Pragmaticlive

This episode is for anyone trying to figure out how to leverage storytelling in their role as a product manager or product marketer. The VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute and host, Rebecca Kalogeris, interviews Matthew Woodgett, founder and CEO of Go Narrative who explains that a story isn't an artifact or finished product like a book or movie, but instead, using is a way of communicating. He explains how stories help companies prioritize, connect departments and gain buy in for roadmaps. During the conversation, Matthew outlines an efficient and effective way to think about storytelling when you're a busy professional, which he describes as the 3D framework: Desire, difficulty and denouement.

In this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, hosts Erin Neal Enterprise Account Executive at Klue. Erin explains how to systematically approach objections to win customers who are talking with the sales team. The approach taught in this episode shows how to be collaborative rather than combative when approaching objections. Erin and Rebecca also cover how to provide sales with the tools they need to be successful in their objection handling with prospects. Klue is company that provides market and competitive intelligence software that enables competitor research and delivery of sales battlecards to B2B Sales teams.

In this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, hosts Sandy Orlando, the senior VP of product management at CDK Global, an automotive retailing software company. Sandy explains that her objective with NIHITO visits is to listen to the customer rather than to talk to the customer, and to test a hypothesis without trying to inform it. She said that while building personas people try to prescribe a conclusion and then prove it rather than exploring. When done well, personas can lead a product team to create solutions that lead customers to desired outcomes. At times, she said she's received feedback from customers that she didn't deliver one single thing the customer asked for but instead delivered exactly what they needed.

Mark Miller and Ted Vaugh, authors of Culture Built My Brand: The secret to winning more customers through company culture, join Rebecca Kalogaris, VP of marketing at Pragmatic Institute to talk about the intersection of culture and brand. They outline the 5 pillars of the brand, which include culture, products and services, the story of the company, user experiences and identity. They also explore the frustration that emerges when different departments and different people own different parts of the brand because it becomes complicated to shape culture. The conversation includes tips on how to address culture as someone who isn’t a leader at the organization. Mark and Ted explain that a marquee culture drives performance, but a bad culture can kill the brand.

Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute and Cindy Cruzado, certified instructor at Pragmatic Institute, discuss how to build a company culture that is healthy and creative especially in remote and hybrid working environments. Cynthia shares how to make disagreement comfortable and common as a way to support different ideas. They both agree that having fun along the way supports all of the team-building initiatives, and they include some game ideas that their teams find engaging.

(This episode of Pragmatic Live was captured during our recent Product Chat session) How do product pros deliver innovative solutions to users, leverage technology and develop tactical plans without a prior blueprint or example to follow?Ebony Shears, VP of product at Forbes, to the Product Chat shared how she gains team enthusiasm and buy-in, and how she determines what opportunities are worth pursuing at the 103-year-old institution.

In this episode, Andrew Wale, the chief revenue officer at Twintag, meets with Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, to discuss how to use a great product as a vehicle to engage with customers and enhance their experience. He explains how to give customers information when they need it and in a user-friendly format with tools like QR codes. When customers have to navigate robust websites, they might get lost in their search for an answer. He shows how product-led communication breaks down these types of barriers and improves customer retention.

We are going to be a product excellence team, so how do we measure how effective we are?" - Sherwin Damdar Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute interviews Sherwin Damdar, director of product management and innovation at Garlock, and he shares how he uses the sales of differentiated products to measure his teams' success. He says that differentiated products must meet three criteria: They must be unique, valuable and proven. Together they talk about how product managers can find areas of opportunity by evaluating problems customers have and the solutions they are willing to pay for.

(This episode of the Pragmatic Live Podcast was captured during one of our recent Product Chat webinars)   Companies know that learning more about their customers is the best way to improve their products. But is the research influencing meaningful change? More often than not, the answer is no.   While many mediums facilitate customer engagement, this work only results in tactical, user-level augmentations that have a minor impact. Thankfully, there’s a better strategy and that is a well-run Customer Advisory Board (CAB). Launching a CAB not only leads to significant product enhancements but can also uncover new solutions that lead to substantial revenue gains. But why should you be a member of a CAB?    Rob Jensen, VP of Marketing for Ignite, and learn how a CAB is an effective career-building opportunity for product managers and product marketing managers who serve on them. Not only do members interact with their best customers, but they are also presenting product plans and roadmaps in front of their compa

What a wonderful time to be product marketing, and Pragmatic instructor, Rich Nutinsky, explains why in this episode hosted by Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute. They discuss how the world of product management has evolved because of new technology and refined approaches to customer research. Rich also shares his own experiences as a product professional and how product training was a game-changer early in his product management career path. They conclude that we are in fact in the age of products.

Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Dr. Nancy Li, director of product, mentor and YouTuber. In this episode, Nancy gives all the details on her powerful story and some amazing tips on climbing to the top of the product industry, from worker-bee to director and beyond. Dr. Nancy has mentored more than 100 professionals to break through in product management, check out her YouTube below. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIXcpwAsd6uO6PQ7VaMbXpg  

"Demand generation at its base definition is simply generating demand for a product or service, and then converting that demand into a lead." - Charlotte Bohnett Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Charlotte Bohnett, the senior director of demand generation at WebPT. In this episode, she talks not only about what makes demand generation successful but also what qualifies as quality content marketing. As a leader in the field, she shares strategies for building effective content marketing teams from the ground up and talks about the importance of retaining the best employees on your team.

This episode was captured during our recent Product Chat series.   We were recently joined by Kimberly Hicks, former vice president of product, games and interactive for The Walt Disney Company. She shared her approach to improving user experience and developing an effective digital strategy.

Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Leidy Klotz, author of Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less. He encourages people to fight their instinct to add to projects, products and to-do lists as a way to display competence. Instead, Leidy teaches listeners how to add value to life and work through subtraction. The muscle for adding is strong for most people but subtraction takes practice and intention through prompts and reminders. During the episode, Leidy provides strategies to add subtractive solutions to their toolbox. "Historically, adding was the only option to improve things. But now, there are so many opportunities to take things away to make things better." - Leidy

Listen in to our recent Product Chat with Oji Udezue, chief product officer at Parsable, as he discusses his experience and shares fundamental product systems that can accelerate your path to achieving repeatable, consistent innovation for your organization.

Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, and Diana Richardson, technical product manager at Core Logic, explore the challenges that immerge with team and culture during an acquisition. Diana experienced acquisitions during her career and she shares how to navigate the uncertainty during the early stages of acquisition and how to spot opportunities rather than worry about "what ifs."

Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, and Diane Pierson, an instructor at Pragmatic Institute, talk about how the product industry has evolved during the last 15 months as the world drastically changed during the pandemic. They discuss what changes they predict are permanent and what might be a temporary shift to manage a unique environment. Rebecca and Diane also talk about how to measure success when the baseline is no longer relevant, and how to put structures in place to prepare for the unpredictable."You can't know what's going to happen, but be ready to act when it does. Keep these lessons with you and use them as you go forward. I think the future is going to be different, but I think we've got a lot of promise for this role as we go forward."

"If your salespeople are asking for discounts that are too big or too often, then your product team hasn't given sales the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to win deals at the right price." - Mark Stiving. Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, talks with Mark Stiving, founder of Impact Pricing, about the importance of value-based pricing. In this conversation, Rebecca and Mark explain what a value-based pricing table is and how it can equip sales teams so they can confidently and effectively approach prospective buyers.

In this episode, Jennifer Romanowski, senior product manager at FordDirect, explains how training with Pragmatic Institute revolutionized her approach to product management. The host Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, talks with Jennifer about how she introduced Pragmatic training to FordDirect and the big changes it influenced at the company. "I completed the pragmatic courses Foundation, Focus and Build and walked out with light bulbs going off. I believe that I was a good product manager, but now not only did I have an entire framework but I also knew how to help other product managers.

There are always more ideas than time. In this episode, Rebecca Kalogeris, VP of marketing for Pragmatic Institute, interviews Pragmatic Instructor, Amy Graham, about how to evaluate potential opportunities to determine what is worth a "yes" and what deserves a "no." The system gives every person (regardless of job title) an opportunity to feel heard while also letting the data speak to the viability of the idea.