Here’s the next instalment of your weekly digest where you can find some of the most useful and hot button Q&As from our amazing Slack community. Let's dive in to these questions and find out more about how you can keep your sales team engaged and what keeps product marketers motivated in their job role.
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Q: Do PMM roles sometimes ask for a portfolio? I had a folio during my copywriter days, and I know UX, design folks have one; not too sure what a PMM portfolio should ideally capture. Any inputs/tips would be very much appreciated.
A: It’s always best to have relevant past experience to draw on when applying for a PMM role, but the specifics will vary from company to company. Product Marketer, Louise Dunne explained how she approached this:
“I put together a portfolio for job hunting which I'm now going to maintain on an ongoing basis to document projects.
"I broke it down into sections - e.g. GTM experience - gave context on business pain / current state and the role I was asked to take on and then documented the key initiatives, project results and any metrics I could point to. I built it in PPT and just PDF'd and sent with any job applications.”
Louise Dunne, Product Marketing Manager and Enablement.
Q: My PMM team is having a hard time keeping our sales team engaged during sales training sessions. Does anyone have any pointers on how to keep them more engaged?
A: “Set up a competition where they'll have to answer things or pitch the product right after the session, and give prizes. Make sure they're engaging and funny. And MOST OF ALL, make sure that 100% of the training is focused on how to help them succeed and not on the relative coolness of the product.”
Jenn Steele, Chief Revenue Officer at ORSNN
“Gamification: like playing Kahoot based on the product demo. If the training session involves sharing past demo recordings or sessions then ask the entire team what went wrong or right in the recording. Make it like case solving.
"Also, I hope you are taking constant feedback from them and talking about improvement areas as they might share their interesting ideas to solve this.”
Harshit Jain, Product Marketing Manager
Q: I would love to know: what is your go-to source for researching Product Marketing Manager salaries, based on experience and location? In particular, the jump in salary between a PMM & Senior PMM? (I've already downloaded PMA's excellent report, just looking for other sources.)
A: There are a few different factors to bear in mind when looking at the average PMM salary. Daniel Kuperman from Snowflake pitched in to help.
“Industry and company size play a big role, I think. A junior PMM at Google will be making more than a senior PMM at an early stage startup. Another point to consider is bonus and stock options.”
Daniel Kuperman, Director of Product Marketing at Snowflake.
Q: I am launching a new product soon and would love to hear some best practices on writing & recording a sales pitch to enable our sales teams. Any pointers on how to do it well and effectively? Your help is much appreciated!
A: “Camtasia or similar is great for capturing your screen and doing some light video editing to make the presentation clear. I would suggest positioning it as close to a real-life scenario as possible.
"When in the sales cycle will they have this conversation? What are the inputs and variables, pre-requisites, required capabilities? Even having a mock-up example high fit customer overview will help position it well. Record the pitch with a full talk track and try to match the leave behind asset & notes as closely as possible.
"For bonus content I'd record a typical Q&A, objections and follow up (e.g. pricing, tech specs, etc) and point to where they can find more information. Hope this helps!”
Louise Dunne, Product Marketing Manager and Enablement.
Q: I have a philosophical question for everyone. As a PMM, what's your greatest motivation in your career right now? What are you striving for? How do you know "you've made it"?
A: “Great question! Asking myself this now as well. Today, I’ll say that seeing Voice of Customer insights so well connected in product dev processes that they bring back eye-raising revenue. I’ll check myself tomorrow to see if it’s something else. I have a feeling my motivation changes every few days, and this comes with the role.”
Rebecca Glitia, Partnerships & Marketplace Marketing at 123FormBuilder.
