Software Product Manager by Gopal Shenoy

Month: August 2008

• business marketing product management

  Product Manager’s new friend – Google Forms

  I just discovered the forms functionality in Google docs. What an awesome piece of functionality that will help me a ton as a product manager. In a nutshell, it helps you create a form on the fly (think about creating a simple survey) and email it to a bunch of…

  August 27, 2008
• business marketing product management

  Differentiating in an overcrowded market

  Ever wondered if any product management is needed for commodity products such as pencils, pens, toothpaste etc. where the customer needs have not changed for years? Alain Breillat of Picture Imperfect has a great post on how to create product differentiation in an overcrowded market?. It is a fascinating read…

  August 26, 2008
• business product management

  LinkedIn Answers – A goldmine for Product Managers

  If you have not been to LinkedIn Answers, you should check it out – it has a great section on product management. There is a wealth of information there on market research, pricing, product positioning and a ton of other stuff. Have a question? post it there for free and…

  August 19, 2008
• blogging business marketing product management social media

  Business uses for Twitter

  I have been using twitter for maybe the last 3 months now. When I saw it for the first time in 2007, my reaction was right! who has the time for this? Then I reluctantly signed up 3 months back and now I am hooked. Many of the folks I…

  August 17, 2008
• business customer experience marketing product management social media word of mouth

  Companies ignore social media at their own peril

  Last month, I slammed Infusionsoft when they started spamming me with email after I had downloaded an eBook from their website. The very next day, CEO of Infusionsoft Clate Mask apologized via comments to that blog post. Here was his comment: “Gopal–very fair point. We should have had the language…

  August 15, 2008
• business product management

  Competition validates your existence

  Have you heard – this is a huge untapped market, we are the market leaders and we have no competition? Such a market does not exist and the above statement is nothing but a myth. If you have no competition, you are probably in  a market that does not exist.…

  August 11, 2008
• business marketing product management

  Why do salesmen lie?

  Shown below is an email I got yesterday (unsolicited I should say) from a company called SalesDiesel (this is a real company, they have a website and indeed do what they claim in this email). So why do I have an issue with this? 1) The email is addressed to…

  August 6, 2008
• business customer needs marketing product management

  Does a vendor being #1 matter to buyers?

  10 years back in Chicago, a colleague of mine was shopping for a Honda car. He went to one of the Honda dealerships. The salesman started giving him the standard pitch about the car and then told him that he should buy from him because they are the biggest dealer…

  August 5, 2008
• business leadership marketing product management recruiting

  Companies should not be “customer” focused

  Yes, companies should not be “customer” focused first, I strongly challenge them to be “employee” focused instead and then the customer focus will come. I have been a great proponent of being customer driven, listening to customer’s unmet needs and then creating products that serve those needs. But when it…

  August 4, 2008
• business leadership marketing product management team communication

  How a great asset becomes your greatest liability

  Thank you Manny Ramirez for the last 7 years – but Red Sox nation will be just fine without you. When you become more than the team, it is time for you to move on.  You were a great asset but there is a point a great asset becomes a…

  August 1, 2008