Lee Martucci is a marketing professional and certified New Product Development Professional (NPDP) with over 25 years of experience with numerous roles in product management, from telecommunications and cell phone services to building materials. He is currently helping GAF. You likely know this company if you have been involved in building, repairing your roof, or walking through Home Depot or Lowes, where their roofing shingles and sealants are sold.

 

Practices and Ideas for Product Managers, Developers, and Innovators

Highlights from the discussion include:

• How to get your start in product management and overcome the classic catch-22 – job descriptions require prior experience as a product manager.
• A job description is a wish-list and you need to learn how to position your experience to best meet the job description.
• One way to switch industries as a product manager.
• How to frame the lack of industry experience as a real benefit to a future employer by having fresh eyes that lead to valuable innovations.
• Learn product management from others, experts who author credible books and provide training, and professional organizations, such as PDMA, AIPMM, and meetups.
• Some insights into the relationship between sales, channel, and product management.
• Product managers need to help sales people understand how to sell products.
• New products and successful repositioning can be found by re-segmenting the markets. Lee shared an example of creating a caulking product targeted to female buyers.
• Observing customers and interviews are important tools for understanding customers’ preferences and finding new insights about problems.
• Partners have keen customer insights that can lead to successful new products.
• Recognizing growing trends in an industry and market and timing trends correctly can position new products for great success.

Innovation Quote

“Perfect is the enemy of good.” – Voltaire

 

 

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Thanks for Listening!

Thank you for joining me again. I love discussing product development and learning from the successes and failures of product innovators. If you enjoyed the discussion, help out a fellow product manager, developer, or innovator by sharing it using the social media buttons you see below.