TEI 129: How product managers can better work with Sales – with Keith Hawk

Global Product Management Talk is pleased to bring you the next
episode of... The Everyday Innovator with host Chad McAllister,
PhD. The podcast is all about helping people involved in innovation
and managing products become more successful, grow their careers,
and STANDOUT from their peers. About the Episode:  In this
episode, we are talking about sales people and how product managers
can improve their work with sales people. For some product
managers, sales professionals are a source of tension, maybe
because they overpromise and make product commitments without first
coordinating with product management. For other product managers,
sales professionals provide access to customers and help arrange
problem-discovery interviews. They are an ally to product
management. Regardless of your working relationship with sales
professionals, there is room for improvement. To explore this topic
you would be hard-pressed to find anyone better than my guest,
Keith Hawk. Keith has incredible street cred for this topic as he
worked in a technology support role early in this career, working
with sales professionals and product management. From there he
served as the Director of Technology Support, Director of
Marketing, VP Customer Support, and recently retired from his
long-term role as the Senior Vice President of Sales for
LexisNexis, a multi-billion dollar organization with over 10,000
employees. Keith has a very rich background in the information
industry and he has played a broad role in the development of
LexisNexis as a company. He is also the author of the
book Get-Real Selling: Your Personal Coach for REAL Sales
Excellence, which greatly influenced my thoughts on the function of
Sales.