When the LINK 300 was introduced, I was working as a young Account Manager relatively new to sales. At the time, I did not think of it as a textbook example of product strategy. I experienced it almost as a disruption. We suddenly had less to offer than before, and it felt as if I had to throw away my entire sales pipeline. Every deal I had been working on was based on options, configurations and exceptions. Now there was one product, with one set of capabilities. I was not sure how to sell it.
That confusion did not last long. It shifted to something closer to wonder. The product was easy to explain. It did one thing clearly and reliably. Sales conversations moved from “how do we configure this for you?” to “what can this product do for you?”. Sales cycles shortened. We could handle more opportunities with the same team. The organisation moved from project-based selling to product-based selling, and I could feel the difference in my pipeline.
Only later, when I moved into product management, did I fully appreciate what had happened. The decision to simplify the device was not just a technical choice. It was a commercial one. It created a flywheel: a simpler product led to faster sales, faster sales led to more revenue, more revenue funded better product development, and a better product reinforced sales. It also taught me something fundamental about the role of a Product Manager. The best product decisions live at the intersection of commercial and technical thinking. You need to understand how a feature will be sold, not just how it will be built. That insight has stayed with me ever since.
Part of the DNA Insights woven through the book The DNA of a Product Manager.
Leave a Reply