recovered in the conference room. I shook my head with them again and told them that I was completely dead.

After about 20 minutes, the meeting room door opened, and Zhou Yang was in front of the room. After Liang Zi was there, he walked out in turn. Both of them were holding their faces tight. It seems that they had just passed through a fierce battle of lip and tongue.

We did not dare to speak, but watched them go back to their seats.

Zhou Yang took out a cigarette and smoked it.

A box of cigarettes was also taken out of the drawer, and I looked at it. Then I rubbed the cigarette box and threw it into the waste paper basket next to it.

Said Yan, no smoke.

Zhou Yang glanced at him, turned his head to one side, and continued smoking outside the window.

I really can't say that it's just a little shy. I'm not welcome. It's just a little slow. I pretended to be embarrassed. I walked to the work station of Zhou Yang, and then I found a cigarette in the smoke box and lit it, then he returned to his seat and picked it up.

Zhou Yang took the smoke and turned his head back. In an ironic tone, he said to Liang Zi, "it's a good idea to smoke. It's because you have done this and offended the Sales Department. Who would like to cooperate with you in the future ?"

I really don't know what he wants to throw because I have no hair and I don't know what he wants to throw. "If you're angry, you're offended. How can this happen, I don't believe that we have left the sales department to start our work. Then, they asked us to work with them. We did what we should do, but we didn't do it, that's all we have. Is that true?"

Zhou Yang "hey": "Don't let us do it. You messed up things. You can tell them clearly ."

When I heard that they continued to speak, Liu Yu and xiaojuan finally understood that it must be today when we went to the KT company to talk about cooperation. Most of them, No, it should be for sure. Liang Zi didn't do it well.

"What's going on ?" Xiao Juan asked, at this time, she was also appropriate to ask, regardless of the public or private sex, Zhou Yang was determined not to ignore.

"Let him talk about his brilliant achievements !" Although Zhou Yang is not as angry as he was just now, he is still not so angry with him.

"Let's just say what you are afraid of. I am also doing my best. What else can I do ." Liangzai poses a frame where dead pigs are not afraid of boiling water.

"Didn't we go to kt to talk about product cooperation with the sales department today? We arrived at KT, which was about 10 o'clock. Unfortunately, their director was holding a temporary meeting, then let's discuss it. Now, let's wait. So we waited around 11 o'clock, and the KT company did have strength. After all, it was a foreign company and a top 500 company ......"

"Let's talk nonsense about how you talk to the other director ." As soon as Zhou Yang heard that he was useless, he reminded him to immediately start the topic.

"Well, at three o'clock P.M., we talked about the cooperation. He said that the company suddenly wanted to let him go on a business trip. The plane at had to talk for at most one hour. I thought, now, just hurry up, So I directly communicated about the details of the product. Of course, it was mainly for me. So I decided to introduce the product from the technical architecture to the design idea, from module composition to development specifications, I made it clear to him. Then we will be back at. That's the case!"

I wonder, this is nothing. Even if there are some problems, Zhou Yang won't make such a fire.

"That's all. Well, why did the sales department call me and say there is no hope for this cooperation ?"

Liangzai spread his hand and said with Grievance: "Where do I know? Maybe the BD director has taken the wrong medicine !"

"Well, do you know what KT says? People talk about product cooperation and how to send a technician. We hope to hear more details about the product business model, not technical details, people also asked you a few questions about the cooperation model. You always say something about the technical level. They also said that if there is another time, we hope that we can send a product manager who really understands the product and talks about it. Don't assign a product manager who only understands the technology and does not solve the problem!"

"What is that really ?" Liang Zi does not believe it, and naturally does not feel happy.

"What do you say ?"

Liang Zi stood up from his chair: "nnd, what can he say about me? I just can't, or he doesn't have to say what he is ......"

"Stop, stop, let's not talk about what people say first, let's talk about you. What do you think through this incident ?"

"Sorry, don't arrange me for such a thing in the future, so you don't have to be ashamed of the product department !" Liang is still worried about the evaluation given by KT.

Zhou Yang snorted: "It's useless to say less. There will be more such things in the future, and there will be product managers who will not deal with them? In the future, do not say it is a partner. You have to exercise well with customers and dealers !"

"By the way, I am not a pre-sales or after-sales engineer, as ?"

"Well, don't forget that the product manager has many relationships to support the work of various business departments. How can we deal with these relationships? In a word, product managers must learn to assume multiple roles. It's not just external relations, but also internal relations. How can you do a good job in product management if you have a bad relationship ?"

"Let's talk about it. How can I handle the relationship well ?" Liang Zi seems to have forgotten that he is wearing a sin now and began to raise the bar.

"Let's talk about today's events. You talk to the BD director. You know, BD doesn't understand technology, they are mainly concerned about how well the cooperation model and the commercial compatibility of their respective products are. How are you doing? Will they be interested in the product architecture and technology?"

"What do you say about me ?"

"At this time, you should regard yourself as a sales person who provides value-added services for their products and ask them to accept your products, the first thing you need to do is to let them know what benefits they can get through cooperation with us, whether it's a direct economic benefit or a brand benefit, in this way, it is possible to impress them. That is to say, in this case, you should assume the role of a salesperson who sells your own products ."

"That's it ?" Obviously, liangzai is somewhat disdainful.

"Let me talk about one of my experiences ." Liu Yu said, "I remember that when I was just a product Assistant, one of the products I participated in was about to go public, because they were a product that the company attached great importance to. Therefore, I convened the main sales staff of each branch to prepare for a new product sales training conference for the whole company. This work was handed over to me. At that time, I wrote a lot of comprehensive information about the products, I have made about 40 million PPT pages. After the training, what do you think about the sales? They said that there are actually five PPT pages. We only care about who the product is to be sold to. What are the characteristics of the product? What is better than the competitors? What will the target customers ask, how we respond, how others think about the product, and what features the product has, they don't care at all."

Speaking of this, Liu Yu sighed: "This makes me know that a good product manager must be a good product training instructor, because you know products, but I don't necessarily understand what the audience really wants. Therefore, I later read a lot of information about how to train the sales team. I think the product manager is in the company, I also want to assume the role of an excellent trainer. Otherwise, my colleagues in the sales department cannot even figure out your products. How can I sell them?"

"Liu Yu said that, on the one hand, I followed LIU Yu's experience to talk about my feelings ." Since the public review becomes a seminar, I can't continue to pretend to be a sponsor.

"Know what different teams are interested in your product and then pass the information to them in a targeted manner. That's right. This requires the product manager to assume the role of a product trainer, in fact, in this process, I think the product manager should first assume the role of a missionary."

They all looked at me with questions.

"I mean, who is the missionary? There is no doubt that the missionary is steadfast in his belief in his own ideals and hopes to become a universal sentient beings who will save lives. In fact, do our product managers have such an ideal? How can you persuade your company to invest resources to make this product? On the one hand, you need to have enough data and analysis for support, on the other hand, it may be more important, that is, you must firmly believe that your product is truly valuable, is truly able to bring the gospel to the company, of course, this confidence and belief is built on the first point, otherwise it will become a fantasy."

I stopped for a moment, and then asked Zhou Yang for a cigarette. Liang looked at me with surprise.

"What do you look at? I don't like you, Old smoke, I smoke to help bring up the atmosphere ." I spoke as I smoked.

"Yang Ge, give me another one, and I will share the atmosphere together ." It's really him, and I'm not ashamed to go to the extreme.

"Well, even if the company launched your product, it does not mean that everyone in your product team thinks that your ideas are valuable. They will certainly have different understandings and understandings, what should I do? If you do not unify the team's ideas on the target, the next work will certainly be difficult. Therefore, at this time, as a product manager, you must be like a missionary who is determined by his own philosophy, persistently pass on their ideas to everyone. In fact, this is a kind of confidence, to let them know what they are doing, will be rewarded in the future market. Therefore, I think the product manager should also assume the role of a missionary in the company ."

"Not only within the company, but also outside the company. For example, if you talk to the BD director today, you can't say anything ugly about the issue, people naturally think that you do not have a clear understanding of your products, and you do not have any confidence. How can you cooperate with us?" Zhou Yang added.

"In addition, the product manager also plays a dual-sided role ." Liu Yu continued.

"What are double-sided roles? Two skins face? Or yin and yang people ?" Obviously, liangzai has forgotten everything that happened just now, and the words are not marginal.

Liu Yu smiled and said, "No, this is determined by the product manager's working relationship. In short, in the company, the product manager deals the most with R & D and marketing departments, the product manager should assume a multi-language simultaneous translation role. For example, we should convert the market language into product specifications that can be defined. Similarly, we also need to convert our R & D Technical languages into product selling points that can be defined in the market. According to foreign statements, we need to know how to convert between feature and function, because the market is concerned with feature, and R & D is concerned with function."

"I see !" Liangzi also came up with a foreign language. "What you mean is that we need to convert the market language into the language that can be used for development, it is also necessary to convert the R & D Technical language into a language that can be promoted in the market."

Liu Yu nodded: "That's what it means !"

Liang Zi shook his head: "How do I think what you say is a bit like talking to people? What do you mean by talking to others ?"

"LIU Yu simply means that the product manager is a technician for marketing personnel and a marketing personnel, the product manager should assume the role of such a business communicator."

"Ah, I don't know. I said, no matter you, I won't do that kind of thing !" Look at the hats on the launch of the above outline, even two sides and three knives are coming out.

"Okay, you are also beautiful. Today's event is over to you, but it's not over yet for our product department. I have to talk to Lao Wang about it later, see how it can be recovered." Zhou Yang said, taking out a loaf of bread from the drawer, three ham sausages, and throwing it to liangzai, "Hurry up, eat it, and discuss it with me in the sales department ."

Looking at the bread and ham, the eyes suddenly become red, I thought, as?

"Yang Ge, thank you, but can I give you a suggestion ?"

"What ?"

"Can I buy some pure meat sausage for my brother? This sausage has too much starch to eat !"

Reverse.

"Yang Ge, you wake up, you wake up! I'm not picking it !"

 

Apao say:

Product managers are naturally unable to fight with one role.

This is determined by the people and work involved in the product manager.

For our superiors, we should use objective and scientific basis to persuade them to support our ideas. For our own level, we should use practical goals to convince them of our ideals, for our subordinates, we should make clear and clear plans for them to achieve our ideals. For our customers, we need to make them believe that we really want them to think.

In short, at this time, the product manager is a missionary who uses his own wisdom, perseverance, and language to communicate with everyone related to our ideals.

We also need to face various requests or questions from our colleagues in various business departments. Our marketing colleagues will ask us to answer questions about whether our products can actually solve the customer's problems, technical colleagues will ask us to answer questions about whether this product is the most suitable way to achieve it. sales colleagues will ask us to answer whether this product is really helpful to achieve the company's profit targets ......

In short, at this time, the product manager is a trainer, use the objective basis, detailed description, and firm confidence obtained from your own analysis to let partners in each product team understand what our product goals are.

We also need to face the problem of how to ensure that the market and R & D can be consistent with the target. The market is more concerned with "what we want to do", and R & D is more concerned with "How can we do well ", as a product manager, you have to communicate with them in two different languages based on the same goal.

In short, at this time, the product manager is a simultaneous interpreter, which should let the market understand how R & D is done, And let R & D know what the market is thinking.

In fact, we have to deal with many and many situations in our actual work. To better cope with various situations and people, we have to remain unchanged, what changes are the reality. What remains unchanged is that we should always remember that the corresponding roles must be used to cope with the situation.

 

This article is from yes! Product Manager.

Book details: http://blog.csdn.net/broadview2006/article/details/6873929