From the sales conversation to company leadership. Tailored development for teams and managers. Experience since 2001, multinational clients and a specialisation in pharmaceutical companies.
From product strategy to sales
Product Management That Connects Strategy with Sales
The presentation, campaign and launch plan for a new product are ready. The sales team needs to understand its target customers and patients, and how it is positioned against existing competitors. The product manager also sets the team’s priorities for customer communication and other customer-facing activities. Thorough planning around these product priorities is key to success in the market. For product managers, this often means clearly defining product management processes and priorities at each stage of the product lifecycle. Product management at ED Development connects marketing strategy with sales priorities, team preparation and market feedback.
From product to customer value
What is product management?
Product management connects customer needs, product strategy and a company’s commercial objectives. It involves decision-making throughout the product lifecycle.
Our business management programmes support product managers’ development and strengthen collaboration between marketing and sales.
We work with your products, your company’s methodology and market context. We focus on how product strategy translates into team priorities and everyday work with customers.
Our work together
What our product management programmes cover
The programme connects decisions about the product with what the people responsible for selling it need to know and do.
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Product strategy
Product strategy and customer priorities
Participants clarify who the product helps, which problem it solves and what it should deliver for the business. They connect product priorities with business strategy and market information.
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Product value
Product value in sales conversations
We work on how salespeople explain why the product matters to a specific customer. We connect the case for the product with that customer’s requirements. Sales team development can build on this work once the approach is in use.
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Lifecycle stages
Priorities across the product lifecycle
We examine how a product’s needs differ at launch, during growth and as sales evolve. Participants consider what to change in priorities, team support or customer communication.
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Collaboration
Bringing marketing and sales together
We align the expectations of product managers and sales leadership. We define the resources sales teams should use, the support they need and how customer feedback will inform product decisions.
Common product management challenges
When to strengthen your product management approach
The need for development arises when product strategy leaves the next steps unclear or teams interpret it differently.
- The product manager is new to the role and needs to develop their competencies.
- The campaign is ready, but salespeople do not know which customers to prioritise.
- Product materials describe features without linking them to individual customer needs.
- Marketing and sales assess product success against different expectations.
- Sales discussions focus on price, while the product’s value remains unclear.
- Product priorities remain unchanged despite changes in market conditions.
- Information from customers is collected but does not lead to specific decisions.
- Marketing and sales have not agreed their responsibilities for the product launch.
- With several products to sell, the team is unclear about the priorities for each.
How we work
How your product management programme works
We work with product and sales leadership to define the changes the programme should support in decision-making and working practices.
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Assessing needs and current practice
A training needs analysis starts with your product strategy and how your teams work. Depending on the brief, we interview managers and examine specific situations.
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Designing your tailored programme
We select topics based on product managers’ responsibilities, the product portfolio and the needs of sales teams. We agree how marketing, sales leadership and other relevant stakeholders will be involved.
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Putting new approaches into practice
Participants work with their own products and assignments. There are 3 to 5 weeks between modules to test the approaches in practice, supported by coaching or mentoring.
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Certification and evaluation
We conclude the programme with certification and an assessment of the agreed skills. We evaluate how participants use the approaches when making product decisions and collaborating across teams, then identify priorities for further development.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- since1993Management experience
- 25+Years of business development
- 60+Multinational clients
Didn’t find your answer?Elena Demeková, CEO and Senior Consultant
What does a product manager do?
They link their understanding of the market and customers to product direction and business objectives. They help set priorities and coordinate work across the departments involved. Their authority varies by organisation. At ED Development, we focus primarily on product strategy, translating it into sales practice and helping the people responsible for implementation work together.
What is the difference between product management and project management?
Product management defines the product’s longer-term direction and its value to customers and the business. Project management oversees the delivery of a specific brief within an agreed scope, timeframe and budget. IBM also explains the distinction between product and project management roles. We design the programme around how these responsibilities are divided within your company.
How does product management relate to the product lifecycle?
Sales and marketing priorities change during introduction, growth, maturity and decline. The product lifecycle provides a way to understand these changes. The stages do not necessarily unfold in the same way or follow a fixed sequence. In the programme, we examine what the current situation means for decision-making and sales support.
Is the programme suitable for experienced product managers?
Yes, when it addresses the decisions and situations they currently face. These might include changing product priorities, working with sales leadership or preparing teams for a product launch. We draw on participants’ experience and the company’s own materials. We tailor the depth of the content and our approach to participants’ responsibilities and the findings of the initial analysis.
What experience does Elena Demeková have in linking marketing and sales?
In her work with DANONE in Medical Nutrition and Early Life Nutrition, Elena Demeková focused on marketing and management development, as well as implementing sales conversation models within company structures and processes. When designing a programme, we draw on this experience of translating strategy into day-to-day work. Explore ED Development’s client projects for further context.
How long does a product management programme take?
The overall duration depends on your objectives, the number of modules and the extent of team involvement. Our programme allows 3 to 5 weeks between modules to apply the approaches at work. We plan the schedule after the needs analysis so participants can prepare specific work assignments, test them in practice and bring feedback to the next session.
