Top 10 Advantages of A Product Manager
Product managers are an integral part of any company. They perform various roles that aim to put the business at the top of any competition. We view product managers as “mini-CEOs” because of the critical roles they play. They guide the success of any product that a company produces through critical thinking and proper decision-making skills. Product managers’ careers have shot within the last two decades because of an increased number of developing companies. According to statistics, Glassdoor ranked product manager as the third best job in the USA in 2021. The same report showed that the number of product managers in the US has risen by 32% between 2017-2019. This means that as the world continues to become more business-oriented, this number will go high. This growth happens because product managers do so much to develop products and services that align with customer expectations. They work closely with other stakeholders to identify and analyze the benefits that a certain product will bring to its customers before they release it into the market. There are various types of product managers depending on the type and the size of the company. On average, a big company usually has a minimum of three product managers, i.e., the product manager, product marketing manager, and project manager. In most cases, these product managers work towards a common goal, although some of their roles may differ. This blog intends to explain the top benefits that a company enjoys from having a product manager. It will also elaborate on how a product manager works tirelessly to link business, technology, and user experience (UX). Below are the incredible advantages of a product manager.
Conducting Research
Research is key for every company that looks forward to having unique products. As the number of booming businesses continues to rise, it means that the competition is also high. Maintaining the level of success despite the tremendous competition requires a product manager that knows how to conduct market research. It is through research that a company understands the features of its competitor’s products and uses that to win more customers. Product managers don’t carry out this research alone but collaborate with other company departments to achieve better results. One of the best ways in which a product manager carries out research is by studying customer trends. He/she studies what the customers are saying about a certain product and then uses this information to make a proper judgment. The best product managers study customer trends from different companies and then apply this feedback to improve the company’s products. Another way to achieve this is to research who are the top company competitors and the products they offer. To help you have an idea, let us use an example. If a top business competitor is selling electronics that consume a lot of power, a wise product manager notes this behavior. He/she then works with other experts within the company to develop the same electronics but with a low power consumption rate. From here, customers will go for less power consumption products because again, who hates saving money, anyway?
Analysing Company Data
Data analytics provide a reference on which companies can rely to make informed decisions. Data analysis offers a perfect opportunity for a company to create better products and services for its customers. Decades ago, company data analysis was performed manually, and this always created more room for errors. Thanks to technology today, tools like Google Analytics because product managers can use it to automatically analyze data and it is available within minutes. Product managers analyze various factors, such as the number of customers that visit a company’s web page. It also shows their locations, languages they speak, the exact products they are looking for, gender, age group, country, how often they visit the website, the average time each customer spends on the site, and many more. This information is very critical to any company because it is where it drives what its customers are looking for. For instance, if customers are directing their attention toward a certain product and they are shopping for it more, it means that the product is serving them well. So, a product manager realizes that he/she works hard to create more of the same product because it’s guaranteed that customers will shop for it. Also, a product manager can decide to add a few features to the same product to make it even better, and this equals more sales.
Developing Communicative Plans
Better communication is a major driving force for any business. Communication improves employees’ morale, creates netter working partnerships, encourages teamwork, and makes it easy for a company to achieve its goals. Product managers usually have a duty of ensuring that all critical information reaches the company employees on time. Smart product managers understand that time is money and therefore, the earlier he/she communicates, the earlier intended plans are implemented and decisions made. This speeds up the delivery of products to customers on time and therefore a company makes more profits quickly. According to statistics, most employees within a company spend an average of 2.5 hours looking for information. This is equivalent to losing the entire week in a month just trying to get information that should be at their fingertips. It is easier to blame employees, but the problem usually starts with managers. 29% of employees agree that poor communication is the reason most projects fail. Also, 74% of employees report missing company news every year. Good product managers ensure each employee understands the primary product vision of the product being produced.
Reduces Risks For Failure
Setting up a company and understanding the customer does not prevent failure, but poor product managers’ intellect does. This is because a product manager is the one who understands the vision better and carries it at heart. One way in which a product manager minimizes the risk of failure is by studying customer needs. This means that he/she studies customer trends across a certain period. For instance, if customers buy the most bright-colored clothes during summer, he/she pushes the company to produce more such clothes a few months or weeks before summer. He/she also follows to see that these types of clothes are available within company stores and websites, making it easier for customers to access them. Dedicated product managers also understand market changes and, therefore, create products that can serve customers and survive these changes. Failure to study these trends leads to the production of products that won’t serve customers and therefore result in huge company losses.
Defines Expectations
Each company has its unique expectations. Expectations are important because they help businesses to remain focused on their goals. Expectations keep employees focused and prevent them from getting off track. Defining these expectations to other employees is a major role of product managers. From the moment people decide to set up companies, they usually have what they expect from their employees. It can be very difficult for any business to achieve its financial goals when expectations are not clear, and this is where product managers come in. They explain why a company is developing a product and the goals this product intends to serve. Telling employees what you expect of them also keeps them on their toes and minimizes the chances of making mistakes. One of the best ways in which product managers achieve this is by writing the company expectations down and then discussing them with employees. Explaining to an employee where they fit within the company organization helps reduce time wastage. Best product managers empower their workers by telling them exact roles, how to do them, the time to perform them, and then offer the tools to help accomplish these tasks.
Fosters Collaboration
Part of a product manager’s responsibility is to ensure that all employees can work under one team. Teamwork makes it easy for any company to achieve its goals because it keeps them focused on specific tasks. For any company to thrive, its product managers must have the ability to bring all teams together. The idea of teamwork works best because it brings people with unique knowledge, skills, and talents to work together. If, for example, one department is facing a problem, bringing other teams in helps combine ideas and, therefore, creates a solution to the problem. Also, if that department was going to spend the whole day solving that problem, teamwork would offer more quickly, hence saving precious company time. Learning from each other’s successes and failures is also a benefit of collaboration. This is true because once businesses discover what other companies failed, they use that as a learning tool to improve their products and services.
Testing of Products
Testing is an essential part of creating high-quality products. As the products get closer to the end of their production process, it is the responsibility of managers to test their effectiveness. Ideally, product manufacturing involves a series of stages, and each stage must be tested. This is key because it ensures that the final product meets the standards and will not harm the ultimate consumer. Testing products also ensure that they eliminate poor quality products from the production line, hence preventing a negative reputation for the company. By the time you see a new product in the market, it usually must have gone through multiple testing for your safety. The product manager performed this duty with the help of other teams. Testing of products before launching also helps the product manager evaluate the state of the entire manufacturing plant. If a product is faulty, it shows that there is a breakdown of production equipment and this makes it easier to repair it. By doing this, product managers put the best company products out there, ensuring they reach the intended target group and, therefore, make more purchases.
Analyses Customer Needs
Customers are an important part of any business. Customers are the reasons companies work to improve their products and services often. Excellent customer service comes with an excellent reputation, a larger target market, more purchases, and, hence, more profits. One way in which product managers help deliver the best products to customers is by knowing exactly what these customers require. There are various ways in which product managers achieve customer needs analysis. Interviewing the customers is the most effective way of doing so because it addresses customers directly. Interviewing involves going to the ground and capturing every detail that customers are saying about a certain product or the company. If customers, for instance, say they prefer a certain product color, i.e., blue, a keen product manager ensures that most of the company products are blue. This makes customers feel valued and, therefore, will buy your products more.
Documentation
Every company relies on documentation to make critical decisions. Recording and keeping documents about the product are one of the many roles that a company product performs. Keeping any information about a company and the products and services it offers fosters transparency and confidence among team members. It is through this information that key investors understand the vision, goal, and values a company believes in. A product manager keeps this information in a systematic order for easier retrieval when needed. The documentation contains business cases, market needs, competitors, product roadmaps, just to name but a few. Keeping proper documentation reduces the chances of making mistakes that could otherwise cost losses of hundreds of dollars. Having a product manager who understands the story of a business, its origins, intent, and the journey it’s taking to achieve its ambitions is one sure way of remaining relevant.
Evaluating Ideas
Every company always wants better ideas. Why? Because the better the idea is, the higher the revenue it will generate once implemented. A company like Amazon, for example, ships 1.6 million packages per day. This translates into 66,000 orders per hour and 18.5 orders per second. If we were to talk about ideas generation, Amazon receives hundreds of them daily. The problem with this inflow of ideas is that not all ideas are valid. Therefore, a product manager handles crowdsourcing these ideas and analyzing them to see which ones will make more profits. Curating ideas in order of their priority makes a product manager understand what ideas a company should promote. This helps the company strategize better and know where to invest more funds. There is nothing worse than investing enormous sums of money for the wrong idea. This wastes the company’s resources and time, pushing the company to operate at a loss.
Conclusion
A product manager is an important key player in any business. A smart product manager helps the company achieve its goals and takes pride in doing so. He/she performs various tasks, including product testing, enhancing communication, fostering teamwork, evaluating ideas, and many more. A good product manager stays up to date with all the latest market trends and consumer behaviors. The research product managers conduct helps to keep the rest of the employees engaged and focused. Offering direct communication motivates workers, hence making them more productive. Product managers are many, but smart ones are few. Therefore, it is important to choose a product manager who carries the vision of the company at heart because he/she will help revolutionize your company. Would you like to learn more about product managers? If yes, click here:
