1. Leadership's Role in B2B Product Management

In a B2B context, daily interaction with clients is paramount. If clients are dissatisfied, the consequences can be dire. Building long-term relationships with clients is essential for business sustainability, even if the product isn’t the most competitive.

In this environment, leadership plays a significant role in customer engagement alongside the product team. Unlike B2C, where PMs primarily focus on understanding user pain points, B2B requires guidance from leadership on product delivery, particularly for longstanding clients.

B2B product managers who are comfortable with this level of oversight should embrace the culture. Leaning on management can enhance relationship-building efforts, while also instilling trust in leadership that the PM will deliver essential features and solutions.

2. The Importance of Webinars and Client Interactions

This may seem obvious, but the implications are significant. Product managers are expected to be "subject matter experts" (SMEs) in their domains. In B2C, this often entails collaboration with marketing teams and occasionally engaging in product promotion.

In contrast, B2B PMs must tailor their expertise to specific client scenarios. For instance, if a client uses a niche API, the PM needs to understand the industry-specific challenges that arise from this use case.

Furthermore, B2B PMs often engage in client-centric webinars and presentations, resembling a consultant's approach. This creates opportunities to strengthen business relationships, prompting PMs to consider how best to host these interactions—should they address the broader product or focus on specific client needs?

3. User Feedback Dynamics in B2C vs B2B

Before raising objections, it’s essential to clarify this point: B2C typically has a larger pool of users, making user experiments easier to conduct.

However, in large B2B contracts, a single agreement can grant access to thousands of users. Despite this, A/B testing and user feedback are often less accessible in B2B contexts. Here, revenue becomes the primary metric of success, leading to statements like, "Who cares about product usability if clients are satisfied?"

This can be broken down into two key reasons:

• In B2B, the roles of "customer" and "user" differ; customers generate revenue, while users provide feedback, complicating the acquisition and analysis of user insights.
• Business clients may lack incentive to facilitate user feedback, and product teams may not prioritize seeking it.

4. The Risk Factor in B2B Product Management

Contrary to popular belief, B2B can often be more precarious than B2C. While B2C may require significant effort to convert users into paying customers, B2B hinges on maintaining healthy customer relationships, which can deteriorate quickly.

Numerous B2B startups have faltered due to neglecting customer satisfaction. A notable example is ScaleFactor, a B2B bookkeeping software that suffered from poor service despite initial growth. The founders’ complacency, fueled by early revenue, ultimately compromised the quality of their offering.

While B2C faces its own challenges in attracting users in a competitive market, B2B is similarly vulnerable due to the critical nature of client relationships.