Being a sales representative in 2022 means assuming the role of a dedicated researcher.
It requires having a deep understanding of the product or service you’re waxing poetic about every day. You need to stay up-to-date with the latest market trends and demands. It’s essential to build a strong rapport with your clients or customers, take detailed notes and brainstorm questions to reveal their ever-changing needs.
So as a seasoned customer mastermind decorated with knowledge and experience from the customer’s perspective, shouldn’t that expertise have a say in the product they’re delivering? That’s why at Zumper, sales teams are given room at the table to help product build the product roadmap with a sense of transparency and open communication.
“Sales teams actively engage with current and prospective customers on a daily basis, so our sellers can impart real-time feedback to the product team from the customer perspective,” said Juliet Johansson, chief revenue officer at the real estate rental platform.
“In a startup environment, our collaboration with the company’s product team allows us to be nimble and implement change initiatives to our products at a much faster pace, increasing revenue and enacting growth initiatives,” she added.
Johansson even forged a new leadership role within the company, building a reinforced connection to deliver a product influenced by customer feedback to get the best results.
Built In San Francisco sat down with Johansson to learn more about how sales teams can impact a company’s product roadmap — and hear her advice for any sales leader looking to build stronger product relationships.
Zumper is a rental platform used to search for verified properties, reserve them on the spot and lease them online.
Give an example of how you have impacted Zumper’s product roadmap. What was your goal, and what was the result?
As chief revenue officer at Zumper, my sales team and I are able to bring direct customer feedback directly from the field to our product team. The sales organization would act as a funnel for information, providing real-time input from current customers on what product requirements that they actually need as well as any issues.
With my strategic sales perspective, I was able to impart valuable input to the product team on pricing new products strategically and improving lines of products through customer segmentation. More importantly, the strong collaboration between myself and the product team greatly improved our product offerings, which led to increase in sales and revenue.
What are some tips you’d offer to sales leaders looking to build constructive relationships with their company’s product team?
Embrace transparency. One of our core values at Zumper is all about being open and communicative to every Roomiez. Interestingly, communication remains extremely important in building collaborative relationships with the product team by sharing what you know and your ideas in a constructive manner. Quantifying impact — or how many customers have given you input — as well as providing customers who can pilot are essential. Furthermore, we run pilots by following the guidelines dictated by the product team, adhering and following their script and rules.
Communication remains extremely important in building collaborative relationships with the product team by sharing what you know in a constructive manner.”
In your opinion, why is it important for sales teams to have an influence over the product roadmap?
“Win together” is one of our core values, and it is pivotal for us to partner closely with our product team to ensure that we build the best products for our customers.
To demonstrate how important this partnership is, I created an entirely new role — regional vice president of national sales and product partnerships — for one of our most seasoned sales executives. Her main responsibilities will be to continue to spearhead national sales initiatives as well as be a trusted partner to our company’s product team, bringing a sales perspective and insights in building and transforming Zumper products. Maintaining a synergistic relationship between my sales teams and our product team will always be important to achieve our revenue and growth initiatives.
