Selling a Product Idea: Setting Context, Using Empathy, and Leveraging Data
Selling a product idea or service requires more than just a great idea or concept. It involves setting the right context, using empathy, leveraging qualitative and quantitative data, and ensuring your idea aligns with business goals (ie; makes money). This post provides a roadmap for Design Leaders, Product Leaders, and Executives to effectively present their ideas by understanding their audience, building trust, and creating a compelling vision that everyone is going to get behind to formulate a strategy to make it a reality.
Introduction
Selling a product idea isn’t just about having the best concept from the start, although it doesn’t hurt to have a really great concept. The most successful intitial concepts are rooted in synthesizing all of the elements that go into selling the concept and when you get good at it, you will find that in your regular conversations and in meetings that you can collect everything that you need and build the trust in your relationships and seed your outcomes. The greatest ideas aren’t your ideas, the greatest ideas are the right ideas that are aligned with your stakeholders. We’ll get more into that later. It’s about setting the right context, using empathy along with data, and understanding that the best ideas are often discovered and refined through the process of engagement and feedback. The goal is to present ideas that align seamlessly with both our customers’ needs and our business objectives, while being adaptable enough to evolve over time.
I think we all have experienced feedback about an idea that cuts it short and it’s simply a no. Which is deflating. Selling an idea effectively means making your stakeholders relate to the experience or product that you’re proposing and getting them to envision the experience of the customer and how it will benefit the business outcomes they are responsible for. This approach not only fosters a deeper connection but also ensures that the idea can be realistically implemented in both the near and long term. In this post, we’ll explore how to use context, empathy, and data to sell your product ideas, while also embracing the discovery process and the malleability of your concepts.
Setting Context
Setting the right context is the foundation of successfully selling a product idea. To do this effectively, we are going to have to dig into multiple layers of understanding:
1. Understand the Customer
Dive into the customer’s needs, pain points, and behaviors. Use personas, customer journey maps, and user research data to build a comprehensive picture of who your customer is and what they truly need. This is table stakes for the product design leaders reading this. If this is a surprise to you or you don’t understand how these these benefit and inform your product success, the great news is that this implementing this will have an immediate impact on your business. For instance, in the travel industry, customers often look for seamless booking experiences and personalized recommendations. This insight is a great start to inform what is going to be successful ie; a great experience and will drive engagement with your customers and ultimately revenue.
2. Understand the Business
Grasp the business’s goals, strategies, and KPIs. Align your idea with the overarching business objectives to ensure it contributes to the company’s success. For a retail business aiming to increase average order value, enhancing product recommendations and cross-selling features could be a key focus. If you are struggling to understand the business, make some inroads with your business stakeholders and your product managers.
3. Understand Roadmaps
Familiarize yourself with the current and future product roadmaps. This ensures that your idea fits into the planned trajectory and doesn’t conflict with other ongoing initiatives. For example, in a technology company planning a major software release, your idea should complement the new features being developed or it’s likely not going anywhere. If it doesn’t slot into the roadmaps or the technology stack, you’re going to have to sell it upstream and get additional funding and resourcing.
4. Understand Ways of Working and Execution
Know how your team and the broader organization execute ideas. This includes processes, methodologies (e.g., Agile, Lean), and resource availability. An idea is only as good as its feasibility and execution. Don’t be afraid to use new frameworks if the old ones no longer serves the organization and your customers. Be ready to let go of them sooner then later if they don’t work. And if you’re paid some outside consultants a lot of money for them and they don’t work, don’t continue down a path of unhappy teams and lackluster outcomes.
5. Understand the Culture
Every organization has its own culture. Understanding this helps in tailoring your pitch to resonate with the company’s values and norms. A startup might value rapid innovation and flexibility, while a more established corporation might prioritize stability and long-term planning. There are other nuances to culture, ie; politics. Understand them, but don’t get sucked into them.
6. Understand Individuals and Motives
Identify key stakeholders, their motivations, and interests. This includes understanding who the decision-makers are, what drives them, and how your idea can address their needs or concerns. In a healthcare organization, the focus might be on improving patient outcomes and operational efficiency. The CPO’s bonus is riding on patient outcomes and the COO’s bonus is riding on operational efficiency, this is important to understand who is
7. Understand Trust and Political Dynamics
Assess the level of trust within the room and identify any gaps. Be aware of the political dynamics and how they might impact the reception of your idea. Building or leveraging trust is crucial for buy-in. In a company with siloed departments, demonstrating how your idea encourages collaboration can be pivotal.
By mastering these aspects, you create a context that is rich, relevant, and resonant. This not only strengthens your pitch but also demonstrates your thoroughness and understanding, which can build confidence among your audience.
Using Empathy
Empathy is the cornerstone of a compelling pitch. By putting yourself in the shoes of your audience, you can connect with them on a deeper level and make your idea resonate more profoundly. Here are some strategies to effectively use empathy:
1. Use Storytelling
Create relatable personas that mirror your audience’s challenges and aspirations. By telling a story through these personas, you can illustrate how your product idea addresses their specific needs and pain points. For instance, a persona of a product manager struggling to gather actionable insights from customer feedback can highlight the benefits of a new analytics tool.
2. Show Real-World Impact
Use case studies or real-world examples where similar ideas have succeeded. Highlight the positive outcomes and tangible benefits, making it easier for your audience to envision the impact of your idea. For example, an online retailer that improved customer satisfaction and increased sales after implementing a streamlined checkout process.
3. Connect on a Human Level
Share personal anecdotes or experiences that demonstrate your understanding of the audience’s challenges. This builds rapport and shows that you genuinely care about their needs and success. For instance, recalling a time when simplifying a complex process significantly improved user experience and engagement.
4. Visualize the Future
Paint a vivid picture of the future with your idea implemented. Use visuals, mockups, or prototypes to help your audience see and feel the potential impact. For example, presenting a prototype of a new dashboard that provides intuitive insights at a glance.
5. Encourage Feedback and Collaboration
Show openness to feedback and a willingness to iterate on your idea. This collaborative approach not only fosters trust but also demonstrates that you value their input and are committed to finding the best solution together. For instance, inviting stakeholders to share their thoughts on a proposed feature and incorporating their feedback into the final design.
By employing these empathy-driven techniques, you create a more engaging and persuasive pitch that not only resonates with your audience but also fosters a sense of shared purpose and collaboration.
Leveraging Data
Data is a powerful tool in selling a product idea, providing solid evidence that supports your claims and builds credibility. Here’s how to effectively use data:
1. Use Non-Biased Quantitative and Qualitative Data
Present hard numbers and statistics that demonstrate the potential impact of your idea. This can include metrics such as user engagement rates, conversion rates, or revenue projections. In the education sector, for instance, demonstrating how a new learning platform can increase student engagement and performance.
Share insights from user interviews, surveys, and feedback sessions. This humanizes the data and provides context that numbers alone cannot. For example, students expressing their improved learning experience with the new platform.
2. Back Your Ideas Externally and Internally
Gather data from external sources such as industry reports, competitor analysis, and market research to validate your idea. For instance, citing a report showing that companies implementing similar solutions saw a significant increase in customer satisfaction.
Use internal data from your own organization to show how your idea fits within the existing ecosystem and addresses current challenges. For example, internal feedback highlighting a significant pain point in the customer journey that your proposed solution directly addresses.
3. Ensure Data Transparency
Pool all relevant data and make it accessible to everyone involved in the decision-making process. Transparency builds trust and allows for collaborative evaluation. For instance, sharing a comprehensive document containing all research data and insights with your team.
4. Associate Hypotheses with Research Plans
Any hypothesis you present should have a corresponding research plan that outlines how you intend to test and validate it. This shows a methodical approach and a commitment to evidence-based decision-making. For instance, proposing a hypothesis that simplifying the onboarding process will reduce drop-off rates and outlining a detailed research plan involving A/B testing and user feedback to validate this hypothesis.
By leveraging non-biased quantitative and qualitative data, ensuring transparency, and having clear research plans, you strengthen your pitch and demonstrate a thorough and credible approach to supporting your product idea.
Aligning with Business Goals
Aligning your product idea with the business’s goals is crucial for its acceptance and success. Depending on where you are in the process, this alignment involves understanding, referencing, and adapting to the business’s objectives and strategies.
1. Understand and Reference Existing Goals
During the discovery process, ask about the current business goals, strategies, and visions. Reference these goals explicitly when presenting your idea to show how it supports the company’s direction. For instance, aligning your idea with a company’s goal to enhance customer retention by offering features designed to improve user engagement and satisfaction.
2. Be Open to New Goals and Visions
Stay open to hearing about new goals, future visions, and evolving strategies. Show flexibility in aligning your idea with these emerging objectives. For example, adapting your solution to support a new focus on increasing market penetration by attracting new customer segments.
3. Emphasize the Importance of Alignment
Highlight that the best idea is the one that aligns with the business’s goals rather than sticking rigidly to the initial concept. This adaptability demonstrates a strategic approach and increases the likelihood of buy-in. For instance, refining your proposal to better align with any new strategic priorities or feedback you receive.
4. Engage in Continuous Dialogue
Maintain a continuous dialogue with stakeholders to ensure ongoing alignment. This includes regular check-ins, feedback sessions, and updates on how the idea is evolving to meet business needs. For example, scheduling regular touchpoints to ensure that your idea continues to align with strategic objectives and incorporates new insights or priorities.
By thoroughly understanding and referencing business goals, being open to new objectives, and emphasizing alignment, you demonstrate a strategic and adaptable approach that resonates with your audience and enhances the viability of your product idea.
Relatability and Vision
Making your audience envision the results of your product idea and their role in achieving them is crucial. This involves knowing your audience, building trust, and effectively communicating the vision. Here’s how to do it:
1. Know Your Audience
Understand who you are presenting to, including their roles, responsibilities, and what success looks like for them. This knowledge allows you to tailor your pitch to address their specific needs and concerns. In the context of a manufacturing company, knowing that the audience is focused on reducing operational costs and improving efficiency can shape your presentation.
2. Build Trust
Establish trust by demonstrating your understanding of the audience’s challenges and your commitment to helping them achieve their goals. Trust can be built through previous interactions, successful past projects, or simply by showing empathy and reliability. For example, sharing a successful case where your previous initiative saved significant costs and improved efficiency in a similar company.
3. Seed Concepts in Advance
Introduce key concepts or ideas informally before the formal pitch. This pre-seeding helps the audience become familiar with the ideas and can lead to more receptive discussions. For instance, casually mentioning the benefits of predictive maintenance in prior meetings can prime the audience for a deeper discussion during the pitch.
4. Use Storytelling Techniques
Create a relatable and compelling narrative that helps the audience see the impact of your idea. Use personas, real-life examples, or hypothetical scenarios to illustrate the benefits and outcomes. For example, describing how a factory manager, struggling with unexpected equipment failures, can use your predictive maintenance tool to prevent downtime and save costs.
5. Visualize the Future
Use visuals, mockups, or prototypes to help the audience see the potential of your idea. This makes the vision more tangible and easier to grasp. For example, presenting a prototype of a predictive maintenance dashboard that shows real-time data and alerts can make the concept more concrete.
6. Engage the Audience in the Vision
Encourage the audience to see themselves as part of the success story. Highlight their role and how they can contribute to achieving the vision. For example, showing how their expertise in operational processes can be crucial in fine-tuning the predictive maintenance system to achieve the best results.
By knowing your audience, building trust, seeding concepts in advance, and using effective storytelling and visualization techniques, you can create a relatable and compelling vision that engages your audience and helps them see the value and impact of your product idea.
Conclusion
Selling a product idea from a UX perspective involves more than just presenting a well-thought-out concept. It requires setting the right context, using empathy and data, aligning with business goals, and making the vision relatable and compelling. By understanding your audience, building trust, and demonstrating how your idea aligns with both customer needs and business objectives, you can create a persuasive pitch that resonates with UX leaders, product leaders, and executives.
Remember, the best idea is not necessarily the one that you initially conceive but the one that evolves through understanding, feedback, and alignment with the broader goals of the organization. Embrace the process of discovery, be open to refining your ideas, and focus on creating solutions that deliver real value to both the customer and the business.