How to Make ToB Product Operations Understand the Business Better Than the Business Itself ?

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I. Product Operator: Understanding the Business Better than Business Professionals

In ToB product operations, it is essential to have a better understanding of the business than just the product. Only then can we put forward reasonable requirements and drive their implementation. However, being better than just the product manager is the bare minimum requirement.

As intermediaries between product managers and the business side, ToB product operations need to align with the business, proactively plan the functionalities the business desires, and communicate with the business as if we were part of it, or even more immersed in it.

Some may find the idea of understanding the business better than the business itself a bit far-fetched. After all, you're not primarily responsible for the business, are you? How could you possibly understand it better than those deeply embedded in it?

To clarify, let's define what it means to "understand the business better than business professionals" from the perspective of a product operations role. I believe there are two layers to this understanding.

The first layer involves a strategic and tactical understanding of the business. We need to grasp the business from the perspective of its strategic and tactical aspects, understanding its operations and the reasons behind them. We need to comprehend how the business functions and why it operates the way it does. When the business makes strategic adjustments and tactical changes, we should understand the rationale behind these decisions. The key difference between us and the business professionals is that they not only need to understand these intricacies but also continuously optimize the business. For us, understanding the "what" and "why" is sufficient.

The second layer involves a detailed understanding of the business's execution from the viewpoint of various stakeholders at different levels within the organization. We should be able to have a comprehensive understanding of the business's execution processes, eliminating the information gaps caused by different management levels and roles. In larger project teams, these gaps tend to be more pronounced. For example, high-level strategists and mid-level tacticians may not fully comprehend the challenges faced by frontline managers, and they may be even less aware of the struggles of frontline employees. On the other hand, frontline employees might not have insights into the entire business structure, its specific logic, and the reasons behind certain decisions. However, ToB product operations need to bridge these gaps.

Hence, from these two perspectives, under the assumption of established strategic and tactical directions, ToB product operations are the individuals who possess the most comprehensive understanding of the business at the execution level. In this sense, stating that they understand the business better than the business itself is not an exaggeration. The role of ToB product operations, although appearing to be positioned between product managers and the business side, is, in fact, intricately woven into the fabric of the entire business.

II. Product Operator: Understanding the Business Better than Business Itself

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In the following three aspects, all you need to do is understand them better than specific individuals to become a versatile business professional.

1. Matching the Understanding of Business Strategy with Upper Management

Take the example of a sales business: Upper management must consider the source and cost of traffic, the viability of marketing models, organizational structures, and staffing changes, among other factors. Typically, high-level executives collaborate with mid-level managers to plan and validate corresponding strategies. In terms of comprehension, we need to reach the level of understanding of current business models as held by mid-level managers.

For ToB product operators, understanding is sufficient because high-level executives will make various strategic or tactical adjustments as projects develop. If we understand why they are doing this, it's enough. This is an area that front-line managers and salespeople may not be deeply concerned about. From their perspective, even though we're not directly involved in the business, we may seem to have a much deeper understanding of it.

2. Matching the Understanding of Business Processes with Mid-level Management

While high-level executives set strategies and goals, mid-level managers must come up with specific plans to implement them. From the perspective of mid-level managers, what we see more often are business scenarios and processes, which high-level executives, front-line managers, and employees do not typically possess.

Understanding why specific plans are chosen and why certain sales processes are established is something ToB product operators need to grasp.

3. Matching the Understanding of Business Execution with Front-line Employees

Mid-level managers create specific plans that require implementation by front-line managers and employees. This involves numerous real conversion scenarios, and ToB product operators often manage product usage scenarios primarily within this context.

Using the sales process as an example, we need to know the specific actions required for each process, what tasks must be completed each day in each conversion cycle, which actions require the use of specific product features, and which repetitive actions cause frustration. How do we identify and tag highly interested customers? What about the product experience and so on? This information is only accessible to front-line managers and employees, and mid-level managers may struggle to comprehend it. Therefore, in terms of understanding the execution of business, ToB product operators should align with front-line employees.

In summary, we seek guidance on business strategy from upper management, learn about business processes from mid-level management, and experience business execution from front-line staff.

III. How to Gain a Comprehensive Understanding of a Business

For anyone, it takes a significant amount of time to progress from initially encountering a new business to having a complete grasp of its intricacies. The notion of swiftly comprehending a business and making rapid decisions is often unrealistic, unless your previous work and the business model are nearly identical. Thus, thorough business research is essential.

However, it's frustrating that once we step into a role, we are often greeted with a slew of responsibilities. If we hold a higher position, bosses expect us to plan and make product-related decisions. Feeling overwhelmed by the workload and lacking deep insight into the business, we might hesitate to make decisions, but our bosses are eagerly awaiting them. Under this pressure, we can easily make hasty judgments, formulate unreasonable plans, and leave an unprofessional and unreliable impression on our superiors and peers.

So, how can one relatively quickly gain an all-encompassing understanding of a business? I believe that achieving both speed and comprehensiveness in understanding a business can be accomplished by following these four steps: summarizing the industry's general direction, conducting interviews from top to bottom, not neglecting frontline questionnaires, and undertaking rotations with a purpose.

Step 1: Summarize the Industry's General Direction

Many individuals who have conducted business research share the same experience – talking to high and middle-level management often doesn't yield detailed insights. Conversations with frontline employees are challenging due to their limited availability and tendency to lack focus. If you aren't adequately prepared and ask low-level questions, your professionalism may be called into question. Especially when dealing with heads of sales teams or frontline leaders, they are typically pressed for time, under significant stress, and preoccupied with numerous tasks. Consequently, thorough preparation is vital for successful business research. It not only allows for more focused and precise questioning but also helps create a positive first impression with relevant departments.

Therefore, before embarking on formal research, it is essential to first summarize the current state of the industry and grasp the industry's general direction. This step allows us to gain a clear view of how various companies in the market operate, and their methods. Understanding these aspects provides us with basic industry information, helping us formulate more targeted and in-depth questions during the subsequent interviews, avoiding asking common questions. If we have prior experience with competitors, we can also inquire about the differences between them. These preparations, on the one hand, will facilitate our next round of interviews and, on the other hand, will lay the foundation for building a professional image.

Step 2: Interview from Top to Bottom

• The Sequence of Interviews Must Be Top-Down

  This approach helps us understand the project layer by layer, from macro to micro. According to the pyramid principle, this order provides the best understanding and is easiest to summarize. From upper management, we learn about strategy and business scenarios, and from frontline employees, we understand execution processes, product tool usage, and current pain points.

• Interviews Must Be Conducted Face to Face

  Face-to-face conversations are always the most efficient. Many interesting and unanticipated questions arise in such interactions. When you are well-prepared, have sharp, and professional questions, these interviewees will become important partners for your future work, making them your initial network when taking on new projects.

• Thorough Preparation is Essential

  This includes a clear and concise self-introduction and, most importantly, targeted and in-depth questions. These questions not only determine whether the interview can address your concerns but also influence the first impression you make on other departments, subsequently affecting the progress of future work.

Step 3: Frontline Questionnaires Are a Must

After conducting interviews with frontline personnel, you will likely receive extensive feedback on process-related issues, execution challenges, and product usage issues. After refining and summarizing these issues, you can design questionnaires for frontline employees to gather further insights. In addition to verifying issues mentioned in interviews, being open to input from a broad range of participants can help identify more problems within the product's tools. These problems can then be consolidated into more urgent first-phase requirements.

Step 4: Rotate with Purpose

• Rotate when it's not urgent

  When you've had some exposure to the business, completed critical and urgent requirements, and the pace of product feature development is relatively stable, that's the ideal time to apply for rotations.

• Rotate with a clear purpose

  Normally, rotations entail doing your regular job and rotation tasks simultaneously, making for long and tiring days. Typically, the main purpose of rotations is to thoroughly understand the specific usage scenarios of the product, experience frontline employees' workflow, and apply product tools in real-world scenarios.

At the end

In conclusion, effective ToB product operations require a profound understanding of the business – an understanding that extends beyond mere product knowledge. To become a product operator who comprehends the business better than the business itself, we must navigate through distinct layers of insight.

To excel in the realm of ToB product operations, it is crucial to strike a balance between speed and depth when understanding a business. By meticulously following these steps, product operators can confidently and competently guide businesses towards success, making their role indispensable for bridging the gap between product management and the broader business landscape.