Main takeaways: -Strategies to get customer conversations as a product manager -How to make the most of customer conversations to get product feedback -Building relationships with customers

1. Customer Conversations - Add Value! by
Microsoft Product Leader
www.productschool.com

2. CERTIFICATES
Your Product Management Certificate Path
Product Leadership
Certificate™
Full Stack Product
Management Certificate™
Product Management
Certificate™

3. Corporate
Training
Level up your team’s Product
Management skills

4. Free Product Management Resources
BOOKS
EVENTS
JOB PORTAL
COMMUNITIES
bit.ly/product_resources
COURSES

5. Customer
Conversations
How PMs get the most value from customer
data
Alfred Sin - PM@Microsoft
Alfred Sin - PM@Microsoft

6. Views are my own
Yes, Microsoft allows its corporate
drones to have freedom of thought!

7. Why talk to customers?
It’s part of the job!

8. Why talk to customers?
It’s part of the job!
Customer empathy

9. Why talk to customers?
It’s part of the job!
Customer empathy
Validate hypotheses

10. Why talk to customers?
It’s part of the job!
Customer empathy
Validate hypotheses
It feels good!

11. Who are your customers?
- Customers don’t always have to be people outside your company that pay
you money to use a product
- Consulting: client
- DevOps engineering: devs using your pipelines
- IT role: downstream teams
- PM: internal customer teams

12. Getting time with customers
Slight tangent: PM interviews

13. Getting time with customers
Slight tangent: PM interviews
Field/sales teams

14. Getting time with customers
Slight tangent: PM interviews
Field/sales teams
Community members

15. Getting time with customers
Slight tangent: PM interviews
Field/sales teams
Community members
Support cases

16. Getting time with customers
Slight tangent: PM interviews
Field/sales teams
Community members
Support cases
Direct customer reachouts

17. Great, you have their attention
Now what?

18. Tips and tricks for getting feedback from
customers
Preparation is key (of course)
What are some problems you currently face in managing your
infrastructure?
Vs
Do you have problems with backup, security, or updates?
Understand that how you word a question will impact how it is answered

19. Tips and tricks for getting feedback from
customers

20. Support-related conversations
- Riskier but still valuable
Tips and tricks for getting feedback from
customers

21. Surveys
- Keep it short
- “What’s in it for me?”
Tips and tricks for getting feedback from
customers

22. 1. Build community
2. Engage community
Tips and tricks for getting feedback from
customers

23. Example situations

24. Azure Serial Console - a survey with leverage

25. Azure Automanage - large survey example

26. Azure Automanage - support reachouts
- Reach out after onboarding failures
- Offer to help, and seek feedback
- Build customer relationship
- Drive retention and decrease churn

27. Azure Automanage - Cohort calls
Purpose of calls:
- Share product updates
- Ask for feedback
- Build community

28. Next steps with customer feedback
Build relationships
Identify problems to solve
Write PRDs
At MSFT, we keep a whole OneNote dedicated to customer feedback so
that anyone can use it at any time

29. In Summary...
Why?
Getting customers’ attention
Tips and tricks for maximizing feedback
Examples

30. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management Training Courses
and
Corporate Training