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The customer-centric approach is central to any product manager's success in the 21st century. But beyond the widely accepted principle that customers, not R&D professionals, drive product decisions today, what does that mean?
Thomas Shoup, president of The Garland Group, knows.
"Customers expect product managers to have a deep understanding of the customer's business," he says.
Prior to launching the medical services start-up company last year, Shoup spent 20 years developing, managing and upgrading products for Hewlett Packard's medical equipment business. "Great product managers are experts in their industries and innately curious about the customer," he says.
Being curious goes beyond figuring out which high tech bells and whistles nurses want on a patient monitor -- although that matters, too. Product managers need to acquire a sophisticated understanding of the business and day-to-day issues customers must tackle. "Product managers must understand how to sell, deliver and install their products," says Shoup.
For instance, hospitals expect suppliers to understand what it takes for a medical facility to get paid for the equipment or services they purchase. "In the US, that comes down to how much Medicare will reimburse them," says Shoup. Sometimes, the customer also expects the supplier to arrange financing. "In a mature industry, such as medical products, that can help win the deal," he says.
An Information Sleuth
Great product managers are willing to do a little detective work. When Shoup discovered that one HP customer had an unusually high rate of workers' compensation claims -- and a correspondingly high rate of employee turnover -- he set out to uncover the cause.
"We were delivering medical devices in 70-pound boxes, packing 1,000 units to a case," he recalls. They were so heavy that hospital employees were injuring their backs lifting the boxes. HP secured that customer's loyalty by delivering the product in lighter packages, reducing the company's turnover and workers' compensation claims.
Answering the simple question, "who is the customer?" is also critical to landing the sale. If you're selling a $100,000 ultrasound device, the imaging people make the buying decision, and you make your pitch to them, says Shoup. But if it's a $2 million MRI machine, the organization's capital equipment committee is in charge.
"You don't get to sit down and have lunch with them," says Shoup. You make a pitch to a couple of people who then represent you to the committee. "You have to know who you are dealing with," he says.
Follow Through
Finally, while customer-centric product development is widely accepted today, in reality, many product managers spend more time talking about it than actually practicing it. Following through can differentiate you from your competitors -- both inside and outside your company.
"During the first phase of product development, you talk to perhaps a hundred customers and put together a list of requirements," says Shoup. Engineers then formulate product definitions based on that list. The next step is to test the product definitions with the same customers. "They were blown away that we even came back, let alone that we actually listened," recalls Shoup.
That approach should help Shoup as he launches The Garland Group's first product, Heart Sense. The new service monitors the vital signs of at-home patients with congestive heart failure, automatically transmitting physiological data to Heart Sense's office. There a nurse can review each patient's status and adjust the care plan accordingly.
"Simple at-home monitoring and a nurse looking over their shoulder" can have a huge effect on people's lives, says Shoup. "No one is offering this now."
