If you're still taking orders from Sales, read this

The annual sales summit is approaching—and you know what that means.

Get ready to hear about all the one-pagers you haven't made yet, and the battlecards you haven't updated in a while.

These types of requests can easily steamroll the PMM roadmap and dominate planning sessions. And I get it. Sales leaders carry a lot of influence.

But here’s the truth: sales teams don’t always know what they need. And when product marketing acts like a fulfillment center—taking orders and shipping assets—it reinforces an unhealthy dynamic.

You’re not there to serve sales reps. You’re there to guide them towards the strategies that actually move deals.

Taking requests at face value may keep the peace, but it won’t drive results. It’s your job to push back, ask better questions, and prioritize what will make the biggest impact.

In this article, we’ll break down common asks from Sales—where to challenge them, what they actually reveal, and how PMM can show up more strategically.

Handling sales requests more maturely

Most product marketing leaders are comfortable setting boundaries. They’ll protect their team against last-minute requests by saying, “We’ll work on that next quarter.”

This is good leadership—but not great leadership. Because you're still agreeing to deliver what was asked for, without questioning if it’s the right solution.

The next level is learning to challenge the request itself.

It starts with asking:

• What problem are we trying to solve?
• What have we already tried?
• Is this really the best way to address the issue?

More often than not, you’ll discover that the request is a symptom, not a solution.

That’s where PMM moves from serving sales to advising sales. Even the most tenured and strategic salespeople can benefit from the way we think about solutions as product marketers.

So this is your opportunity to flip the script—from tactical asks to strategic responses.

Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Example 1: Competitive battlecards

Competitive intelligence is one of the areas I’ve found sellers need PMM the most.

I’ve heard these requests so many times:

• “We don’t have a battlecard for Competitor Z—can you build one?”
• “Give me the top 3 reasons we’re better than Competitor X.”
• “We need a feature head-to-head for Competitor Y.”

The instinct is to respond quickly and plug the gap. But take a step back and ask: "What’s the problem behind the request?"

If this is a Tier 2 or Tier 3 competitor, you might not need a full battlecard at all. Instead, you can give reps two better tools:

• A competitive landscape document that buckets competitors into segments, and explains where your product wins in each segment.
• A CI chatbot or GPT, which lets reps self-serve contextual insights without a 12-page PDF.

And when reps ask “why are we better?”, try not to get sucked into a sparring match.

Give them a narrative.

Instead of trying to prove superiority, teach them how to position your product as different in a way that’s more relevant to the buyer’s needs.

“Better” invites debate.
“Different” reframes the conversation—and if you do it right, it can’t be disputed.

Example 2: One-pagers

This is such a common request that it’s almost become a joke in the PMM world.

Reps want something to “send over” after a call. Something polished, that tells the product story on one page for short attention spans.

They’ll ask for:

• Persona one-pagers
• Industry one-pagers
• Product one-pagers
• Use case one-pagers
• Buyer-stage one-pagers

The problem with delivering PDFs is that you’re throwing assets out into the world that can’t be easily tracked or retrieved later. Someone will still be distributing that one-pager years from now—possibly long after it’s outdated.

To take a more strategic approach, think about how you might shift the delivery method.

Consider:

• Landing pages with dynamic content, video, and CTAs. They’re interactive, easy to update, and trackable.
• Sales tools that spark buyer interaction—like ROI calculators, maturity assessments, or guided demos.
• Sales enablement training to help reps articulate the story themselves. Sometimes the issue isn’t content—it’s comprehension.

When a seller asks for a one-pager, they think they need a brochure.
What they often need is clarity, confidence, and conversation starters.

Example 3: Industry decks

Sales wants a presentation deck for each industry so they can “speak the customer’s language”.

This is a well-intentioned ask—but not always the best use of your time. What starts as tailored messaging turns into a mess of custom slides, scattered edits, and decks you never want to see used again.

Even worse, the more you create, the more you’re asked to create.

Instead, build a modular framework:

• A strong core narrative that works everywhere
• A few industry-specific inserts (proof points, use cases, quotes)
• Lightweight training or speaker notes to help reps use the right elements

It’s a cultural shift—but one that creates consistency and flexibility.

You’re probably noticing a pattern.
A lot of sales requests are tactical. You stand out by offering strategic solutions that last.

Example 4: Adoption campaigns

This one usually comes from sales or customer success, especially around expansion efforts.

A feature isn’t gaining traction. Expansion is slow. And the go-to idea is: “Let’s run a campaign.”

Translation: “Can you write some emails and get Marketing to promote this thing?”

Before drafting subject lines, stop and ask:

• Do customers understand the value of this feature?
• Is it showing up during onboarding or in-product?
• Are CSMs and reps reinforcing it at the right moments?

Often, adoption issues come from positioning problems, training gaps, or go-to-market misses. This is valuable feedback for you, but you don't need the action that's prescribed by your customer-facing teams.

A smarter response might be to:

• Update lifecycle messaging
• Add a usage milestone to CSM playbooks
• Rethink how the feature is introduced during implementation

A campaign is one lever, but it’s rarely the first one to pull. Take a step back and audit the problem before jumping into solution mode.

Example 5: Feature training

Reps often ask for training on new capabilities when they’re unsure how to position them—or when a deal exposes a knowledge gap.

They usually want a walkthrough:

• What it does
  
• How to demo it
  
• What to say

That’s helpful, but often shortsighted. Instead of zooming into Feature X, zoom out instead.

Ask:

• What problem does this feature solve?
• Is it part of a broader theme (automation, compliance, visibility)?
• Can it be grouped with others to form a compelling capability story?

Training reps on how to position value, not just explain functionality, is where the real impact lies.

Don’t run a “Feature X” session. Run:
“How to Sell Operational Visibility”
(featuring Features X, Y, and Z)

When reps understand the why, they’ll figure out the how.

It's your duty to go from servant to strategist

Taking orders from sellers doesn't make you a legend with the sales team. It actually makes you negligent.

That might sound overly dramatic, but it's true. You're supposed to be providing strategic direction, and part of that requires challenging the requests that land on your desk.

Your job as a PMM isn’t to say “yes” or “no.” It’s to ask why—and offer something better.

This will start paying off for both you and your sales team soon enough. Your value to the company will grow, and so will your influence.

It's what a healthy relatiionship with Sales looks like. And it's the difference between being a helper… and a strategic partner.