In many companies, sales and product development teams work in silos. This separation leads to a gap between what customers truly need and what the company builds. Integrating salespeople into the product development process is a strategy to create superior products that better meet market demands. By bridging this gap, a business can leverage its front-line employees to inform and refine its offerings.
Act as the Voice of the Customer
Salespeople interact with prospective and existing customers daily, providing them an opportunity to gather unfiltered feedback. They learn about customer challenges, unmet needs, and desired features in the context of real-world purchasing decisions. This direct line to the customer’s perspective is a resource for any product development team.
The feedback relayed by the sales team is rich with context that quantitative data cannot provide. During sales calls, they can ask probing questions to uncover the root causes of customer problems. This type of information helps product managers understand not just what customers want, but why they want it, leading to more effective product enhancements.
This direct feedback from the market helps ensure the product roadmap is aligned with customer requirements. When the sales team channels customer feedback to the product team, it creates a continuous flow of information that can inform development priorities.
Provide Real-Time Market Intelligence
Salespeople also serve as a company’s eyes and ears on the competitive landscape. Through their daily interactions, they gain an understanding of competitor strategies, including pricing, product features, and sales tactics. This information is gathered from prospects evaluating multiple solutions, providing a real-time view of the market that is more current than formal research reports.
This flow of competitive intelligence allows a company to be more agile. For example, if prospects mention a new feature offered by a competitor, the sales team can relay this information to the product team. This allows the company to assess the competitive threat and determine if a similar feature should be prioritized in their roadmap.
The insights provided by the sales team can also help refine the company’s messaging and positioning. By understanding how competitors market their products, the team can work with marketing to highlight the unique strengths of their own offerings.
Validate New Product Concepts
The sales team can play an active role in the early stages of product development by helping to validate new ideas. Product managers can present concepts, mockups, or feature ideas to the sales team for initial feedback. Given their understanding of customer needs, salespeople can assess whether a new concept is likely to resonate with the market.
This initial validation process can save time and resources by identifying issues before code is written. The sales team can act as a sounding board, raising red flags about concepts that may be difficult to sell or that don’t address a pressing customer need. This early feedback loop helps to de-risk new product initiatives.
In addition to providing their own feedback, salespeople can discreetly test new concepts with trusted, long-term clients. By sharing a mockup or prototype with a select group of customers, they can gather direct feedback on the usability and appeal of a new feature. This is a low-cost way to gauge interest and refine the product concept before committing to full-scale development.
Assist in Beta Testing and Launch
As a product moves closer to launch, the sales team can support the beta testing phase. Salespeople are well-positioned to identify ideal candidates for a beta program. They can select customers who have a genuine need for the new product and are willing to provide constructive feedback, ensuring the information gathered is actionable.
Once the beta program is underway, the sales team can act as a liaison between the customers and the product development team. They help manage customer expectations and ensure feedback is collected and addressed. This hands-on involvement helps to build stronger relationships with key customers.
During the product launch, the sales team’s early involvement is beneficial. Having been a part of the development process, they have a deep understanding of the product’s value proposition and the customer problems it solves. This knowledge makes them more effective at communicating the product’s benefits to potential customers and driving initial sales.
Establish a Formal Feedback Loop
To make the collaboration between sales and product development effective, establishing a formal feedback loop is important. This moves the process from ad-hoc conversations to a structured and repeatable system. One way to achieve this is by integrating dedicated fields into the company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, allowing salespeople to log product feedback. This creates a centralized repository of insights that the product team can analyze.
Regularly scheduled meetings between sales and product leaders are another way to ensure a consistent flow of information. These meetings provide a forum for discussing emerging trends, reviewing customer feedback, and aligning on product priorities. This structured communication helps break down silos and fosters a more collaborative culture.
Other practices can facilitate real-time communication. Creating a dedicated channel in a messaging app like Slack or Microsoft Teams or having product managers periodically join sales calls are effective ways to maintain a continuous feedback loop.