Practical resource for product management

Ms. Warren is the Sales Manager for Entercom, a powerful and efficient digital advertising company that works with radio stations all throughout the Wisconsin area. She is by far a great example of a product manager in that she is assigned to specific duties and responsibilities. She is delegated to advertise a business or organization (with radio as the media vehicle) and then she guides the company through every phase in the advertising process.  Ms. Warren’s goals are to advertise in a cost-effective way that reaches the companies target audience and proves profitable to the company. The more on the mark she is in the former areas, the better her success as an employee.
Her main goal is long-term customer satisfaction. She has the responsibility of building trust with her customers, which means a product manager should be compelled to be honest. Among honesty should be integrity and technical competence. Having these traits will help the product manager handle varying situations to the best of their ability.

According to Warren, a product manager must have a solid business background with the ability to work through other people to achieve the intended results. They must have a great understanding of the customer in order to provide a superior service. A product manager should be able to juggle numerous projects and must exhibit exceptional time management and organizational skills. If a product manager lacks in these areas, they are only performing on a fundamental level versus a fully operational level.

When asked what the most difficult part of her job was, her response was “in today’s market, you cannot just have the skills and abilities to do the job, you have to push the competency to a higher level.” To reach that level, Ms. Warren suggests reading up on the subject, sit in on seminars and classes, and get involved in a similar professional organization. I would even go so far as to suggest volunteering for a civic group where you could further develop your business skills and gain more experience.