Bringing a service mindset to your career

1. HAPPY TO HELP
Bringing a service mindset to your career

2. Follow me @merci
Join womeninproduct.com
Follow @womeninproduct
Email merci@lsvp.com ™women in
product

3. I was taught to be helpful
If you can help someone, you do.

4. Class vertigo
The unbalanced feeling of being on the
other side of a social class divide.

5. This working class
mindset is an ownership
mentality.

6. Slack’s culture of service
drove product/market fit.

7. The role of the designer is that of a very good,
thoughtful host, all of whose energy goes into
trying to anticipate the needs of their guests.
- Charles & Ray Eames

8. Just as much as our job is to build something genuinely
useful, something which really does make people’s working
lives simpler, more pleasant and more productive, our job
is also to understand what people think they want and
then translate the value of Slack into their terms.
- Stewart Butterfield, We Don’t Sell Saddles Here

9. Product intuition is the
ability to anticipate the needs of
your users.

10. Everyone does support
Everyone is responsible for helping and
listening to customers.

11. How might you do this?
Learn to train your product intuition and
bring a service mindset and ownership
mentality to your own work.

12. 🙇"
Learn to be of service by
understanding how to observe
people and how to listen to them.

13. Play to win
Dan Ariely’s Irrational Game is a great
tool for quickly learning how to predict
what people will do.

14. Extreme Couponing
Researchers gave out coupons in two
locations: just outside the entrance to the
store and near the back of the same
store.
The condition for the coupon was that if
the customer spent $n (either $6 or $2 in
a store where the average purchase was
$4), they would get $1 back.

15. Who spent the most?
1. Customers who got the “Spend $2”
coupon OUTSIDE the store.
2. Customers who got the “Spend $2”
coupon INSIDE the store.
3. Customers who got the “Spend $6”
coupon OUTSIDE the store.
4. Customers who got the “Spend $6”
coupon INSIDE the store.

16. Who spent the most?
1. Customers who got the “Spend $2”
coupon OUTSIDE the store.
2. Customers who got the “Spend $2”
coupon INSIDE the store.
3. Customers who got the
“Spend $6” coupon OUTSIDE
the store.
4. Customers who got the “Spend $6”
coupon INSIDE the store.

17. Takeaway
There were two effects.
First, people who got a $2 coupon spent
less than $4 on average; people who got
the $6 coupon spent more than $6 on
average.
Second, everyone who got the coupon
outside the store was more influenced by
it.

18. Quality Choices
Researchers showed participants different
types of dark chocolate. In one condition,
participants saw five types of dark
chocolate; in the other condition,
participants saw twenty types.
In addition to the type, each chocolate
was also described by its “premium
rating,” a measure representing the quality
of the chocolate.After viewing this
information, participants indicated how
much they were willing to pay

19. How did seeing more chocolates
affect willingness to pay?
1. People were willing to pay more for all
chocolates when they saw more variety.
2. People were willing to pay more, but
only for the highest-quality chocolates.
3. People were willing to pay less for the
chocolates when they saw more of a
variety.
4. People were willing to pay the same
amount for the chocolates, regardless of
how many types they saw.

20. How did seeing more chocolates
affect willingness to pay?
1. People were willing to pay more for all
chocolates when they saw more variety.
2. People were willing to pay
more, but only for the highest-
quality chocolates.
3. People were willing to pay less for the
chocolates when they saw more of a
variety.
4. People were willing to pay the same
amount for the chocolates, regardless of
how many types they saw.

21. Takeaway
The high number of chocolates affected
willingness to pay at the top of the quality
scale.
We become more sensitive to the quality
of the goods when this quality is easily
available (the scores) and when the task is
more complex (choosing amongst 20
chocolates), which also makes us willing to
pay more for higher quality.

22. Irrational Game
Loads of examples and fun to play!

23. Learn to listen
Use tactical empathy to understand other
people.

24. Learn to listen
Use tactical empathy to understand other
people… like your boss.

25. Goal of the negotiation
1.Tell Jane I deserve to get promoted
because I’ve been a Group PM for 18
months now.
2. Get Jane to agree to promote me.
3. Learn what Jane wants to see from a
Director-level product leader &
understand how Jane thinks I’m
performing.
4. Convince Jane to promote me by listing
my work for the last 6 months.

26. Goal of the negotiation
1.Tell Jane I deserve to get promoted
because I’ve been a Group PM for 18
months now.
2. Get Jane to agree to promote me.
3. Learn what Jane wants to see
from a Director-level product
leader & understand how Jane
thinks I’m performing.
4. Convince Jane to promote me by listing
my work for the last 6 months.

27. Your goal is not actually
the promotion
Understand what your boss needs from
you & how they perceive you.
Your goal in the negotiation is
uncovering new information.

28. The script.
Goal
Summary of the situation – establish
rapport with your counterpart.
Accusation audit – shake loose real
feedback by saying your worst fears out
loud.
Ask calibrated questions.
And always, mirror your
counterpart and use strategic
silence.
go.yanda.com/
negotiate

29. Really, your goal is to
make your boss
successful.

30. Look to serve others.
Become a better product manager.
Get promoted.
🤲

31. Look to serve others.
Become a better product manager.
Get promoted.
Also it’s just nice.
🤲