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Why Do Product Manager Value Equations Suck?
Marketing statistics are hard . . . sometimes it’s just easier to make them up.
Value equations describe the quantitative and qualitative benefits a customer can receive from implementing a software product. They answer the buyer’s inevitable question “What’s in it for me?” Recently I worked with a SaaS company that had what I considered to be a cool product. They were struggling competing in the marketplace against some very well-funded competitors. While they were great at explaining all of their cool features, they struggled to crisply and credibly explain what value customers would get. They relied on generic statements like reducing customer churn and increasing productivity. When asked to back up their statements with hard numbers and credible customer success stories they drew a blank. Most product managers are in the same boat. They cannot cite credible fact-based evidence to back up their generic value statements. This is one of the reasons why product manager value equations suck.
Marketing Statistics Are Hard . . . Sometimes It’s Just Easier to Make Them Up
A friend of mine wrote a great article in 2009 “Marketing Statistics Are Hard . . . Sometimes It’s Just Easier to Make Them Up” A salient quote from…
