Product Manager

Job description

This position provides product management for LSTA tractors. Develops product training materials, sales talking points, and product specifications. Organizes product training collaborating with dealer development team and across the organization. Develops and executes product launches collaborating with other teams. Collaborates with the sales & marketing team to develop product promotion plans. Develops and manages the product testing center. Provides research and analysis of LSTA vs competitors products. Identifies market requirements and opportunities, establishes product innovation and enhancement and participates in new product development efforts.

Position Duties and Responsibilities

• Performs market analysis for LSTA products. Performs Segmentation/Targeting/Positioning (STP) analysis and Strength/Weakness/Opportunity/Threat (SWOT) analysis for each LS Tractor offering.
• Uses STP and SWOT analysis for current and new LSTA products, directly comparing and evaluating against competitive products.
• Uses STP and SWOT analysis to develop new product launch plans.
• Develops launch plan milestones to measure plan progress.
• Communicates launch plan milestones to stakeholders, ensures executional elements are assigned with due dates.
• Monitors launch plan progress using milestones to measure completed assignments. Reports on plan progress and make recommendations for adjustments when necessary.
• Evaluates market and competitive pricing, makes pricing recommendations based on research findings.
• Collaborates with the marketing team to develop product promotion plans, including farm and trade shows and seasonal promotional activities.
• Develops and executes product training for the internal organization and dealers, focusing on competitive advantages and features of LSTA products.
• Acts as a point of contact for Regional Managers and Business Managers regarding product launch strategy and talking points.
• Engages with sales and marketing teams, providing timely and accurate information regarding LSTA and competitive products. Provides ongoing research and analysis of competitors product, market conditions, identifying key competitor and consumer trends, including new product offerings and competitive pricing. Does comparative analysis against market activity and makes recommendations for competitive response by LSTA.
• May receive concerns from dealers and/or customers, refers those concerns to proper LSTA resource for resolution.
• Develops and manages the product testing center.
• Identifies competitive advantages of LSTA products verses competition. Develops sales strategies and talking points based on these competitive advantages. Trains LSTA sales and marketing teams to understand product strengths and talking points.
• Develops long term strategy for the products line up.
• Participate in product development activities to meet market and customer needs.
• Prepares product documents including Market Requirement Documents and product use cases to drive product activity.
• Develops and recommend pricing strategies and product policies.
• Defines and communicates product specifications and establishes and communicates product packaging requirements.
• Collaborates with cross functional teams.
• Monitors product inventory and works with purchasing to place orders with vendors to insure adequate product availability.

Education, experience, and skills required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or relevant field
• Five years product management or related experience, specific to tractors
• Strong research and analytical skills
• Outstanding computer skills using Microsoft Office products, particularly Excel and Product Manager. SAP experience is highly desired, but not required.
• The ability to make decisions in a fast-paced environment with rapidly changing priorities.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate and manage large complex projects and meet deadlines. Excellent collaboration skills with demonstrated ability to work across functional area in the organization