Sales job is to find and acquire new customers. Services job is to retain and grow the current clients. Product needs to support both theses objectives.
The product needs to provide features that new customers are looking for and features that retain and grow the current client base.
In most cases, features that retain and grow the current clients attract new clients if your target customers match your current clients’ profile. If your target customer profile is different than your current client profile than the product needs features that support both profiles.
Product leaders need to work with Sales and Service leaders to ensure clarity and alignment on the target clients’ profile. A useful tool for this is personas. Personas are a stand-in for a group of people who share common goals. They are fictional representatives – archetypes based on a person’s behaviors, attitudes, and goals. We sometimes make the distinction between Buyer Personas that makes the purchase decision and the User Persona who uses the product or service. There are also Influencers, Team Personas, and more. Personas may play different actors with a variety of roles.
Another tool for Sales, Service and Product clarity and alignment are Customer Journey Maps. Customer journey maps are a diagram that illustrates the steps your customers go through in engaging with your company including Sales, Services and product. The journey map measures the customers’ satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy to create sustainable long-term revenue through attraction, retention and growth.
The customer journey maps and persona helps the product team align with Sales and Services on defining the target customers and offering features that attract, retain, and grow clientele.