Enterprise Product Strategy
Contact Us
Brochures
Enterprise Product Strategy
“Denial is more than just a river in Egypt”.
A favourite quote of mine. Startups are not the only ones who are at risk of delusional thinking and excessive self-belief when it comes to their product. Large enterprise customers can suffer from denial too.
Here are is the top reason business leaders think their product offering isn’t hitting the forecasted numbers:
The sales team isn’t working hard enough – they aren’t hungry.
Because, if the problem isn’t the sales team, then the problem sits with the product owner and the strategy team that came up with the product idea. And, obviously, that couldn’t happen.
Here are the questions business leaders should be asking:
- Have we got a clear value proposition that resonates with our customers – and not just a list of features?
- Have we validated that we know who in the organisation holds the budget and decision power to say yes – so we know who we should be calling on?
- Have we aligned our business model such that we generate revenue from delivering the right value to the right customer at the right time?
- Have we left the office and talked to customers and prospects? (And I mean have the leadership team left the office – not the intern in the basement?)
- Have we been realistic in our definition of what success looks like?
It’s great to have passion and drive. Sometimes a founder can become blinkered by their passion. Some product owners in large enterprises suffer the same fate – especially when an idea is promoted out of the “brightly coloured bean bags” of the innovation department into the real world of the business.
There is a further risk when dealing with both internal and external consultants. There are various names for this risk: “the ugly baby”, “the cat on table” (Finland), “the elephant in the room” (Apparently this works in Sweden as well as English speaking countries), “the emperor’s new clothes”.
These are significant risks that consultants prefer to “dance around” rather than to address head on – for fear of getting fired for pointing out “home-truths’. Consultants would rather “put lipstick on the pig” than to point out that it’s the idea, the approach, the value proposition, the business model, the go to market strategy, the regulatory compliance approach – or anything else – is actually – unquestionable – a mud covered pig.
Yet – this is exactly the input that you need.
Where can a business leader find a strategic advisor and partner, unafraid to ask hard questions and present unpleasant data – while being equally happy to confirm and reaffirm good direction, sound process and risk-mitigated opportunity?
That’s where SER Team comes in.