This article is based on Matt’s brilliant talk at the Product Marketing Summit in Denver. PMA members can watch the talk in its full glory here!

I have some bad news for you: you're a salesperson. Yup, even if you have “product marketing” in your job title, you’re a salesperson in your work.

Now, there’s no need to have an identity crisis. I'm not asking you to pick up a quota or change your comp model. What I'm here to talk about is how you can use a salesperson's lens to build better relationships with your sales team, create a more effective go-to-market strategy, and ultimately win together.

Before we get into that, let me introduce myself. I’m Matt Heng and I’m a native Nebraskan. I'm also a former Oscar Mayer Wienermobile pilot, so if you want to learn what it's like to have to smile and wave eight hours a day every day for an entire year of your life, come find me. Today, I’m the Head of Product Marketing at Omnipresent, a global employment solutions solutions provider.

Throughout my career, I’ve worked for a lot of different companies, and looking back over my résumé, it’s clear that I am a glutton for punishment when it comes to working with sales teams. I've worked in annual SaaS, I've worked in monthly SaaS, I've worked in consumption-based models, I've worked with SMB sales teams, and I've worked with eight-figure enterprise sales teams.

So, I like to think that I know a thing or two about what it takes to get a sales team on board with you as a product marketer, and I want to talk you through that today.

We’ll dive into how product marketing is from Mars and sales is from Venus, we’ll get into how to approach product marketing from a sales point of view, and then we’ll look at some options for how you can bring this to life within your organization.

Let’s do this!

Product marketing is from Mars and sales is from Venus

How many times have you asked yourself the following questions?

  • How can I get sales selling new features, not just our tried and true core product?
  • How can I get them to engage with my messaging materials?
  • How can I get my sales leaders engaged in product launches?
  • How do I get quality feedback from my teams to inform messaging and roadmap decisions?