Win Stakeholder Buy-In by Solving Real Problems

Solve don't sell

This article was inspired by a conversation with Aaron Norris.  Aaron helps strategic sales professionals deliver exponential growth sustainably. Aaron explained how top sales practitioners deeply understand their customers' most critical problems and design value-generating solutions that move the needle.  It is striking how Aaron's approach can be applied to product management!

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The interruption from your stakeholder is polite and firm.  "I'm going to stop you right there." 

You are making a pitch to invest more resources in your product.  Your slide suggests a dip in profits for a few quarters to respond to competition.  Your stakeholder urges you to find a better solution or consider if your product can be sustained.

Why did your pitch get rejected so harshly?  Is the rejection because you don't have sales skills? 

Your rejection has nothing to do with sales skills.  You weren't solving your stakeholder's problem - you were trying to grow your stakeholder's problem!

How do you understand your stakeholder's problem? How can your product solve your stakeholder's problem?

These are questions product managers can answer! 

Finding Stakeholders' Problems

Your stakeholders' problems aren't hard to find. Senior leaders in product organizations typically have these problems: