Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks—Unless You Own the Customer Voice.

Hey, if you’re climbing the product marketing ladder, you’ve probably spent too many hours cranking out sales decks that feel disconnected from real buyers. In marketing career advice from the Product Marketing Alliance and Twitter (X) threads, the trap is clear: without owning the Voice of the Customer (VOC), you’re missing customer feedback, pain points, and social media gold. This piece shows how VOC mastery transforms decks, boosts your career, and makes you indispensable.

Why Product Marketing Feels Like Just Writing Sales Decks

Product marketers often get stuck in a cycle of endless sales deck revisions because without customer voice ownership, their work defaults to generic company overviews and feature dumps that fail to resonate with buyers. These decks become deck-writing factories, churning out slides that list specs instead of addressing real pain points. Teams lose sight of customer empathy, turning strategic roles into repetitive tasks.

The classic ‘Mr. Spock’ deck trap exemplifies this issue. Logical feature lists replace emotional customer stories, making presentations feel cold and disconnected. Sales teams push for more details on integrations or APIs, burying the human element under technical jargon.

Without owning the voice of the customer, product marketing misses chances to infuse decks with authentic insights from surveys or social media. This leads to slides that fail to build rapport with enterprise buyers or highlight product benefits tied to customer needs. The result is a go-to-market strategy that feels flat and ineffective.

Shifting focus requires claiming customer insights as a core responsibility. Yet many PMMs stay trapped, revising Slide 42: Integration capabilities endlessly without tying it to buyer struggles. This sets up the need for a VOC transformation to make messaging and positioning truly compelling.

Common Traps in Deck-Centric PMM Roles

The three most common traps – Mr. Spock decks with endless features, DeLorean-style product showcases, and copy-paste company overviews – turn PMMs into PowerPoint slaves instead of strategic storytellers. These pitfalls dominate when customer feedback loops are absent. Product marketing becomes reactive, focused on internal audiences rather than target audience pain points.

• Mr. Spock decks: Pure logic rules with bullet-point features like “99.9% uptime SLA”, ignoring emotional drivers or customer expectations. No heart emojis or stories from Twitter accounts capture the buyer’s journey.
• DeLorean demos: Product takes center stage as the hero, much like flashy car reveals, sidelining user pain points. Videos showcase bells and whistles, but skip how they solve real-world problems in product usage.
• Generic company slides: Ten-plus pages of irrelevance, from founding stories to org charts, dilute the pitch. These bury key messaging under fluff that sales teams rarely use.
• Sales team feature dumps: Reps demand exhaustive lists, like “Slide 42: Integration capabilities” hell, forcing PMMs to cram in every spec without ICP alignment or storytelling.

These traps erode customer surrogate roles, disconnecting decks from focus groups, negative comments, or advisory board input. Marketing teams miss opportunities to weave in vitriol praise from brand accounts. The outcome weakens product roadmap influence and revenue growth.

Experts recommend auditing decks for customer insights integration to escape this cycle. Tie features to case studies or social media examples for better positioning. This builds decks that foster customer rapport and drive strategic decisions.

How Owning the Customer Voice Changes Everything

Owning Voice of the Customer (VOC) transforms PMMs from deck monkeys to strategic influencers who shape product roadmaps, sales messaging, and go-to-market strategies with authentic buyer truths.

Traditional product marketing focuses on crafting sales decks with generic pitches. This leaves PMMs as mere presenters. In contrast, VOC ownership positions them as guardians of customer feedback from surveys, calls, and social media.

Consider Sam Melnick at Postscript. He became critical by controlling the customer narrative through Twitter accounts and focus groups. His team turned raw pain points into product development inputs, making marketing presentations more compelling.

This shift previews Customer Voice Ownership. PMMs act as customer surrogates, filtering vitriol praise and negative comments into insights for sales teams and leadership. It builds customer empathy and drives revenue growth in SaaS companies.

Defining Customer Voice Ownership

Customer Voice Ownership means becoming the customer surrogate who filters raw VOC data into actionable insights for product, sales, and leadership, not just collecting quotes, but owning the interpretation.

This approach follows a clear process. PMMs start by gathering data from surveys, customer calls, and social media. They build customer rapport through key questions that uncover pain points and expectations.

Next, filter for customer pain points and needs. Translate these into messaging frameworks that align with ICP and product benefits. Paul’s framework captures it simply: ‘VOC Insights Strategic Decisions.’

1. Collect raw VOC from surveys, calls, focus groups, and Twitter accounts.
2. Filter for pain points, expectations, and overall experience.
3. Translate into messaging, positioning, and storytelling for internal use.
4. Distribute to product development, sales teams, and leadership as customer insights.

Embrace a customer privilege mindset. Treat feedback from enterprise buyers or B2C users as a privilege. This ownership influences pricing strategies, roadmap development, and go-to-market plans with authentic customer truths.

What Happens Without Customer Voice Control?

Without voice of the customer control, product roadmaps chase engineer fantasies, sales teams pitch generic features, and go-to-market strategies miss ICP pain points entirely, wasting millions in misaligned revenue growth.

SaaS companies often struggle when they lack direct access to customer feedback. Marketing teams rely on secondhand insights, leading to products that fail to address real customer needs. This disconnect shows up in everyday decisions, from feature prioritization to pricing.

Without owning the customer voice, teams build based on assumptions. Sales decks sound like company overviews instead of tailored storytelling. The result is lost deals and frustrated internal audiences.

• Roadmap disasters from feature bloat, as seen in cases where products like bloated CRM tools overwhelm users with unused options, ignoring actual product usage patterns.
• Sales deck failures lacking customer empathy, where pitches highlight technical specs over pain points, much like generic software demos that bore enterprise buyers.
• Pricing mismatches that ignore the enterprise buyer, such as B2C-focused models alienating high-value clients who demand custom terms.

Consider a $10M pipeline at risk. Misaligned product positioning and messaging can derail half of it through poor ICP alignment. Teams waste time on focus groups or surveys that capture surface-level data, not deep customer insights.

How Do You Capture Authentic Customer Insights?

Authentic customer insights come from blending quantitative tools like Gong call analysis with qualitative signals from Twitter vitriol, heart emojis, and Customer Advisory Board sessions. This multi-channel voice of the customer (VOC) capture philosophy pulls from sales calls, social media chatter, and direct feedback loops. Product marketers act as customer surrogates, channeling these voices into sales decks, roadmaps, and messaging.

Sales teams using Gong spot pain points in real conversations, while Twitter reveals raw reactions like “This feature finally solves our workflow nightmare” or heated complaints. Surveys via Typeform uncover customer expectations, and advisory boards provide deep dives into product usage and roadmap needs. This mix builds customer empathy for better positioning and go-to-market strategies.

Marketing teams gain a full view of the overall experience, from enterprise buyer hesitations to B2C delight. Experts recommend starting with free tools like Twitter Advanced Search for quick wins on negative comments and praise. Structured methods like focus groups refine product benefits storytelling for internal audiences and sales enablement.

Capturing VOC turns product marketing into a bridge between customer needs and development. Use these insights to align ICP, pricing strategies, and video content. The result strengthens customer rapport and drives revenue growth in SaaS companies.

Tools and Methods for Voice Collection

The best VOC tools combine conversation intelligence platforms like Gong and Chorus with social listening on Twitter (X) and structured methods like Customer Advisory Boards. These options help product marketing teams gather customer feedback across channels without heavy setup. Choose based on team size, from enterprise sales to social PMMs chasing heart emojis and vitriol.

Tool	Price	Key Features	Best For	Pros/Cons
Gong	$100+/user/mo	Call sentiment, talk-track analysis	Enterprise sales teams	Pros: Deep insights into buyer objections. Cons: Higher cost for small teams.
Chorus	$99+/user/mo	Competitor mentions, deal risk scoring	Mid-market sales	Pros: Strong on competitive intel. Cons: Steeper learning curve than Gong.
Twitter Advanced Search	Free	Vitriol/praise tracking on brand accounts	Social PMMs	Pros: Instant access to raw sentiment. Cons: Noisy data needs filtering.
Typeform Surveys	$25+/mo	NPS + open-ended questions	Quick customer insights	Pros: Engaging format boosts responses. Cons: Limited to survey scope.
Customer Advisory Board	Custom	Roadmap feedback, strategic discussions	Product development leaders	Pros: High-level alignment on vision. Cons: Time-intensive to organize.

For beginners, Gong edges out Chorus with easier setup and intuitive dashboards for call reviews. Track twitter accounts for unfiltered praise on features or pain points in “Your pricing kills us” posts. Pair with advisory boards for roadmap development input from key customers.

These tools fuel strategic decisions, like tweaking messaging around common objections heard in Gong transcripts. Sales teams share Chorus clips to highlight winning positioning. Social signals from Twitter guide B2C focus and quick product tweaks.

Why Sales Decks Fail Without Customer Voice?

Sales decks without voice of the customer read like DeLorean spec sheets, impressive engineering, zero customer empathy, because they lack pain point framing, benefit translation, and authentic storytelling. According to the Product Marketing Alliance, 73% of decks get fewer than a third meeting without VOC. This happens when decks ignore real customer feedback from sources like surveys, focus groups, or social media.

Product marketers often act as customer surrogates, but without direct insights, decks miss the mark. Sales teams struggle to build customer rapport when presentations feel generic. Integrating customer insights turns decks into compelling narratives that resonate with the target audience.

Common pitfalls include skipping pain point openers, dumping features without context, using vague positioning, and ending with limp calls-to-action. Each failure erodes trust with enterprise buyers or B2C audiences. Fixing them requires weaving in customer voice for better go-to-market results.

No Pain Point Openers

Decks that launch into company overviews or product specs ignore the buyer’s reality. Without a pain point opener, audiences disengage fast. Start with a customer quote instead, like “Our team wastes hours on manual reporting.”

This sets the stage for empathy and relevance. Pull quotes from customer feedback channels such as Twitter accounts or advisory boards. It frames the entire marketing presentation around real struggles.

Sales teams close more when decks mirror customer needs from the first slide. Test openers with internal audiences for punch. This simple shift boosts engagement in product marketing.

Feature Dumps

Listing features without context bores prospects who care about outcomes. Feature dumps highlight engineering wins, not user wins. Map each feature to a pain-to-benefit arc using customer insights.

For example, turn “AI-powered analytics” into “Cut analysis time from days to minutes, freeing your team for strategy.” Draw from focus groups or negative comments on brand accounts. This creates storytelling that sticks.

Marketing teams refine this through ICP alignment. It aligns product benefits with product usage patterns from real data examples. Decks become tools for revenue growth, not spec sheets.

Generic Positioning

Vague claims like “best-in-class solution” fail to differentiate in crowded markets. Generic positioning skips what matters to the ideal customer profile. Use ICP-specific language pulled from customer surrogates and surveys.

Tailor messaging to enterprise buyers with phrases like “Scale compliance for global teams without the headaches.” Incorporate vitriol praise or heart emojis from social media for authenticity. This sharpens product positioning.

SaaS companies see better traction when decks reflect customer pain points. Align with pricing strategies and roadmap development. It builds trust over time.

Weak Calls-to-Action

CTAs like “Contact sales” feel rote without context. They ignore customer expectations shaped by overall experience. Address them directly by referencing shared insights, such as “Let’s discuss how this fits your Q4 goals, like you mentioned.”

Source these from case studies or key questions in customer interviews. It turns passive closes into urgent next steps. Sales teams gain momentum with this customer empathy.

Strong CTAs tie back to strategic decisions informed by VOC. They guide prospects toward demos or pilots. This elevates decks in go-to-market strategies for sustained impact.

How to Integrate Customer Voice into Sales Decks?

Transform sales decks by opening with real customer pain quotes, mapping features to specific pains/benefits, and using Beautiful.ai templates that force VOC-first structure. This approach builds customer empathy from the first slide. It turns generic pitches into targeted storytelling that resonates with enterprise buyers.

Integrating voice of the customer takes about 4 hours per deck. Focus on sources like social media, surveys, and video testimonials for authentic insights. Avoid the common mistake of burying VOC in the appendix, which hides valuable customer feedback.

Marketing teams often overlook customer insights in favor of product features. Yet, leading with pain points from Twitter accounts or focus groups creates instant rapport. This method aligns messaging with customer needs and strengthens product positioning.

Follow this 6-step process to embed VOC effectively. Each step draws from real customer surrogates like negative comments or advisory board input. The result is a deck that drives sales teams toward revenue growth.

1. Slide 1: Customer Pain Quote (Twitter Negative Comment)

Start your deck with a direct customer pain quote from a Twitter negative comment. Choose one that captures a common frustration, such as “Your app crashes every time I need it most.” This sets the stage for customer empathy and grabs attention.

Pair the quote with a screenshot from the brand account or user handle. Add context like heart emojis amid vitriol praise to show real sentiment. This opens with authentic customer voice, not company overview fluff.

Keep it raw but relevant to your ICP. It frames the entire presentation around solving customer pain points.

2. Pain Product Mapping Table

Create a clear table mapping pain points to product benefits. List customer needs from surveys or social media in one column, then match them to features in another. This visual shows how your solution addresses specific frustrations.

Pain Point	Product Benefit
Slow reporting delays decisions	Real-time dashboards save hours weekly
Complex setup frustrates teams	One-click onboarding in under 5 minutes
Missing mobile access	Full functionality on any device

Use this format to build trust with sales teams and internal audiences. It ties product roadmap to real feedback.

3. Beautiful.ai VOC Template Import

Import a Beautiful.ai VOC template to enforce structure. These pre-built designs prioritize customer insights over generic slides. Customize with data examples from customer feedback loops.

This step ensures go-to-market materials reflect true customer expectations. Templates guide you to include pain-to-solution flows naturally. Save time while maintaining professional polish.

Marketing presentation quality improves as VOC drives the narrative. Focus on storytelling that positions your product as the fix.

4. Video Testimonial Embed (Under 90s)

Embed a short video testimonial under 90 seconds showing product usage success. Select clips from case studies or advisory board members highlighting benefits. This adds emotional weight beyond text.

Transcribe key lines for accessibility, like “This tool transformed our workflow.” Place it after the mapping table for momentum. Video content humanizes the pitch and boosts customer rapport.

For B2C focus or SaaS companies, pull from user-generated content. It reinforces pricing strategies and overall experience.

5. Internal Review (Sales Team VOC Check)

Share the draft with sales teams for a VOC check. Ask key questions like “Does this match buyer objections?” and “Are pains aligned with ICP?” Their input refines accuracy.

Incorporate feedback on positioning and messaging. This collaborative step ensures decks support strategic decisions. Address gaps from recent calls or enterprise buyer interactions.

Limit to one round to stay within 4 hours. Sales alignment strengthens customer surrogate representation.

6. A/B Test with Gong

Run an A/B test using Gong on live calls. Compare VOC-heavy decks against standard versions for engagement metrics. Track how customer voice impacts close rates.

Analyze results to iterate on future decks. This closes the loop from product development to sales execution. Refine based on what resonates with target audience.

Regular testing embeds VOC into your process. It drives continuous improvement in product marketing.

What Career Impact Does Voice Ownership Have?

PMMs who own voice of the customer get promoted faster because they drive revenue growth through better product roadmaps and sales enablement, the skill VC firms like Greylock Capital and Sequoia Capital demand in hires. Owning customer voice means turning raw customer feedback into actionable insights for product development and go-to-market strategies. This positions you as a customer surrogate inside the company.

Consider Sam Melnick at Postscript. By owning customer insights from surveys, social media, and focus groups, he influenced product roadmap decisions that aligned with user pain points. His promotion path accelerated as he shared messaging and positioning decks backed by real customer stories.

Voice ownership builds customer empathy that resonates across teams. It shifts you from deck writer to strategic influencer. Teams notice when your input drives sales wins and product improvements.

Here are four key career benefits of owning the customer voice.

• Sales team rapport: Sales teams trust PMMs who arm them with customer pain points and success stories from Twitter accounts or negative comments turned positive.
• Product roadmap ownership: You shape roadmaps by prioritizing features based on customer needs, not just internal guesses.
• C-suite visibility: Executives seek your input on strategic decisions, like ICP alignment and pricing strategies, using your customer data examples.
• VC headhunter attention: Headhunters from top firms spot PMMs who demonstrate customer-driven revenue growth through storytelling in marketing presentations, much like the marketing associate salary trends driven by high-leverage skills.

The ROI is clear: owning voice creates 3x career velocity. You move faster from individual contributor to leadership by proving impact on overall experience and customer expectations.

How to Build Customer Voice Authority in PMM?

Build VOC authority by owning the five key questions leadership asks, ‘What do customers hate/love/want?’, and delivering weekly insight digests that make you critical. Start from the source with regular weekly VOC cadences, pulling from calls, surveys, and social media. This path turns raw customer feedback into strategic gold for product marketing.

Establish customer voice authority by consistently answering those core questions through a structured framework. Capture insights from Gong call transcripts, Twitter accounts, and focus groups. Weekly cadences ensure fresh data flows to internal audiences like sales teams and product development.

Over time, this positions you as the go-to for customer needs and pain points. Leadership relies on your digests for roadmap development and go-to-market strategies. Preview key skills like filtering insights, deep empathy probing, and packaging for executives to accelerate your rise.

Integrate customer surrogate practices to build rapport and translate vitriol praise or heart emojis into actionable messaging. This authority drives ICP alignment, pricing strategies, and revenue growth in SaaS companies. Make customer voice your superpower in product marketing.

Key Skills for Marketing Career Growth

Master these 5 VOC skills that separate staff PMMs from directors: ruthless filtering, customer empathy translation, and executive-ready insight packaging. These practices build authority in 90 days, mirroring the Shopify PMM model. Focus on turning customer feedback into product roadmap fuel.

Skill 1: Filter 100 call insights to 3 slides using Gong data. Pull key pain points and customer expectations from transcripts. Distill into crisp visuals for marketing presentations and strategic decisions.

• Skill 2: Ask ‘Why?’ 5x per pain point to uncover root causes in surveys and negative comments.
• Skill 3: Build customer surrogate muscle memory by immersing in product usage stories and enterprise buyer journeys.
• Skill 4: Create weekly VOC digest blending Twitter accounts, brand accounts, and overall experience notes.
• Skill 5: Practice advisory board facilitation for deep dives into positioning and product benefits.

Apply these in B2C focus or case studies to sharpen storytelling for target audiences. Sales teams gain from your insights on customer rapport and video content. This skill set elevates product marketing to director level fast.

Real-World PMM Career Examples with Voice Ownership

Sam Melnick at Postscript rocketed from IC to leadership by owning voice of the customer across Twitter analysis, Customer Advisory Boards, and Gong insights, becoming the go-to for Shopify’s go-to-market strategy.

He started by scanning Twitter accounts for negative comments and vitriol praise, turning raw social media feedback into pricing strategies that aligned with customer pain points.

This customer empathy approach led to a 3x pipeline boost, positioning him as a customer surrogate for product development and sales teams.

Sam Melnick at Postscript: From Twitter Vitriol to Pricing Strategy

Sam used Twitter analysis as his primary VOC method, tracking brand accounts and customer conversations to uncover unmet needs.

Tools like social listening platforms helped him categorize pain points, from “shipping delays kill conversions” to demands for flexible pricing, feeding directly into pricing strategies.

His career result was rapid promotion to leadership, with VOC driving go-to-market refinements that resonated with B2C focus and ICP alignment.

Key lesson: Treat social media as a live focus group, prioritizing customer insights over assumptions for authentic messaging.

Shopify PMM: Gong Insights Transform Sales Decks

This PMM leveraged Gong insights to analyze sales calls, revealing gaps in product positioning and customer expectations.

Methods included reviewing call transcripts for recurring themes like “integration hurdles”, then reshaping sales decks with customer-backed storytelling.

The outcome was decks that built customer rapport, accelerating deals and earning trust across marketing teams and internal audiences.

Key lesson: Use conversation intelligence to make sales materials a true reflection of customer voice, bridging sales and product teams.

Enterprise SaaS Leader: Advisory Board Fuels $50M Roadmap Pivot

The leader formed a Customer Advisory Board with key enterprise buyers, hosting sessions to probe customer needs via structured key questions.

Tools involved surveys and in-depth interviews, surfacing product usage issues that informed a major product roadmap shift.

Career impact included owning a $50M pivot, establishing her as the voice of the customer champion for strategic decisions and revenue growth.

Key lesson: Advisory boards create customer privilege, turning feedback into roadmap development that aligns with enterprise buyer priorities.

Actionable VOC Ownership Template

Apply these examples with a simple template: Start by selecting tools like Gong, Twitter, or advisory boards based on your target audience.

• Collect VOC weekly via surveys, social scans, or call reviews.
• Analyze for top pain points and benefits using a shared doc.
• Integrate into messaging, decks, and roadmaps with data examples.
• Measure impact on pipeline, deals, and promotions quarterly.

This framework positions you as the go-to PMM, fostering overall experience improvements across SaaS companies.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the statement ‘Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice’ really mean?

It challenges the misconception that Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice. While creating sales decks is part of the job, true product marketing success comes from owning the customer voice-deeply understanding and championing customer needs, pain points, and feedback to shape product strategy and messaging.

Why do many people think Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice?

The visible output like polished sales decks overshadows the strategic work. Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice highlights how beginners or outsiders focus on artifacts, ignoring the core role of capturing and amplifying customer insights for better positioning and go-to-market strategies.

How can you ‘own the customer voice’ in Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice?

Own it by conducting customer interviews, analyzing usage data, collaborating with support/sales, and embedding insights into every decision. Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice means shifting from deck creation to being the customer’s advocate, ensuring products solve real problems.

What career advice comes from understanding Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice?

For marketing career advice, prioritize building customer empathy skills over design tools. Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice advises aspiring PMMs to seek roles involving direct customer interaction to stand out and drive impact beyond superficial tasks.

Is Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice only for startups or enterprises?

No, it applies universally. In any company, Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice-emphasizing that owning customer voice scales product-led growth, from startups validating MVPs to enterprises refining enterprise solutions through voice-of-customer programs.

How does owning the customer voice elevate Product Marketing beyond just writing sales decks?

It transforms PMMs into strategic influencers. Product Marketing is Just Writing Sales Decks-Unless You Own the Customer Voice shows how customer voice informs pricing, packaging, and launches, leading to higher win rates and customer retention-key for career growth in marketing.