Why the best Product Managers think like salespeople

Hey Warblers,

Pop quiz: What's the difference between a good product manager and a great one?

Technical skills? Data analysis? Design sense?

According to Elena, Head of Product at a $2B fintech, it's none of those.

"The best PMs think like salespeople. They don't just build products - they sell the vision, navigate objections, and close internal deals every single day."

Three years ago, Elena was a frustrated PM watching her best ideas die in committee. Today, she runs product for a 200-person team and her initiatives have a 94% ship rate.

The transformation? She spent 6 months shadowing the sales team.

Not to learn about customers (though that happened too). But to learn how great salespeople get to "yes" when everyone starts at "no."

Here's exactly how sales thinking revolutionized her product career.

The Feature That Everyone Killed

Elena's wake-up call came during 2022 planning.

She'd identified a massive opportunity: automated invoice reconciliation. The data was compelling:

• 67% of users manually reconciling

• Average time: 3 hours/week

• Churn predictor: Manual reconciliation users churned 3x more

"I had user interviews, competitive analysis, TAM calculations - a bulletproof case."

The result? Dead on arrival.

Engineering: "Too complex, would take 2 quarters" Sales: "Not sexy enough for demos" Marketing: "Hard to message" Finance: "Where's the immediate revenue impact?" CEO: "Interesting but not this year"

"I realized I'd built a great product case but failed at the most important part - selling it internally."

The 6-Month Sales Immersion

Instead of getting bitter, Elena got curious. How did their top sales reps consistently close impossible deals?

She embedded with the sales team. Not officially - she just started showing up.

Month 1: Discovery and Pain

Elena shadowed discovery calls. First revelation:

"Great salespeople don't pitch features. They uncover pain and make it urgent."

Sales approach:

• "Walk me through your invoice process today"

• "How many hours does your team spend on this?"

• "What happens when reconciliation is wrong?"

• "What's the cost of those errors?"

By the end, the customer was begging for a solution.

"I realized I'd been starting with the solution, not the pain. No wonder nobody cared."

Month 2: Building Champions

Next observation: Great salespeople never rely on one stakeholder.

They build a coalition:

• Technical champion (feasibility)

• Economic champion (budget)

• User champion (adoption)

• Executive champion (strategy)

"I'd been treating engineering as adversaries instead of making them champions of the vision."

Month 3: Handling Objections

Elena documented how sales handled the same objections she faced:

"Too expensive/complex" 

• PM response: "But look at the user value!" 

• Sales response: "Let's calculate the cost of NOT doing this..."

"Not a priority" 

• PM response: "But users are asking for it!" 

• Sales response: "What would need to change to make this a priority?"

"Maybe next quarter" 

• PM response: "Fine" (sulks away) 

• Sales response: "What can we do THIS quarter to set up success?"

Month 4-6: The Close

The biggest lesson: Sales never takes "no" as final. They take it as "not yet" and work the timeline.

Elena watched reps:

• Create urgency without being pushy

• Use social proof strategically: show how others are reacting to validate your plan

• Break big asks into smaller commitments

• Make the path to "yes" feel inevitable

The PM Playbook Reborn

Elena rebuilt her approach using sales principles:

1. The Pain-First Product Pitch

Old way: "Here's a cool feature we should build"

New way: "Here's what's breaking for our users every day"

Example from her next planning cycle:

Instead of: "We should build automated reconciliation"

She said: "Our enterprise customers waste 15 hours/week on manual reconciliation. That's $2M in labor costs across our base. Three competitors just launched solutions. We're losing 2 deals/week to this gap."

Room's response: "How fast can we build it?"

2. The Champion Network

For every major initiative, Elena now maps:

Technical Champion: The engineer excited about the challenge

• Find who loves hard problems

• Give them architecture ownership

• Make them co-presenters

Economic Champion: The finance person who sees ROI

• Build the business case together

• Let them present the numbers

• Make them look smart

User Champion: The customer success person living the pain

• Have them bring real customer quotes

• Let them own success metrics

• Make them the hero

Executive Champion: The leader who benefits most

• Align to their OKRs

• Solve their biggest headache

• Give them the win

3. The Objection Flip

Elena developed responses that turn resistance into collaboration:

"We don't have resources" "What would we need to de-prioritize to make this happen? Let's look at the trade-offs together."

"Too risky" "What would de-risk this for you? Could we start with a smaller experiment?"

"Not strategic" "Help me understand our strategy better. Where do you see the biggest gaps?"

"Customers aren't asking" "They're not asking for this solution, but they're screaming about this problem. Let me show you..."

4. The Momentum Build

Like great salespeople, Elena learned to build inevitable momentum:

Week 1: Plant the seed in 1:1s "Seeing interesting patterns in user data around [problem]..."

Week 2: Share data in team channels "Quick insight: 67% of enterprise users struggling with [problem]"

Week 3: Customer story in all-hands "Just heard from [Big Customer] - they're considering alternatives because of [problem]"

Week 4: Present solution with champions "[Engineering lead] and I have an approach for [problem]..."

By the time she formally pitched, half the company was already bought in.

The Sales Techniques Every PM Needs

Discovery Questions That Create Urgency

Instead of: "Would this feature help?"

Ask:

• "Walk me through how you handle this today"

• "What's the impact when this breaks?"

• "How much time/money does this cost?"

• "What happens if we don't solve this?"

Building Your Coalition

For each initiative, identify:

1. Who wins biggest if this succeeds?

2. Who loses most if we don't do it?

3. Who has informal influence?

4. Who could kill it if not aligned?

Then work backwards to make them champions.

The Power of Social Proof

Just like sales uses customer references, use:

• "Google's PM team does this..."

• "[Respected leader] was just asking about this"

• "Our biggest competitor just shipped this"

• "[Star engineer] is excited to build this"

Creating Inevitable Momentum

1. Start conversations 4 weeks before you need approval

2. Drip insights that build the problem narrative

3. Let others surface the pain independently

4. Present your solution as the obvious next step

Your Sales-Thinking Action Plan

This Week:

1. Pick your next initiative

2. Write the pain statement (not feature list)

3. Map potential champions in each department

4. Start planting seeds in casual conversations

Next Month:

1. Shadow 2-3 sales calls

2. Document their objection handling

3. Practice "discovery" in your 1:1s

4. Build coalition before presenting

Key Mindset Shifts:

• You're not asking for permission, you're solving problems

• Every "no" is just "not yet"

• Champions sell better than you do

• Pain creates urgency, features don't

The Uncomfortable Truth

Most PMs fail not because their ideas are bad, but because they can't sell them.

You can have the best user research, the clearest metrics, the perfect design. But if you can't navigate internal politics, build coalitions, and create urgency - your products die in PowerPoint.

The career hack? Stop thinking like a builder. Start thinking like a seller.

Great PMs aren't great because they know what to build. They're great because they can get it built.

Elena's parting wisdom: "I used to resent having to 'sell' my ideas internally. Now I realize - if I can't sell it internally, why would customers buy it?"

Ready to sell your vision?

-Warbler

P.S. Friday: The "Influence Map" - a tactical guide to identify and activate decision makers across every function. Including the template Elena uses to get 94% of her initiatives approved.