Product marketers, and I mean by that product managers or product marketing managers, will tell you that most of the collateral they produce to support the sales force is underused or simply ignored. Product marketers looking at their marketing portal metrics know that most of their documents, brochures, data sheets or presentations are seldom downloaded.

On the other hand, the sales force argues that they can hardly use the material provided because the value proposition is too vague to truly apply to the unique needs of each customer, or that the presentations are long on gobbeldy-gook and short on details. Some formats such as data sheets or white papers may be more popular than presentations, flash demos or ROI analysis, but overall, account managers are usually dissatisfied with the material provided.

I say that product marketers have the duty to fully satisfy the sales force because, at the end of the day, it is the account manager who has the biggest opportunity to properly position the product with the customer. And these product marketers must do so by continuously optimizing their product launch around the company sales cycle process. Continue reading this post »