How to Move From B2B Sales to Product Management

Introduction: B2B Sales to Product Management

Changing from being a b2b sales executive to a product management can be a great career change. Both have a lot of similarities because they are both about figuring out how to cater to the needs of customers, find solutions to problems, working with different departments and making decisions to meet certain objectives.

The main difference is that in sales you focus on helping customers buy a solution to their needs while in product management you are focused on figuring out the solution to meet those needs.

The benefit of b2b sales is that you most likely already have a lot of skills needed for product management. There is no need to go back to school. All you have to do is understand the responsibilities of a product manager and develop the skills you are missing and convince employers that you have the appropriate skill set to do the job.

How to Move From B2B Sales to Product Management?

1. Understand What Product Managers Actually Do

Before you take any steps toward a career change, you should research what product managers do at a company. A product manager’s job is to uncover customer pain points, analyze the market, define and prioritize requirements, build relationships with designers and developers, and decide if a product is successful.

More than any other misconception, people think that a product manager’s primary responsibility is to come up with ideas. Instead, there’s more to the role: product managers spend a lot of time researching pain points, having meetings, analyzing data, negotiating, and communicating with stakeholders.

Your experience in B2B sales makes you an ideal candidate for a product manager position because you already understand what goes on behind the scenes and have many transferrable skills.
See the list of transferrable skills for a product manager position below:

• Communicate with clients and stakeholders
• Define customer pain points
• Translate complex information into digestible takeaways
• Know competitors’ offerings
• Research why customers choose one company over another
• Work with marketing, operations, and technical departments
• Negotiation skills
• Know-how of the company’s and product’s objectives
• Resilience and adaptability when rejecting and prioritizing

Instead of listing your sales experience on a resume as a product manager, try to describe what you did in terms of actions and how these actions helped you become a better product manager.
You can write something like: ‘Discovered a recurring pain point experienced by clients which led to a change within my department to address the issue and improve our offerings.’

2. Learn the Product Management Basics

The next step is to learn the product management basics inside out. Consider such terms as product discovery, user research, product roadmap, prioritization, MVP, product-market fit, user stories, product metrics, A/B testing, and agile development.
Even if you decide not to get another degree, online courses, books, real-world learning, and practice will help you learn product management fundamentals.

However, do not fall in love with certificate accumulation – most companies care about your practical knowledge and skills. They want to see if you are suitable for the position and if your mindset fits the product manager role.

3. Enhance Your Data Knowledge

Data is at the heart of everything in product management nowadays. You do not need to be a data scientist to excel at product management, but you need to have at least some understanding of statistics and data analysis.

Start studying Excel or Google Sheets and, eventually, SQL if you can. You need to know what conversion rate, retention, churn, customer acquisition cost (CAC), revenue, engagement, and lifetime value (LTV) are.

For example, if your product has a huge number of users but almost none return after the first month, you need to analyze why it happens. Your previous experience in the B2B sales field could help you here since you have at least some understanding of the sales funnel, user buying patterns, and customer acquisition costs.

4. Get Closer to Your Company’s Product Team

If you are now working for a company in the B2B sector, one of the easiest ways to move into product management is to make an internal transfer. Network with product managers, designers, engineers, and customer success groups.

Ask them about their work and volunteer to assist wherever your skills might be useful. Share insights from your frontline experience, such as calls with customers, with product managers. If some customers are consistently requesting the same features, summarize the feedback and indicate how common the request is and what customer segment is interested. This will make you a go-to person for customers’ problems and solutions.

5. Build a Product Portfolio

To prove to yourself and others that you have what it takes to be a product manager, build a product portfolio. With this portfolio, you can demonstrate your understanding of the B2B product market by creating a case study of an existing product and describing your approach to its development. The case should include:

• Your target customer for the product;
• The problem this customer needs to solve;
• How you might discover this problem;
• A proposed solution to this problem;
• What features you would prioritize;
• How you would measure success;
• Possible constraints and risks.

You could also analyze a product that you have already sold. You will be able to better understand the challenges than a product manager without sales experience, and you will be able to offer a unique perspective on the product.

6. Use Your Customer Knowledge

Your biggest advantage over peers who studied to become traditional product managers is your exposure to customers.
You are likely to have heard real customers’ feedback about what they want to see in your product, what they are willing to pay for it, what alternatives they consider when making buying decisions, and what pain points they experience.

Make sure to use this valuable source of information and highlight it during your transition to product management.
A product manager who knows what problems their customers have is more likely to truly address them when developing new products and features.

For instance, if a customer asks you for a functionality that, in your opinion, is not optimal, you may want to research this request and see if there is an alternative solution that would serve the purpose.

Conclusion: B2B Sales to Product Management

In conclusion, transitioning from a career in B2B sales to product management is definitely possible. In fact, your past experiences in sales represent a significant advantage over peers with traditional degrees. Therefore, focus on building your product management knowledge and practical experience, learning how to leverage your domain knowledge, business insights, and customer discovery skills to identify and address the most common problems experienced by your business’s customers.

“Your B2B sales experience can be a strong foundation for a career in product management. Use your customer knowledge, market insights, communication skills, and business understanding to build product expertise and create relevant projects. Make your transition into product management with confidence using Best Job Tool.”