What Is a Product Specialist?
A product specialist, also known as a product manager, is the person responsible for coordinating all aspects of product design, development and marketing within an organization. Although they do not carry out the technical aspects of design, development or marketing, product specialists must understand the requirements and contribution of each discipline. They must also ensure that other members of the team align their work with corporate objectives and customer needs.
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Portfolio
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An organization with a large, diverse product range might have a number of product specialists who each look after a portfolio of related products. The portfolio could be based on products for a specific market sector, products of a certain price range or another common characteristic. Product specialists are responsible for the profitability of the products in their portfolio. They must ensure that products meet or exceed customer requirements and outperform competitors at a price that provides a good level of profits.
Entrepreneur
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According to the Association of International Product Marketing Managers, product specialists have an entrepreneurial role to play. Authors Karl Hellman and Robert S. Siegel claim that product specialists must search systematically for unsolved customer problems and turn them into business opportunities by solving the problem and marketing the solution.
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Coordinate
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Product specialists coordinate activities inside and outside the organization. Part of their external role is to build an understanding of customer needs through research and to communicate those needs to the organization. Their internal role is to work with design, development and engineering teams to bring great products to market that meet those customer needs, according to product consultants 280 Group. The second part of their external role is to work with marketing professionals to communicate the product benefits to customers and build profitable sales.
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That dual internal and external perspective enables product specialists to understand and communicate the needs of different professionals within a product project team. They can translate customer needs into product specifications that form the basis for developing new products or improving existing ones. They also prioritize technical developments to ensure that development teams focus on features that are important to customers, rather than pursuing innovation for its own sake.
Strategy
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Product specialists have a strategic role in the organization, according to Pragmatic Marketing. They work with the executive and marketing teams to develop marketing strategy and allocate appropriate funds to develop products that meet the marketing strategy. As such, they help create a market-driven organization that is responsive to customer needs and profitable.
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References
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