The One Skill Every Product Manager Should Master!

My father has an insurance agency which he successfully built on his own. As an insurance agent you need to sell virtual products that no one can actually feel, and if they will never use what they paid for – that’s good. A very hard sell!

I was always curious about what was the key for his business success. Up till this day, I remember the first time I heard him say to me: “Talk less. Listen more. Ask more questions and in time, you’ll learn how to ask the right questions.”

I didn’t really understand what he wanted back then and it took me few years to really understand the true meaning behind these words.

Today, I understand. And I can tell you that having a “ask questions” mindset and mastering the art of asking the right questions are the most important skills for for everyone but especially for Entrepreneurs, CEOs, Product Managers, Sales People and Customer Success!

Why Asking Questions is Crucial for Product & Business Success?

If you are in the business of providing value to other people, you interact with clients/stakeholders, and you still talk more then you listen, stop now! You are missing the point.

There is only one way to understand what your clients/users/employees really want: Listen to them saying it!

And there is only one way to listen to them say it: Ask them!

As we all know, in most cases what you hear at first is not the true need. You’ll need to drill-down and ask the right questions in order to get to the truth. That’s the master skill of asking the right questions.

But you can not master this skill before you have the “asking questions” mindset.

The “Asking Questions” Mindset

I’ve seen many Product Managers, Salespeople, Customer Success, and CEOs talk more than they listen, and trying to “sell” their side to the other instead of asking questions that will lead them to the right solution.

Whatever the conversation is, start practicing asking questions. Teach your brain to detect, in real-time, when you are talking more than you listen and you are not asking enough questions.

What is 'enough questions'?

'Enough questions' is when you get to that “aHa moment” where you feel you understand what the other person’s needs and goals are.

Owning the asking questions mindset requires practice, but once you embed this mindset within you, you’ll inherently see the huge impact it has! Everything you do will become a lot easier. You will no longer think you need to have the perfect answer for everything on the spot, you’ll “ask the way” to the answer.

Remember that the “asking questions” mindset is just the beginning. To truly uncover priceless insights, you will need to learn how to master active listening and ask the right questions at the right time in order to collect insights in less time. We’ll cover it in future posts, but for now, you can follow this simple framework of conducting highly effective customer interviews.

Conclusion

Owning the “asking questions” mindset is a critical part for unlocking the superpower of understanding what people really want. That is asking the right questions at the right time, and actively listening to what is really being said.

Originally published at https://prodacttips.wordpress.com on February 24, 2020.