One of my goals for this year is to establish Product Councils for my products. Product Councils, or Product Advisory Boards, as they are sometimes called, are made up of people who are familiar with your product and/or the market. In most cases, they are external, meaning that the members are customers or industry experts who can provide strategic guidance or provide feedback on tactical implementations, but they can also be made up of, wholly or in part, internal members.
I plan to have two; one made up of internal team members and one made up of customers. Both are necessary to help me grow the product to meet the needs of the market.
Internal Product Councils are comprised of key members of customer-facing teams at your company. While you can select anyone, I recommend having at least one member from the following teams: Sales, Sales Engineering, Support and Professional Services. Other groups you may want to include (if they are part of your organization) are Account Management, QA, Engineering, Business Development. Internal Product Councils are good for soliciting information for product messaging, new features, pricing, and early prototype review.
You can also use Internal Product Councils to find quick ways to address customer issues. I have found that having a pre-defined cross functional team has streamlined issue resolution process because there is a go-to team that knows all the key aspects of the product and the customer situation. In one case at a previous company, with the help of an internal product council, I was able to get a fast resolution on a high-priority product issue with some configuration changes and manual processes. Finding a quick workaround enabled us to spend time getting the right product fix instead of a right-now product fix.
Internal Product Councils also give other groups and team members a sense of ownership of the product. When other team members are involved in product-related decisions, there is a feeling of goodwill and teamwork generated. But let me be clear, I am NOT advocating that Product Managers should abdicate their product responsibilities to a committee. In my opinion, committee-designed products satisfy the requirements of no one but the committee. What I am advocating is engaging with co-workers in various business functions to help YOU, the Product Manager, make the best possible decision.
For example, while not an official Internal Product Council, I frequently use the viewpoints from the members of my Bug Scrub team to help me understand both the importance and scope of product issues. I regularly solicit their opinions and views on a variety of product and process issues, but I am still responsible for making the final decision. I would be foolish (and a poor Product Manager) if I thought that only I had the answers to solve product challenges, but it’s more important to view this input as a data point, not a decision. The Product Manager has the final responsibility for the product and that starts with decisions about features and process.
External Product Councils are similar in design, but utilize a different group of participants to achieve a different outcome. External Product Councils are especially valuable for getting feedback on new products, early prototypes, product bundles. Depending on the make up of the External Product Council, they may also be able to provide guidance on pricing, but this must be handled delicately, since some of the participants may be sensitive to that type of information. Before selecting members, determine how you want to use the External Product Council. This will help you identify who you want to solicit.
External Product Councils are made up of primarily customers, but may also have industry thought leaders or strategic partners. While it may be easy to just select the most vocal customers to be on your External Product Council, this is not necessarily a wise decision. Members should be selected based on several criteria:
- Industry Name Recognition
External Product Councils are frequently publicized as a way of generating credibility and showcasing thought-leadership. For that reason, selecting members who will bring instant awareness is key. However, something to consider in this area is that it is possible to select a member with too much name recognition. While names like HP, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun, etc are definitely names that have cache, they are likely too big to have any real influence (unless your product is tightly integrated with their’s or in key verticals where that company is a clear leader. - Vertical Value
As with name recognition, the vertical value of an External Product Council member can vary based on the vertical market, the size of that market and the number of companies playing there. If there is vertical where your company or product(s) are not very strong, picking a customer who is in that vertical can help solidify your position there. Be careful not to engage with a member who might be polarizing within a vertical, as this could scare away potential customers who don’t want to be involved or associated with such companies. - Strategic Importance
Have you identified/designated any customers who are strategically important to your product and/or business? If not, you should consider it and provide selective special treatment (e.g., discounts on future purchases, support beyond what they pay for, an executive sponsor) to them. As part of that, an invitation to participate on the External Product Council shows your commitment to them, as well as how much you value their input. If they truly are strategic, you should want and value their product input and do what it takes to get it. - Relationship Development
Sometimes you have a customer or partner/reseller who you just have a difficult time with, be it dissatisfaction with product features, support difficulties, account management clashes or whatever. If the customer is not one that you want to chase, you can let some of their requests slide, but if they are important to you (maybe, despite their complaints, they continue to bring high value sales opportunities to your company. By offering them the opportunity to be in the External Product Council, you give them an additional voice and convey to them that they (and their concerns) are important to you. And they may choose to use their voice in the External Product Council, rather than through other channels.
Whatever criteria you use, make sure that your External Product Council has some elements of diversity. The point of having the External Product Council in the first place is to gain additional visibility into the current and future market requirements for your product(s). If your External Product Council is homogeneous, you may miss out on valuable information and subsequent market opportunities.
Before you embark on creating an Internal or External Product Council, make sure that you have first identified what you hope to gain by assembling them. I would also suggest starting with one or the other. The value you get out the first one may influence your decision to form the second one, as well as help to clarify what benefits you want to get from it.
This type of project is not one that you should rush into (especially if you are doing it because I said you should do it). Take some time to think about it and map out what your goals are and how you are going to accomplish them. Then proceed with patience and perseverance.