In this episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri sits down with Monica Lewis, VP of Product at LinkedIn, to explore how AI is transforming sales solutions.

Monica shares her journey from engineering to leading LinkedIn's billion-dollar Sales Solutions team, focusing on creating powerful AI-driven tools that increase the effectiveness of the sales team.

Monica discusses the integration of AI in sales processes and highlights the importance of understanding customer needs to create solutions that address real-world challenges. She emphasizes the role of AI in streamlining tasks, thereby enabling sales professionals to focus on strategic activities that create value for buyers and sellers.

If you want to learn how AI can reshape your approach to product management and sales strategy, tune in and gain valuable insights from Monica's experience at LinkedIn.

You’ll hear us talk about:

• 00:02:54 - Grounding AI in Customer Needs

Monica explains how LinkedIn ensures their AI solutions are centered around customer problems, emphasizing the need for understanding audience and customer requirements first when developing AI-driven products.

• 00:10:27 - Leveraging AI to Improve Sales Effectiveness

Monica shares how AI is helping salespeople become more efficient by automating non-customer-facing tasks and providing valuable insights for better decision-making.

• 00:30:01 - Embracing Failure and Rapid Testing

Monica shares a pivotal moment at LinkedIn where rapid experimentation and smart risk-taking led to an increase in customer acquisition, highlighting the importance of quick testing, learning, and iteration.

Episode resources:

- Monica on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamlewis/

- Check our new course: https://productinstitute.com/p/mastering-product-strategy-overview

Timestamps:

00:00 Introduction

03:04 Dear Melissa

07:49 Building Sales Solutions at LinkedIn

13:01 Creating a culture of experimentation

16:12 Trends in AI and the evolving role of salespeople

21:17 Balancing metrics, data, and user value

25:13 Designing user experiences with smart cues

30:59 Monica's career pivotal moments and product strategy insights

36:59 Managing innovation, bets, and experimentation

40:46 The future of sales and advice to younger self