I’ve spent most of my career in Upstream Marketing and Product Management, successfully launching numerous medical technology solutions and even a few consumer products. For me, a successful launch is defined by the business case: did the product meet or exceed its targeted revenue and gross margin goals?
That said, not every project is destined for success. I’ve been involved in initiatives that were ultimately cancelled or shelved when it became clear the product-market fit wasn’t sufficient. In my experience, marketers—and even business leaders—can sometimes be overly optimistic about a product’s potential. As projects progress through the stage-gate process, inertia can set in, making it increasingly difficult to course-correct.
A common issue I’ve observed is misalignment in TAM-SAM-SOM analysis, where TAM is often confused with SOM. Accurately framing and analyzing the opportunity size is critical for ensuring products meet their launch KPIs and deliver on their business potential.
Identifying and Prioritizing Opportunities Through Market Research Excellence
To build a best-in-class TAM-SAM-SOM analysis, it’s essential to deeply understand the problems you’re solving and who you’re solving them for. This requires stepping into your customers’ shoes through robust qualitative market research.
I bring extensive experience leading observational and qualitative research across homecare, physician office, and hospital settings. When done correctly, this type of research provides invaluable insights that guide the design and focus of quantitative research, ensuring a more effective and actionable analysis.
How well does your team understand the processes your customers follow to adopt and use your solutions—or those of your competitors and alternatives? Do they know the workarounds and pain points involved? Developing a detailed customer journey and customer or clinical process map is essential for uncovering potential problems to solve and identifying opportunities for improvement.
Identifying the problems that need to be solved is essential, but the key to building a truly differentiated product lies in sizing and prioritizing the benefits of solving those problems. Customers don’t buy features—they buy the value and outcomes those features deliver. That’s why testing benefits, not just features, is critical to successful product development.
Effective quantitative market research is instrumental in mapping and prioritizing benefit opportunities. By testing benefits, you gain a deeper understanding of what truly resonates with your target audience—what they value most and what drives their decision-making process.
In my experience leading market research initiatives, I’ve found that understanding customer priorities often reveals surprising insights. For example, two features may solve the same problem, but the perceived benefit of one—whether it’s time savings, cost reduction, or improved outcomes—might carry significantly more weight for a specific customer segment. Through rigorous testing, I’ve been able to identify which benefits resonate most deeply, enabling the development of solutions that align with both functional and emotional customer needs.
This approach has also shaped go-to-market strategies by clarifying which benefits to emphasize in marketing and sales efforts, ensuring a stronger connection with the customer. Testing benefits not only enhances product differentiation but also ensures the solution delivers real value, driving adoption and long-term success in the marketplace.
Effective market research doesn’t end with identifying which benefits to prioritize for building a solution or portfolio strategy. To truly align with customer needs and maximize the R&D team’s efforts, it’s equally important to understand how customers want those benefits delivered—and how they don’t.
Going deeper with quantitative market research, such as creating a benefits preference graph, provides critical insights into areas of diminishing returns. This helps pinpoint where additional investments may have limited impact on customer satisfaction or adoption.
I’ve worked extensively with Product Management and R&D teams to leverage these insights, identifying where strategic compromises can be made to accelerate time-to-market, reduce project costs, and/or lower COGS. This approach ensures that solutions not only meet customer expectations but also balance business objectives, driving efficiency and success.
Note, the graph to the right is an example only and not actual data.
When done correctly, both qualitative and quantitative research play a crucial role in shaping effective product messaging and positioning. By gaining a deep understanding of the value of the problem being solved, as well as the pain points associated with workarounds and alternative solutions, Marketing teams can craft compelling messages that clearly articulate the product’s value proposition. This ensures the messaging resonates with the target audience and highlights the unique balance of benefits that the solution delivers.
I have helped Marketing and Product Management teams refine their messaging through a proven message development process. This process integrates insights from market research and messaging testing to ensure the content resonates with the target audience and effectively communicates value.
Additionally, I leverage voices from Sales and R&D teams to extract diverse perspectives, ensuring the messaging is not only customer-centric but also aligned with internal expertise. By combining these elements, I help create impactful messaging that drives engagement and supports strategic objectives.
I bring extensive experience managing product management teams to successfully navigate medical device projects through the stage-gate process. A key factor in my success has been a proven approach to asking the right questions at the right time. This methodology has enabled me to accelerate successful projects through the funnel while quickly identifying those that are unlikely to meet the metrics outlined in the business case.
For projects that fall short, this approach allows for a timely reevaluation of product-market fit or, when necessary, a decision to cancel the project altogether. By fostering this level of strategic clarity, I’ve helped drive efficiency, optimize resource allocation, and ensure a stronger focus on high-potential opportunities.
Developing Digital Health apps and solutions requires a unique approach. I have led product teams through the Agile framework, guiding them in creating and prioritizing user stories, developing and testing minimum viable products (MVPs), and iterating to refine and enhance those MVPs. From initial release to post-launch monitoring, I ensure the solution evolves based on user feedback and real-world utilization, enabling continuous improvement and alignment with customer needs.
If you’re seeking proven leadership in product management, let’s discuss how I can help elevate your organization’s product portfolio strategy and execution.