Many things have been written regarding product development methods, innovation processes and innovation strategies. These issues are significant and eventually illustrate a better means for performing the work of product management. However, the practical thing is that for majority of product managers there is and would always be an array of regular product management activities which tend to consume strategic time.
Outline: In this article how you can excel as a product manager it has been discussed at length the various aspects of product development. While product managers might feel responsible for each part of their product, the effective role of product manager would be compromised if they adopt an auxiliary attitude.
What the job position demands
The task of product management in any company is more significant in comparison to just responding to inquiries regarding the product from Customer Service, Marketing, PR, Sales and resolving small product issues which arise at the time of life-cycle of the product that might impact a tiny fraction of the target market of the product only. While few troubleshooting is expected, it is more significant to look for insights and patterns regarding the performance of the product of your company, your customers and your competitors which some of these regular questions and issues can uncover.
Why are product managers necessary?:Product numbers
For day to day product management, reporting the product numbers is a vital issue, however, it should not be carried out just because the management needs a monthly or weekly update. You should thoroughly study the key performance indicators to track and prepare the report. Irrespective of what sort of product you take care of, always there are key numbers which would help you judging the performance of your product in the market. Over a period of time this data would offer patterns which will permit you to notice changes in the performance of the product in the market.
Along with these key performance indicators you should notice the PR or sales activity, the timing of the market which might have an adverse or a positive effect on the performance of the product. For instance you may run monthly or weekly promotional offers for subscribers of first time. Reviewing the numbers in context of the offer and keeping track of the details would enable you to identify which offer stop or maintain. Monthly offer of type one might drive higher sales compared to monthly of type two. In that case, observing and reporting on the issue would offer you better scope to take good decisions.
You should overview the activity of your competitor particularly if they have introduced a new feature or a new price point that might hamper the performance of your product in the marketplace. You should also verify the alterations in the key performance indicators which you follow and find whether they suit with outside changes in the marketplace. A close look of the product numbers offers the product managers a view about historical behaviors. This would act as a guideline to forecast and plan the next measures to take.
Keeping track of the customers
Often it is found that product manager engage with customers when the development cycle of the product begins or when they have something particular to inquire regarding a new feature or a new product. However, the most tedious part of a product manager’s daily role is fixing the appropriate time to contact customers at some point to pay attention to them and notice their business, job and lifestyle and to determine the issues, workarounds or inefficiencies which they tackle with. Based on your product various means are there to talk with customers on a daily basis. For product manager controlling B2B products, passing some time at the office of your clients would offer valuable insights.
Reviewing and re-evaluating the valuation of your product
In your daily job of product management it is significant to remain up to date about the position of your products in the marketplace and capable of articulating its proposition value succinctly. A value proposition would always be under control when there are alternatives of competing product. You should continuously do the market undertaking and competitor analysis so that the pricing and promotion strategies of the products continue to offer value to the customer and consequently good results for the business.
Knowing all these details are important for everyone applying to open product manager jobs so that they have the right expectations and match up to them while joining in new companies.
Author Bio: [Saurabh Tyagi] The author has completed his MBA degree from a reputed institution of India and is presently attached in a private company as a product manager. He has immense experience about the job of a product manager.
