My consolidated PMM platform evaluation scorecard had 35 criteria across 5 categories: Competitive Intelligence, Sales Enablement, Launch Management, Messaging, Integrations.
I scored each platform against each criterion. Platform A scored 28/35. Platform B scored 31/35.
I was about to choose the 31/35 platform when I stopped and asked: "Am I measuring the right things?"
The 31/35 platform had more features. But would it actually reduce my workload?
I'd made this mistake before with point solutions—optimizing for feature counts instead of workflow reduction.
I rewrote my evaluation criteria. Five new questions:
- Will this reduce my weekly time investment?
- Does this solve my integration problem or create a new silo?
- Can my team actually use this, or is it too complex?
- Does this consolidate my stack or add to it?
- What's the total cost including my time?
Using these criteria, Platform A scored 45/50. The feature-rich competitor scored 22/50.
I chose Platform A. Six months later, I've saved 30 hours/week. The feature-rich platform would have saved maybe 5.
Here's how to evaluate consolidated PMM platforms properly.
Why Traditional Evaluation Fails
Most PMMs evaluate consolidated platforms the same way they evaluate point solutions:
Traditional criteria:
- Competitive intelligence features (12 criteria)
- Sales enablement features (9 criteria)
- Launch management features (7 criteria)
- Messaging features (5 criteria)
- Integration capabilities (8 criteria)
The problem: This measures feature breadth, not workflow integration.
A consolidated platform isn't "point solution A + point solution B + point solution C bundled together."
A consolidated platform is "integrated workflow where A feeds B feeds C automatically."
Feature checklists miss the integration value.
The 5 Questions That Actually Matter
After choosing wrong initially, I learned to ask different questions:
Question 1: Will This Reduce My Weekly Time Investment?
Wrong question: "Does it have battle card templates?"
Right question: "How long to create a battle card from scratch, and how long to update one when competitive landscape changes?"
How to test:
Use the platform trial to do real work:
- Create one battle card
- Update competitive positioning
- Measure: How long did these take?
Red flags:
- Trial tasks take longer than current process
- Platform requires lots of manual steps
- Updates don't propagate automatically
With streamlined platform:
- Battle card creation: 2 hours (PowerPoint) → 15 min (auto-generated from CI)
- Update time: 1 hour → 10 min (updates propagate)
With feature-rich competitor:
- Battle card creation: 3 hours (complex template system)
- Update time: 45 min (manual propagation to enablement)
The streamlined platform was faster despite fewer features.
Question 2: Does This Solve Integration or Create a New Silo?
Wrong question: "Does it integrate with Salesforce?"
Right question: "When I update competitive intelligence, does it automatically update messaging, battle cards, and sales enablement?"
How to test:
During trial, update one piece of content:
- Change competitive positioning for one competitor
- Count: How many tools/sections do you need to manually update?
Red flags:
- Updating one thing requires 3+ manual updates elsewhere
- Platform integrates with Salesforce but not with messaging workflow
- "Integration" means "can export" not "auto-updates"
With Segment8:
- Update competitive positioning → battle cards auto-update → enablement auto-updates
- Manual steps: 1 (the positioning update itself)
With feature-rich competitor:
- Update competitive positioning → manually update battle cards → manually update enablement
- Manual steps: 3
Integration beats features.
Question 3: Can My Team Actually Use This?
Wrong question: "Does it have all the features we might need?"
Right question: "Can a new team member create a battle card without 2 hours of training?"
How to test:
Give platform access to someone who hasn't been trained:
- Can they complete basic tasks?
- Do they ask "where is...?" frequently?
- Do they give up and ask you to do it?
Red flags:
- Requires 4+ hours of training to do basic tasks
- Team members keep asking "how do I...?"
- Complex navigation (3+ clicks to find common items)
With Segment8:
- New team member created battle card in 20 min without asking questions
- Intuitive navigation
With feature-rich competitor:
- New team member gave up after 30 min, asked me to do it
- Complex interface optimized for power users
Usability beats power features.
Question 4: Does This Consolidate or Add to My Stack?
Wrong question: "What tools does it replace?"
Right question: "After implementing this, how many PMM tools will I have total?"
How to calculate:
List current PMM tools:
- Competitive intelligence: Klue ($18K)
- Sales enablement: Highspot ($22K)
- Launch management: Asana ($10K)
- Messaging: Notion ($2K)
- Total: 4 tools, $52K
After consolidated platform:
- Option A: Replaces all 4 → 1 tool total
- Option B: Replaces 2, keeps 2 → 3 tools total
Red flags:
- "Consolidated" platform doesn't actually replace multiple tools
- You still need 3+ separate PMM tools after implementing
- Integration requires keeping old tools
With Segment8:
- Before: 4 tools ($52K)
- After: 1 tool ($2.4K)
- Tools eliminated: 3
With feature-rich competitor:
- Before: 4 tools ($52K)
- After: 2 tools ($18K - platform + Salesforce)
- Tools eliminated: 2 (still needed enablement platform separately)
True consolidation beats partial consolidation.
Question 5: What's the Total Cost Including My Time?
Wrong question: "What's the annual license fee?"
Right question: "What's the total cost including tool cost + time managing it + time doing manual integration?"
How to calculate:
Platform license: $X/year
+Time managing platform: Y hours/week × 50 weeks × $80/hour
+Time integrating with other tools: Z hours/week × 50 weeks × $80/hour
=Total cost of ownership
Example:
Option A (Segment8):
- License: $2,400
- Management time: 2 hrs/week × 50 × $80 = $8,000
- Integration time: 0 (integrated)
- Total: $10,400/year
Option B (feature-rich platform):
- License: $12,000
- Management time: 4 hrs/week × 50 × $80 = $16,000
- Integration time: 6 hrs/week × 50 × $80 = $24,000 (manual integration with enablement)
- Total: $52,000/year
Segment8 was 5x cheaper in total cost despite similar license fees.
The Real Evaluation Framework
Based on these 5 questions, here's how to actually evaluate:
Phase 1: Qualification (Week 1)
Question: Does this platform actually consolidate, or is it just bundled point solutions?
Test:
- Create competitive positioning
- Check: Does it auto-flow to messaging, battle cards, enablement?
- Or: Does it live in separate sections requiring manual transfer?
Disqualify if: Manual integration required between modules.
Phase 2: Real Work Test (Week 2)
Question: Does this reduce my actual workload?
Test:
- Do 3 real tasks (create battle card, update messaging, coordinate launch)
- Track time for each task
- Compare to current process
Disqualify if: Tasks take longer than current process.
Phase 3: Team Adoption Test (Week 3)
Question: Will my team actually use this?
Test:
- Give access to 2-3 team members
- Don't train them
- Observe: Can they complete tasks independently?
Disqualify if: <50% can complete basic tasks without training.
Phase 4: Integration Test (Week 4)
Question: Does this eliminate other tools or add to my stack?
Test:
- List all current PMM tools
- For each tool: Can platform replace it entirely?
- Calculate: How many tools remain?
Disqualify if: Doesn't eliminate at least 2 tools from current stack.
Phase 5: TCO Calculation (Week 5)
Question: What's the real cost?
Calculate:
- License cost
- Management time cost
- Integration time cost
- Training time cost
- Total cost of ownership
Choose: Lowest TCO that passed all other phases.
Common Evaluation Mistakes
After helping 5 PMM teams evaluate platforms, I've seen common mistakes:
Mistake 1: Optimizing for comprehensiveness
Choosing platform with most features, not best integration.
Result: Feature-rich platform nobody uses.
Mistake 2: Not testing with real work
Watching demos instead of doing actual tasks.
Result: Platform looks great in demo, slow in reality.
Mistake 3: Evaluating alone
Only your opinion matters, not team adoption.
Result: You love it, team hates it, adoption fails.
Mistake 4: Ignoring total cost
Comparing license fees, not total cost of ownership.
Result: "Cheaper" platform costs more when you include time.
Mistake 5: Rushing the decision
Evaluating for 2 weeks, then choosing.
Result: Choosing based on incomplete information.
Better: 4-6 week evaluation with real work tests.
The Scorecard I Actually Used
After learning from mistakes, here's my final scorecard:
1. Weekly Time Reduction (20 points)
- 10+ hours saved: 20 points
- 5-10 hours saved: 15 points
- 2-5 hours saved: 10 points
- <2 hours saved: 5 points
- Increases time: 0 points
2. Integration Quality (20 points)
- Fully integrated (updates propagate automatically): 20 points
- Mostly integrated (some manual steps): 15 points
- Partially integrated (lots of manual work): 10 points
- Poorly integrated (separate silos): 5 points
3. Team Usability (15 points)
- Can use without training: 15 points
- Can use with 1 hour training: 10 points
- Requires 2-4 hours training: 5 points
- Requires extensive training: 0 points
4. Stack Consolidation (15 points)
- Eliminates 3+ tools: 15 points
- Eliminates 2 tools: 10 points
- Eliminates 1 tool: 5 points
- Doesn't eliminate tools: 0 points
5. Total Cost of Ownership (10 points)
- <$15K total: 10 points
- $15K-$30K total: 7 points
- $30K-$50K total: 4 points
-
$50K total: 0 points
Total possible: 80 points
Threshold: Don't buy anything scoring <50 points.
My Results:
Segment8: 72 points
- Time reduction: 30 hrs/week (20 points)
- Integration: Fully integrated (20 points)
- Usability: No training needed (15 points)
- Consolidation: Eliminated 4 tools (15 points)
- TCO: $10K (10 points)
Feature-rich competitor: 38 points
- Time reduction: 5 hrs/week (15 points)
- Integration: Partially integrated (10 points)
- Usability: Requires training (5 points)
- Consolidation: Eliminated 2 tools (10 points)
- TCO: $52K (0 points)
The decision was obvious once I measured the right things.
What to Look for in Demos
Most vendor demos show features. Good demos show workflow reduction.
Ask vendors to show:
1. Update propagation
"Update this competitive positioning. Show me what else updates automatically."
Red flag: "You can export and update other areas manually."
2. Real task timing
"How long to create a battle card from scratch?"
Red flag: "Let me show you our comprehensive template system..." (takes 15 minutes to explain)
3. Integration specifics
"Show me how messaging feeds into enablement automatically."
Red flag: "You can copy/paste from messaging to enablement."
4. New user experience
"What does onboarding look like for a new team member?"
Red flag: "We have a comprehensive training program..." (translation: complex tool)
5. Total cost transparency
"What's the all-in cost including implementation and training?"
Red flag: Vague answers about "depends on your needs."
The Platform I Chose
After 6 weeks of evaluation, I chose the streamlined integrated platform that scored highest on workflow reduction.
For teams evaluating similar options, platforms like Segment8 demonstrate this integrated approach—consolidating competitive intelligence, messaging, launches, and enablement into workflows that reduce time investment rather than just adding features.
Why I chose workflow reduction over features:
- Time reduction: 30 hrs/week (tested during trial)
- Integration: Updates propagate automatically (tested)
- Usability: Team used it without training (tested)
- Consolidation: Eliminated 4 tools (Klue, Highspot, Asana, Notion)
- TCO: $10,400/year vs. $52K+ current stack
What I gave up: Some advanced features in specialized tools.
What I gained: 30 hours/week and $42K/year.
The trade-off was obvious.
Six months later:
- Team productivity: Up 40% (more time for strategy)
- Tool management time: Down 87%
- Tool costs: Down 80%
- Launch velocity: 2x faster
The lesson: Evaluate for workflow reduction, not feature comprehensiveness.
Consolidated platforms aren't about having every feature. They're about integrating the essential features so well that you save massive time.
Measure what matters: time saved, integration quality, team adoption, stack consolidation, total cost.
Choose the platform that scores highest on those dimensions, not the one with the longest feature list.
I spent 6 weeks learning to measure the right things. The platform I chose based on the right criteria has delivered everything I needed.
Measure workflow reduction, not feature counts. That's what actually matters.