Creating Exceptional Relationships with Product Management - A disregard for formal process
Part 2 of 3 on Creating Exceptional Relationships with Product Management (part 1)
A Disregard for Formal Process
Let’s assume our PMs have listened to the need to establish formal process in how they enable the SE force. In reality this will be hit or miss most of the time. What I have noticed is even in areas where PM has established a well-functioning, documented process, there will be a certain number of SEs that want to negate that process because they feel their deal warrants immediate attention.
For example, say PM has a web form for submitting feature requests. A big customer says to us in the middle of a sales call they would buy if only it had this certain feature. What do you and your rep do? I know many that would go straight to the PM via email, phone, and door knocking if possible. “To hell with process, this is million dollar opportunity” they say.
I’ll stop short of saying process always needs to be followed, but I do recommend you commit yourself to a short thought experiment before you do attempt to circumvent established channels.
The concept is based on moral universalism. Simply put: Take your intended course of action and imagine if everyone else did the exact same thing. Would it lead to a net benefit for your company or not?
In our example, what if every time a SE went to PM directly with a feature request of in this situation instead of using the submission form? If you can unbiasedly say that this deal really is worth breaking the rules for the benefit of the company then go for it. If you hesitate, it probably isn’t.
Of course this rule not only applies to PM but to other internal groups and customers as well. Give this a try next time you’re thinking about making a request of someones time and energy.
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