The 3 Product Manager Stories We Need To Master
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In 2006, I had an opportunity to present a business case to the C-level.
After listening to my rehearsal, my boss made the decision to take the lead on the pitch and have me play a backup role.
Ouch. My ego was bruised and my self-confidence took a hit.
But, looking back, it was 100% the right call by him.
Because, although my business case was solid in the facts...
My storytelling skills utterly sucked.
It was a humbling and valuable eye opening lesson for me.
Because it turns out, storytelling plays a HUGE part in product management.
And with good reason.
Done right, storytelling has the power to attract investment, open job opportunities, create raving followers, crystallize your team's mission, and super charge your ability to get things done.
The key words being: Done Right.
Why Storytelling is a Game Changer
Think about famous (and infamous) leaders in history. Why did so many people follow them?
Think about a leader or someone you personally follow.
Why do you follow them?
Because they're a great storyteller.
Storytelling is powerful because it allows people to connect with information on an emotional level, fostering empathy and building trust.
Because a good story creates a shared experience by evoking emotions. It's the emotions that help us understand different perspectives, and make complex ideas more engaging and memorable.
Essentially, stories enable us to relate to others and the world around us in a meaningful way.
It's no different in business.
Because:
- In business, every business case, proposal pitch, and product plan is a story about customers and money.
- The people we're trying to influence are humans, subject to the same emotions as you and I, regardless of their title, rank, or role.
Most PMs Aren't Natural Storytellers
Here's a scenario:
You've worked hard to prepare your presentation. You've prepared your slides, triple-checked all the numbers, and have got your talk track down.
You settle in. You're feeling a bit nervous, but are confident in your proposal. You greet each of the attendees warmly and engage in some light-hearted banter. Mainly to ease your own nerves.
Then, it's show time.
And, from slide 1, the whole presentation goes off the rails.
People are interjecting. Your numbers are being questioned. You can feel the skepticism. No one is buying what you're selling.
Or worse, there's dead silence. No one is engaging. And at that end, you get a polite, "Thanks for sharing this." And everyone leaves.
Sound familiar?
Most of us PMs aren't natural storytellers.
Partly, this is because most of us come from technical, analytical, or systems backgrounds, where data, logic, and rationality are valued. Most of us weren't communication majors in college.
This is certainly one of the reasons I failed in 2006.
In addition, most people have a real challenge around storytelling, because they don’t know what to share, let alone how to share it.
Or when they do share a story, it’s way too long with the wrong details.
That's why today I'm going to talk about the 3 most essential stories every product manager needs to absolutely NAIL and have ready in their back pocket.
And the quick and dirty guide to creating them.
The Three Stories
1. Your Origin Story
This is the most important story you need to nail.
The is the story of YOU. Your superhero origin story.
You're asked this story all the time. In job interviews. When you meet new people. In customer interactions. In social settings. In the Round of Introductions at the start of any meeting.
Think about it. We're always being asked, "Tell me about yourself." Or, "Tell me about your background." Or, "What do you do?" Or, "Please, introduce yourself."
This is our opportunity to shine. And most people fumble this badly.
Because most folks haven't really thought about this. So they wing it.
The result?
They end up either way too short - "I'm the product manager for TechX. I've been here for N years." (Boring!)...
Or are way too long-winded, going chronologically through every job they've had in a monotonous reciting of assignments. (Super boring!)
Instead, you want to talk about your journey:
- What problem or challenge did you face?
- What internal struggles did you have to overcome?
- What external struggles did you face?
- What was a change event in your life? What was the spark or aha moment that caused you to think different or make a decision?
- What or who was your guide or motivation?
- What was the result? What led you to being here?
This is a FAR more engaging story than a bland recitation of historical jobs.
Talking about your journey - the struggle, the aha moment, how you solved it, what you did, and the resolution or results you achieved - makes your story much more relatable.
Because we all - ALL of us - have gone through this!
In addition, you need to keep this memorable and contextual - meaning you have a different version of it depending on the context. A version for a job interview. A version for a customer meeting. A version for a social setting. A version for a webinar. Etc.
We also need to be able to tell our origin story in different timeframes - a 15-second one, a 30-second one, a 60-second one, a 2-minute one, and a 5-minute one.
That way, you're prepared to tell your story in any situation and setting.
2. Your Customer Story
Our product exists to solve a customer problem. So that begs the question, "What does the ideal customer look like?"
As product managers, we absolutely need to nail this customer story.
Who uses our product?
Why do they use it?
What problem does it solve for them?
One of the best ways to tell this story is to pick an actual customer who represents your ideal customer and tell their story.
The framework is simple:
- Here's Anna.
- She had this problem.
- She used our product.
- Now her life is beautiful.
Having a powerful customer story helps us connect with other customers who may be listening.
3. Your Product Story
The third one that we absolutely need to nail - and this one will no doubt be our favorite - is our product story.
Now, most PMs I meet dive into a long-winded dissertation of features and functions, or a technical explanation. That's boring.
Instead, we want to talk about why we built the product and the value it brings.
- Here's the problem we found customers are having.
- So, here's our vision for the solution.
- And here are the benefits or outcomes they get by using it.
With our listener now hooked, we have license to go deeper into the mechanics of how our product works.
Even if someone starts by asking, "How does your product work?", always start with the customer problem you're trying to solve.
Note that both the product story and the customer story are stories about the customer. The difference is the perspective from which we're telling it.
The customer story is purely about the customer and their journey. In this telling, our product helps make them the hero of their own story.
The product story is the response to the question, "Tell me about your product." Even here, we always start with the customer's problem and use that to paint our vision and how we make our customer's life better.
Taking Action
After being sidelined by my boss (rightly so), I thought, "You know what, if I want to be more effective, I need to learn how to speak."
So, I reached out and got advice from an expert who gave me the simplest and most profound advice.
The conversation went like this:
Me: "How do I become a better speaker?"
He says: "You really want to know the answer?"
Me: "Uh, yeah, that's why I'm calling."
He goes: "Always say yes."
Eh?
What does that mean?
"If you want to learn how to tell your story," he explained, "any time you have a chance to do it, always do it."
Mind blown.
I was expecting this elaborate, detailed 17-point checklist or framework.
Instead, he simply said, "Always say yes."
It couldn't have been better advice.
It's like learning to ride a bike.
The only way to learn is to get on it, fall down a few times, get back up every time, and keep peddling.
So, now that you know the 3 stories you need to nail, your next step is to TELL THEM as often as you can…
- Within your company.
- To your teams.
- To executives.
- In job interviews.
- At events.
- To people you meet.
Basically, EVERYONE!
The more often you share your story, the more NATURAL it will start to flow, and the more impact it will have.
At the end of the day, team members, stakeholders, customers, investors, everyone intuitively WANTS to connect to you and your product.
Your job is to make that entry point so damn exciting that it lures them in and never lets them off the hook.
You do that with a powerful story.
And you get better at telling that story by telling it over and over and over again and again and again.
This Week's Goal
Commit to adding at least one of these stories to your daily conversation and just start practicing with other people.
And solidify by replying back to me: Which of these 3 stories will you plan to starting using NOW?
