Unlocking Deep Customer Insights

This is an early excerpt from a book I am working on that I plan to call "Product Snacks". It will be a concise collection of chapters, each offering practical and accessible advice for product managers and designed to be a desk-side companion, providing quick, digestible tips to guide and inspire when you're seeking clarity or a fresh perspective. I’d love ANY and ALL feedback and if you’d like to collab, let’s chat!

One of the most underserved areas in product development is the acquisition of deep customer insights. Fortunately, if you have a product on the market and at least one person dedicated to customer success and sales, you already have a wealth of insight opportunities waiting to be tapped.

Building Strategic Partnerships

Your first task is to align with your customer success (CS) and sales teams. If you have dedicated individuals, work closely with them. If you have teams, collaborate with their leaders to generate buy-in without disrupting their workflows. Emphasize that you seek to partner with them to generate deep customer insights, valuing their work and their direct exposure to both customers and prospects. This partnership should be mutually beneficial, not one-sided. The insights you generate together should enhance both the customer experience and their own by making it easier to support or sell to customers. These insights will solve numerous problems for three major stakeholders: customers, sales, and CS teams. Extra points if you can align this work to improve their key performance indicators (KPIs) as well.

Implementing an Efficient System

Once you have buy-in, develop a system for collecting feedback. This system should be easy to implement and follow a regular, understandable cadence. Align this system with your company's broader planning cycles if possible, so you can bring valuable insights to planning sessions. Minimize friction for CS and sales teams, as well as for yourself.

A crucial part of this system is immersing yourself in their roles. This means taking customer success calls and accompanying the sales team in the field. There’s no better way to demonstrate leadership than by participating in the activities you expect from others. By working alongside your colleagues, you'll quickly build trust, understand the challenges they face, and appreciate their expertise.

Analyzing and Leveraging Insights

Once your system is operational, focus on identifying what works well and what doesn’t. Both aspects are equally important. Micro improvements to successful areas can yield high returns with minimal effort, offering quick wins. However, the most valuable insights often come from understanding why prospective clients are lost or why existing clients leave. Pay special attention to these areas.

To streamline this process, leverage AI to collect, transcribe, and summarize recorded sales and CS calls. This technology can save you and your colleagues a significant amount of time.

Sharing and Acting on Insights

With a robust list of insights, the next step is to reflect them back to the business. Celebrate the successes your colleagues have enabled and highlight that these achievements are due to their deep partnership and expertise. Make them the heroes while you serve as the authentic messenger. This approach achieves two key objectives: it fosters a culture of shared learning and continuous improvement, and it builds strong partnerships with your Sales and CS teams.

After sharing the insights, organize them into themes and prioritize them for discovery. You can’t act on everything. Prioritization is critical, focusing on where the biggest wins can be achieved with the least effort, or where substantial wins justify significant effort. Once you’ve identified these priorities, it’s time to dive into product discovery. For guidance, Teresa Torres’ resources at Product Talk are invaluable.

Key Takeaways

• Leverage Existing Resources: Utilize insights from customer success (CS) and sales teams already interacting with customers.
• Build Partnerships: Align with CS and sales teams, emphasizing a collaborative relationship that benefits all stakeholders.
• Develop an Efficient System: Create an easy-to-implement feedback collection system that aligns with company planning cycles and reduces friction.
• Engage Directly: Participate in CS calls and sales activities to build trust, gain firsthand experience, and demonstrate leadership.
• Focus on Key Insights: Identify both successful practices and areas where customers are lost, using AI to streamline data collection and analysis.
• Reflect and Celebrate: Share insights with the broader organization, highlighting the contributions of CS and sales teams to foster a sense of partnership and continuous improvement.
• Prioritize for Impact: Organize insights into themes, prioritize based on potential impact, and dive into product discovery for the most promising areas.