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May 2007 - Posts

Thursday, May 31, 2007 4:11 PM

5 Questions with Zakia Ovington: Driving a $136mm Vista business...

Continuing our series of talks with folks from Redmond who have a great view on various Microsoft business practices... Today we are talking with Zakia Ovington. (see Larry Brennan from yesterday ) Zakia is the senior product manager for Windows Vista
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 3:01 PM

5 Questions with Larry Brennan: an MS corporate marketing manager shares his wisdom...

One of the things that I've seen in my time at Microsoft is that there is a big game of "telephone" between corporate Microsoft and partners and the field. Everyone does their best to communicate but with so many hops, things get diluted. Today, we're
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:31 PM

Microsoft's new 'surface' computer...

Neat stuff. see video here .
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 2:30 PM

Event Planning Mistakes...

Stephanie at Data Management Group saw the success that some of our other partners have had running events (see here , here , and here ) Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and they had to cancel. I asked Stephanie what she learned from this experience
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 11:04 AM

Striking while the iron is hot...

Great marketers always think about the next step. Karen at Corporate Network Services ran a successful event last week. You know what she asked me yesterday? "Any advice on when/where we should do our next event?" She's leveraging our 'smart targeting
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007 10:50 AM

Partners Partnering...

One of the best ways for a partner to convince a customer of the value of their service is by showing the whole picture. For example, if Microsoft wants to sell Exchange Server and the customer is interested in larger mailbox storage, we can talk about
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
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Monday, May 28, 2007 5:25 PM

Profile Update...what do you think?

Inspired by Guy Kawasaki's post on the value of LinkedIn (and a good looking profile ), I updaded mine. Click below and let me know what you think. Feel free to join my network and/or leave a recommendation as well. Thanks! (For more on my experience
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
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Friday, May 25, 2007 12:48 PM

The Top Ten Reasons Why PR Doesn't Work

Call out to Guy Kawaski for the Link to How to Change the World: The Top Ten Reasons Why PR Doesn't Work
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
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Friday, May 25, 2007 1:15 AM

Marketing is gasoline, not matches...

Once upon a time, the marketing department was a match. It was responsible for lighting a spark and the sales team would fan it to make it grow. Some sparks would go out, but if you lit enough, some turned into bonfires. 10 years ago, that was the name
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
Friday, May 25, 2007 12:24 AM

Post-Event follow up...

A lot of partners ask: OK, so the event is over, now what? Well, here's a great example of one thing you could do. Following up on their great event, Digerati decides to strike while the iron is hot. They offer 1 hour of on-site service (a great loss-leader)
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Monday, May 21, 2007 8:21 PM

More on Bad Powerpoint...

I guess I've gotten a name for myself with my bad PowerPoint jihad. Ed Mullin from AIS writes in and suggests that we each watch this video of " horrific powerpoint techniques we should all avoid ." There is another funny Powerpoint-based video after
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
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Sunday, May 20, 2007 12:09 AM

Partner Synergy...

Something happened on this morning's partner marketing call that I hadn't seen before... Bryanna from The Computer Doctor was listening to Peter recounting Digerati's event in Harrisonburg . She offered that Harrisonburg, VA is the model city for IPv6
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Friday, May 18, 2007 4:01 PM

What $5k in event marketing buys you...

Well, Dave and his team at Evolve pulled off Moneyball at RFK Stadium yesterday (and the Nationals beat the Braves, 4-3!) Each of the 40 customers was assigned to a team "managed" by one of the reps from the sponsoring partners ( Evolve , Microsoft, Palm
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Friday, May 18, 2007 1:49 PM

Perception matters...

I tell partners often... your ability to successfully market with Microsoft is greatly impacted by one key variable: the degree to which you influence the sale of Microsoft licenses. That's why I LOVE seeing this signature file. Even if they don't sell
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
Thursday, May 17, 2007 9:40 PM

Think blogs don't have power?

Ask the people who cumulatively lost 4 billion dollars worth of Apple market cap thanks to 1 blogs report. And, oh yeah, it was a false rumor.
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Thursday, May 17, 2007 9:20 AM

Post-Event PR

Love when partners stoke the fire after an event. Here's what I got this morning....Nice job! Microsoft and The Computer Doctor Partner Event held in Occoquan, VA yesterday was a huge success. The afternoon was filled with excitement as our customers
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 4:35 PM

Pre-Event PR

The Moneyball event at RFK is tomorrow (pray for no rain), but the PR machine is underway ! I love seeing partners get out in front of it. We're not going to split hairs, since I gave Dave the idea after I read the book ( Book Review: Moneyball ) and
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 2:32 PM

Helping Partners Hire...

My research last year shows that for salesreps, the average partner exec invests approx 10-15 hours and the company will spend $20k in the search process. On top of that, only 50% of sales hires stay more than 1 year. I've seen a lot of fits and starts
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 12:38 PM

No more phone trees....

A new service called BRINGO offers you the following deal to avoid 'phone trees.' Find the company you'd like to call by category (credit cards, mortgages, loans, health care) Enter your phone # (we will never disclose your phone number to anyone, not
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 9:54 AM

Customer Blitz Day....

So I spent the day doing what I ask partners to do all the time....calling up customers and asking them to attend an event (and buy software). I had a slight advantage perhaps in saying I am an MS employee, but other than that they were just as cold.
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 15, 2007 4:02 PM

Do you thank your referrals?

I introduced a friend of mine who sells coffee service to the office manager a few months ago. Today, I was in the kitchen, and saw his company's machine getting set up. I was a bit irritated.I called him. "Hey, how come you didn't call me to say 'thanks
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Tuesday, May 15, 2007 9:57 AM

Is PowerPoint an aid or a crutch?

"Death by Powerpoint" is a common problem at Microsoft. Most people think that-because they have made slides--that they have an effective presentation. WRONG. Some more food for thought in the anti-bad Powerpoint/Presentation jihad (is it non-pc to use
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
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Monday, May 14, 2007 2:30 PM

Yet ANOTHER resource...

One of the benefits of being in the top 10% of all Microsoft blogs is that people throughout the company want to leverage the distribution to communicate with partners about stuff they are doing. Today I found out about RSVP magazine for the first time.
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Monday, May 14, 2007 2:25 PM

Presentation Preparation...

We talk a LOT about effective presentations. How you make people feel, what your slides should look like. Here's a great nuts and bolts article on just making sure you minimize the chance of failing on something obvious.
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Monday, May 14, 2007 2:23 PM

On Unified Communications and Microsoft...

A good article from GigaOm re: MIcrosoft's Unified Communications future .
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
Sunday, May 13, 2007 12:41 AM

Make it easy to work with you....

I shop at Home Depot a lot (I do have some issues w/store organization and ability to find stuff, but generally, I feel like I get value for the money). What bothers me, however, is when I go to the store finder to see hours of operation and it says,
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Friday, May 11, 2007 3:15 PM

Nurturing your invitees...

It's critical that after a customer signs up to attend your event that you go back with value-added suggestions and reasons for attending. Multiple "reminder" calls are boring and ineffective. Check out what Co rporate Network Services just sent out:
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Friday, May 11, 2007 11:04 AM

Upcoming Marketing Webinars...

Some interesting looking webinars coming up about low-cost marketing. I'm going to check out 1 or 2 of them.
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
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Thursday, May 10, 2007 11:54 PM

On hard work and event mileage...

See the video here. If there is a success story from the slew of April Events we did, it has got to be the team from Digerati in Harrisonburg. They began their marketing a bit late (5 weeks prior to the event) and with 10 days until the event, they had
Posted by jerman of the board | 3 Comments
Thursday, May 10, 2007 11:45 PM

T-mobile and the Customer Experience...

For the technologically advanced, one of the most frustrating things is to call tech support and be treated like a novice. "Yes, I know where the 'start' button is.' "Yes, the battery is in the cell phone.' So, it's particularly rewarding when you call
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007 6:47 PM

Blackberry Killer...

This may be bold, but I think Microsoft combined with HTC has created a "Blackberry Killer." I just installed Windows Mobile 6 on my T-mobile Dash . It's VERY impressive. Your email is like your desktop Outlook. You can do instant searches, propose new
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007 2:40 PM

The Customer Experience...

The average American has over 3000 customer experiences daily . And Joey Coleman of Design Symphony understands what it takes to make a customer feel good about you. In an era where "everyone competes on speed (thanks to ups, fedex) and price (china,
Posted by jerman of the board | 9 Comments
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007 2:34 PM

Horrible Presentations...

We talk about this a lot...here's more evidence.
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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Wednesday, May 09, 2007 11:41 AM

Punctuality vs. Tardiness...

There are people who are always on time and there are people who are always late. And yes, there are some in the middle, but most gravitate towards one side. Time is everyone's most valuable commodity and in the division between punctual and tardy people,
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
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Tuesday, May 08, 2007 10:18 PM

Meetings...

I spent the bulk of the past few days in meetings...and while they were interesting, I think you lose people after 45 minutes. Perhaps it harkens back to how long your high school classes were or something, but a 15 minute break every hour would, IMHO,
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
Tuesday, May 08, 2007 10:27 AM

Free Book offer...still valid

Still a chance to get a free copy of Small is the New Big...see here.
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Tuesday, May 08, 2007 10:20 AM

Great Powerpoint...more on

We spend a LOT of time talking about what makes an effective powerpoint ....and what doesn't . Guy Kawasaki just completed the contest on World's Greatest Presentation . Take a look.
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Sunday, May 06, 2007 12:16 AM

The "Wow" and Marketing Speak...

My brother, Asher, is one of the harshest critics of new technologies. He's an early adopter, but he really puts things to the test in terms of value before he proclaims them worthwhile. He came over yesterday and I showed him my new laptop. "I haven't
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Friday, May 04, 2007 12:19 PM

The Implications for You of Web 2.0

Remember how I talked about my e-commerce day and how industries will be altered ? Take a look at this article and see how things are going to get even easier/better.
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
Thursday, May 03, 2007 10:20 AM

The Future of IW....

In Microsoft-speak, "IW" means "Information Worker" and Bill Gates outlined a vision for what that might look like two years ago. Last night, after a bit of hassle installing SQL Server 2005 on my Toshiba M7 laptop, I got a glimpse of the next quantum
Posted by jerman of the board | 2 Comments
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Wednesday, May 02, 2007 11:01 AM

When legal gets in the way of business...

A number of partners have written in about how the Click to Attend site hinders registration. Today, I got an answer....and I can't say I'm thrilled. I am sure there is a valid reason (in the mind of the legal team, risk, etc.), but to think that we're
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Attachment(s): click to attend update.doc
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 10:18 AM

Buy-in from the top...

I was speaking with one of our longtime partners yesterday. They've had a tough time executing an event with us. Three times they've scheduled and then canceled an event. I spoke with the CEO yesterday and we talked about what happened. I told him about
Posted by jerman of the board | 0 Comments
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 10:10 AM

True Partnership....

You want love and money from Microsoft ( more here )? Send an email like BEI just sent me. here is an updated Report for BEI - this reflects sales through mid-April. Total Microsoft sales are about $64K! And, hey guys, how much is that in services revenue?
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Wednesday, May 02, 2007 9:55 AM

Preparing Your Presenter....

Matt Rothman from Guru stopped by the office this morning. He's prepping for a June 10th event and already has 12 people registered ( so I like his chances ). It's his first event, and we've secured a Microsoft presenter for him. He asked, "is there any
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
Tuesday, May 01, 2007 7:27 PM

Free Book Offer...

Well, there is no such thing as a free lunch, right? But, this comes close. I have 10 copies of Seth Godin's latest book, Small Is the New Big , to give away . But, there's a give/get . You GET the book. You GIVE one SOLID idea for making it even easier
Posted by jerman of the board | 5 Comments
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Tuesday, May 01, 2007 3:18 PM

Don't Count Microsoft Out...

I'm not a developer, but the blogosphere is abuzz with Microsoft's new development platform "Silverlight." Here's Robert Scoble's take on it....there are hundreds more. Fascinating. View article...
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Tuesday, May 01, 2007 10:46 AM

Event Drop-Off by Month...

Partners spend a lot of time asking about effective execution of events and which variables have the most impact. Oftentimes, I say that it is The Long Runway in terms of demand gen. That was anecdotal, now I have some data which supports (sort of) the
Posted by jerman of the board | 3 Comments
Tuesday, May 01, 2007 10:46 AM

Subliminal Advertising...

This is really something...understanding (or not) what influences your thinking.
Posted by jerman of the board | 1 Comments
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