Most PMMs pride themselves on being customer obsessed, but there's another critical audience we often overlook—our own sales teams. If you want your product to win in the market, you have to win over the people taking it to market. Today we're exploring how to move beyond handing off enablement decks to truly influencing how your sales team operates, transforming them from order-takers into strategic partners who genuinely understand your product's value.

Sharon Markowitz joins us with experience leading product and partner marketing at Atlassian, LinkedIn, Intuit, and Zoom. Named a top 100 product marketing mentor by ShareBird, Sharon's also founder of Your Career Wings, coaching marketers on upskilling and career development. At Zoom, she encountered a classic challenge during rapid expansion—standard functionalities weren't meeting customer expectations, creating conversion bottlenecks that required innovative solutions beyond traditional PMM approaches.

Sharon's breakthrough came when she stepped outside conventional PMM roles, establishing a sales incentive program funded by the marketing budget. By listening to sales reps who wanted simple perks like company swag, she built a program that energized the sales force and propelled deals forward. Her deep engagement wasn't just about meetings or chat channels—it was fostering genuine relationships and maintaining alignment with sales objectives, ultimately driving millions in new customer value.

We also dive into Sharon's four-step playbook for sales influence: listen attentively to both external customers and internal teams, embed yourself in sales calls to understand their needs, build initiatives collaboratively with the sales team, and be bold enough to step outside your lane when business demands it. Plus, we explore our messaging critique of Time Left, a B2C app connecting strangers for midweek dinners, and Sharon shares insights on keeping messaging simple while identifying growth opportunities.

For those looking to tap into Sharon's expertise further, she is offering personalized coaching with Your Career Wings & a 20% discount with PODCAST20 on your first paid booking of 1:1 Career Coaching Session through August 31, 2025.

This is an incredibly insightful conversation with Sharon, and I hope you're inspired to transform your approach and break creative boundaries in your own career.

LINKS

Time Left (messaging critique): https://timeleft.com/

Connect with Sharon Markowitz on LinkedIn

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/