Talk to your customers, for heaven’s sake!

Remember, you as a Product Manager are building products for your customers, not yourself. Their needs, not internal assumptions, should guide your decisions. Don’t let the walls of your office limit your perspective. The customer’s reality might not match your assumptions. Actively seek their input.

I‘d love for you to watch this video I created on building customer-centricity for product managers, both aspiring and experienced.

Once upon a customer with Sirisha Dinavahi (youtube.com)

Direct access to customers is crucial for product managers (PMs). Why? Here’s the breakdown:

• Filtered Requirements: Upper management directives and PM-conceived features can get misinterpreted along the way.
• Missing the Mark: Features built without customer input often miss the target, leading to wasted effort.

The solution? Regular customer conversations. Talking directly to customers allows PMs to:

• Unfiltered Needs: Gain an unfiltered understanding of customer needs and priorities.
• Improved Products: Develop products that truly resonate with the customer base.

By prioritizing customer conversations, PMs can ensure they’re building the right products for the right reasons.

Get management buy-in for customer interviews. No manager will deny the critical role of qualitative customer feedback in product management. While quantitative data from analytics is valuable, it can’t replace the rich insights gained from direct conversations with real users.

However, be prepared for ambitious requests. When you talk to customers, they might ask for a wide range of features or functionality. It’s your job to manage expectations and prioritize based on feasibility and business impact.

Carefully analyze customer feedback and balance it with your analytical insights before prioritizing it for the backlog or implementation.

Here’s how to achieve this with a SMART goal:

• Specific: Define the number of customer interviews you will conduct throughout the year.
• Measurable: Track your progress towards the target number of interviews.
• Achievable: Set a realistic number of interviews based on your resources and schedule.
• Relevant: Align your customer interviews with specific product goals or areas for improvement.
• Time-bound: Allocate a specific timeframe within your annual goals for conducting these interviews.

By setting a SMART goal for customer conversations, you can:

• Gather valuable insights: Gain a deeper understanding of customer needs and pain points.
• Spark innovation: Use customer feedback to generate new feature ideas and product improvements.
• Drive results: Develop products that truly resonate with your target audience.

Thanks for reading!

Ciao!