How to create

a Product culture in a
Sales-led organization
Julie Aouizerate
Head of Product
@Believe
Why does it matter?

Product best practices are permeable to their environment

Product excellence is not siloed

Symptoms: Requests vs. Insights

Multichannel requests “In 2 weeks” requests Solution-oriented requests

Information overflow from all channels Unrealistic timeline requests No info on pains & context
Avoiding the coffee machine… ”Simple features” Detailed solution description

Requests overflow, limited insights, strenuous prioritization

Symptoms and teams impact

30 sales => 30 pitches From “yes” to the roadmap Blaming Product

As many pitches as salespeople Sales teams saying “yes” to prospects Product blame for missed deals
“Filling the vision gap” on features we do not have
Confusing prospects

The unmotivated feature factory

Demotivated Product team
Low product accountability for results & impact
The cost of chasing “Yes”

The risk when lacking product culture is building a

shapeless Frankenstein product, confusing users with a
complex product and unclear value.

Lack of custom UX
High cost, low feature adoption
“Is this really for me?”
Blurred product-market fit
Creating a Product culture
Take pride in what your product is.
Take as much pride in what it isn’t.
Evangelize both.

Sales enablement
Qualified feedback
Managed expectations
Creating a Product culture

Business / Product visions Feature request template Brainstoming sessions

Strategy alignment Structured qualitative feedback Taking the lead on
Top management evangelization Product culture (pains vs. solution) feedback collection
Product Talks
Recurring Product rituals Involve Product team members
By the Product team Encourage Product team to present for visibility,
accountability, motivation.
Audience: Sales, CSM, Marketing, Tech, Mgt,…

Product culture vs. updates

Use to evangelize key concepts: vision & strategy,
success story, processing feedback, agility,
competition, (roadmap), etc.

Repeat, repeat, repeat

Reaffirm key concepts consistently
in each presentation.
Pinpoint the key elements you need teams
to know about your product.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Building credibility and trust

Client-facing teams’ lack of trust in Product comes from

the valid belief that they know the market, and you don’t.

Client meetings as a MUST

Earn trust and credibility. 1 client meeting / month, for all PMs

Data-centricity as a MUST
Build credibility through hard user knowledge
When in doubt… ASK the Sales team

Credits : gustavofrazao - stock.adobe.com

Copyright: ©gustavofrazao - stock.adobe.com
Source: Activestate.com
Product culture : Cost vs. Value?

Empowered Product team

Impact Empowered Sales team

Business results

Company-wide alignment

Product-Market Fit (vs. Frankenstein)

Thank you