"I'll Get Back to You"

Situation: A sales rep ropes in the product manager in a meeting with a prospect/customer because they requested for someone "technical" to attend to give them INSTANT cost/time estimates.

Why? They are tired of hearing "I'll get back to you on that" from the sales rep.

If you jump in the meeting as a PM, I'd advise you this:

1. When the client asks for time estimates on routine items, simple ops or trivial updates, sharing a ballpark is fine.

2. When they push you to wave your magic wand to estimate a complex & assumption-laced requirement, start asking an exhaustive set of questions to scope the matter down.

And when you're crystal-clear on what needs to be built & they move to the edge of their seat to hear a magic number...

...shamelessly say "I'll get back to you".

"OMG. You call yourself a PM? Lame."

Well, that's just it. Great PMs don't DICTATE. They collaborate with their teams.

When a prospect challenged me on this, I responded: "Would you like me to commit to a promise now that I don't know if I can keep? My conscience doesn't allow me to give you a bogus estimate without proper analysis & consultation. You deserve better."

If we buckle, it's not just unfair to the tech team. It's also unethical to the client.

Resist the temptation.

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