Using Sales Insights to Guide High-Impact Product Decisions with April Palmer of Duckbill

April Palmer joins this episode of Convergence.fm to break down a practical, repeatable approach to product innovation that starts with customer conversations and ends with shipped improvements. We talk about why most innovation is actually "amelioration," how to run a closed loop ladder from stories to product decisions, and how to earn buy-in from sales and frontline teams so innovation becomes a team sport.  April is in charge of client relationships at Duckbill and teaches product innovation at VCU. She is a former top sales performer for Fortune 100 companies across various industries, where she consistently drove double-digit growth in six- and seven-figure portfolios. Today, she helps aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful businesses by developing strategies that integrate finance, marketing, sales, and customer experience. April shares how a sales driven internal request at Duckbill became Skyway, a cloud contract and spend visibility product, and why the best use of AI is helping humans do human work better. In this episode: Defining product innovation as improvement of existing workflows, not just net new invention The closed loop ladder: capture, translate, synthesize, decide, ship, close the loop The "wet monkeys" lesson, how tradition blocks obvious change How to use ride alongs and story capture to surface patterns fast How to earn trust from sales and frontline techs without slowing them down Why call centers are opportunity centers, not just cost centers AI in support: where it helps, where it creates risk Sales led innovation stories from ADP and Duckbill, from insights to new offerings Building a challenge network and creating room for whimsy in problem solving Delightful product experience, why Wayfair's self explanatory assembly labeling mattered Mentioned in this episode:  Follow April Palmer on LinkedIn Duckbill and Skyway  Share More Stories and SEEQ  They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan  Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters TED app Blinkist Headway Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts including video episodes to get updated on the other crucial conversations that we'll post on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast Learn something? Give us a 5 star review and like the podcast on YouTube. It's how we grow.   Follow the Pod Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/convergence-podcast/ X: https://twitter.com/podconvergence Instagram: @podconvergence