News & Views for Australian SBSCs : Business strategy

Are you a sales administrator or a sales professional?

rupcroft — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:48:37 GMT

Great post from Bruce Rasmussen of Carpe Diem & the Microsoft solutions sales course fame around how to sell in difficult economic times.

Check it out here: http://carpe-diem.typepad.com/ms_partners/2008/10/selling-in-diff.html

Or as many partners that I've spoken to in the last couple of weeks say: "what difficult times?". I'm heartened by the consistently positive approach that so many SBSCs bring to their business & the knowledge that they're still being run off their feet with orders & roll-outs is testament to the fact that they're business people first & technology folks second.

A snippet from Bruce's article:

"It seems to me in "tough economic times" that businesses will be having even more problems - and hence if we come up with "problem solving opportunities" in fact there should be MORE business for us to do during a downturn."

Great blog to sign-up to as Bruce literally wrote the book on how to sell IT to SMBs.

Robbie

Hear from the experts about how to weather the storm

rupcroft — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:13:03 GMT

Very timely event from our Financing team aimed at helping partners understand & prepare for the coming economic downturn.

To assist you in determining what it means for your business and your customers, Microsoft Financing, has assembled a panel of experts to discuss;

The economic climate,
Impacts on the IT market, and
How to leverage Microsoft,

Panelists will include Robert Gottleibsen, Jean Marc Annonier from IDC & Microsoft Australia MD, Tracey Fellows.

Event Details and Registration

Date: Tuesday 25^th November

Time: 7.30am Registration

8.00am Session Commences

9.45am Concludes

Location: Hilton Hotel, 488 George Street, Sydney

To Register you attendance please visit: Microsoft Financing Economy Event Registration Website

Unfortunately I'll be in Brisbane however really think there's value in stopping to assess the current situation & then discuss your approach.

Cheers & hope you can make it,

Robbie

Robert Gottliebsen
Robert Gottliebsen has spent more than 30 years writing and commentating about business and investment in Australia. He has served as a regular columnist for the Australian Financial Review and founded BRW in 1981. Gottliebsen has also been host of the Business Daily TV show on Sky News as well as playing a role as National Business Commentator for The Australian. Today, he specialises in communicating business ideas and comments through The Australian, a nightly TV show, the Internet and regular radio broadcasts.

Jean Marc Annonier – Research Manager, IDC

Jean-Marc Annonier is an expert at combining rigorous micro and macroeconomic study methodologies with his in-depth knowledge of the Australian ICT market. His specialty at IDC is the segmentation of all ICT markets per business size, vertical industry and region. Jean Marc is author of the recently released IDC paper “The Economic Recession in Australia - What does it mean for the ICT Industry?".

Tracey Fellows - Managing Director, Microsoft
Tracey Fellows is responsible for meeting the needs of Microsoft’s customers, which include governments, businesses and consumers, as well as the 14,000 partners and independent software vendors who produce leading edge technology solutions for Australian businesses based on Microsoft’s platform.

Microsoft in the cloud - "Windows Azure"

rupcroft — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:40:02 GMT

Lots of notes & noise swirling around today after the Professional Developers Conference announcement of Windows Azure, Microsoft's platform for cloud computing and software + services.

As you can imagine the wraps on this were kept tighter than a very tight thing & so I haven't really had a lot of time to think about what it means specifically for SBSC partners. Anything that helps customers & partners be more productive has to be a good thing but as always, time will tell.

Anyway, much smarter people than me are all over this & so to catch some of the coverage, check out:

The official Microsoft web site
The press release
Ray Ozzie's keynote - on demand video
Mary Jo Foley's guide for the perplexed

Cheers & let the conversations begin,

Robbie

Selling to the public sector

rupcroft — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:58:11 GMT

Good announcement from Prime Minister Rudd on Friday about the Government's plans for helping small businesses cope with the credit crisis.

A snippet from the Sydney Morning Herald's MySmallBusiness blog:

Addressing a business summit in Brisbane today, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd unveiled a package of measures including individual tax management plans, $4 million for advisory centres and guarantees of on-time payments for businesses that deal with government departments.

For those of you selling into Government, the Microsoft Australia public sector website has a bunch of resources including case-studies, templates & our overall positioning, all designed to help partners more effectively offer solutions for this space.

Cheers & lemme know if you have any questions,

Robbie

Grow your business through your existing customer base

rupcroft — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 01:59:25 GMT

Good read from one of my feeds about the importance of looking at your existing customer base as a source of future revenue.

A snippet:

Seeing your customers as members of a kind of quasi-R&D team can save you a good deal of time and money and has the added benefit of producing increased goodwill. One of the most powerful steps you can take in relationship building is to ask questions relating to a recent transaction.

With the impending availability of Small Business Server 2008, there's been lots of chatter about how to find new customers, the benefits of the new version over the old etc & of course, why to upgrade existing customers to new kit.

As an SBSC there's also loads of good information, templates & guides on the Microsoft Partner site that can help you get started.

Couple of thoughts from me:

Less than 20% of SBS installations have Sharepoint enabled - this could be a good opportunity to go back to your existing clients & talk about the benefits of collaboration. Check out the great work that Sydney-based partner, Saturn Alliance, has done with it.
New Windows Mobile devices make it even easier to access information whilst out of the office - check out the local blog for info
Think about ways in which you can leverage your existing customer base to get new ones - ie, case-studies, reference sites, customer satisfaction surveys etc

Cheers & I'd love to hear your thoughts on what works well for you,

Robbie

Building your strategic network

rupcroft — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:37:18 GMT

Good read from the American Express OPEN business forum around the importance of building your strategic network.

Snippet:

You can easily and logically develop joint marketing initiatives with one or more partners and share the costs of promotion while borrowing trust built by each partner. This can include brochures, sales calls and workshops hosted jointly.

Many of the most successful partners that I've come across have built solid networks in their local community - not just with other IT organisations, but accountants, business advisors, book-keepers & other professional service organisations. They work hard to be part of a set of trusted advisors & benefit from the halo effect of their relationship with other providers.

Vijay Riyait, one the UK SBSC PALs was one of the best I've seen at doing this. He cultivated a network of businesses in the Midlands & spent time attending conferences, talking at chambers of commerce meetings & basically spreading around the goodwill. Yes, he knows his stuff on SBS, but he also makes sure he can talk business.

So, who's in your network?

Do you know 10 accountants / book-keepers in your area?
When did you last do a public presentation on SBS to a group of businesses?
Do you have a client reference program in place to generate good word-of-mouth?
What pro-bono work can you point to that shows you're a good all-round company?
Are you a member of your local chamber / toastmasters / Rotary / Lions club etc?

Cheers & would love to hear about good examples of this,

Robbie

What's your take on the economy?

rupcroft — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:00:23 GMT

Hard times. Nervous times. Companies losing confidence & the economy in turmoil. What to do?

There's a very strong argument that says organisations should pull back, consolidate, stop spending and just ride out the storm. And that absolutely makes sense in many situations.

But not all of them.

Although we also need to think carefully about how we continue to grow the business, I'm very happy to say that Microsoft Australia is taking positive steps to help customers not only survive this storm, but come out even stronger on the other side.

Starting today, we're rolling out a full-page, month long ad campaign in The Australian talking directly to customers, asking them if they're really making the most of their IT infrastructure.

The call to action is to talk to their partner or visit our site & so hopefully this high-profile advertising will provide some support for you to have upgrade conversation with your customers & prospects.

They may need to pay a little bit to upgrade from their current infrastructure, but the benefits of the remote web workplace, mobility via Windows Mobile, agility from virtualisation & the increased productivity of Sharepoint could really help them save money & be more effective.

As one of my most admired SMB consultants, Karl Palachuk says, "you can choose to reject the recession".

Cheers & lemme know your thoughts,

Robbie

Click here to download a copy of the ad. Full text is as follows:

We know it's hard to see the bright side of uncertain times, with the stock market in turmoil and softening consumer confidence. That's why many Australian businesses are looking for ways to reduce costs and brace themselves for whatever may come.

But before you go to extremes or do nothing at all - take a look at the proactive steps you can take to leverage your existing business investments and enable your people to work smarter. It might not solve all your worries, but it may get you on a better path.

Fact is, it doesn't always require major investments or sacrifices on your part to improve your IT infrastructure and efficiency. At Microsoft we're committed to helping our customers make the most of what they've got.

We don't want to get technical here, but we can show you a better way to utilise what you have - from the server room to your workstations. A good first step is to call your nearest Microsoft Partner or visit our website.

Contact your Microsoft Partner today or visit microsoft.com.au/economy

Add value before you slash prices

rupcroft — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:46:18 GMT

Great article from one of my feeds that's more relevant today than ever. With basically the whole world in financial panic mode & small businesses looking to cut corners wherever possible, there's a temptation as suppliers to lower prices in order to guarantee the business.

This can end-up in a vicious cycle though & so what could you be doing to add even more value instead of just cutting margins? This is particularly important for SBSCs given that SBS 2008 is just around the corner & the fact that SBS 2003 will still be available for some time.

Quick excerpt:

For most small business owners, the first place to look when facing tougher competitive challenges is value instead of price. In other words, look at your products and services and ask yourself how you can add value to the offerings before you simply cut the price to generate business. The problem with discounts is they become permanent and have the net effect of devaluing what you do. By looking for ways to add value, you will likely stumble upon enhancements that become true points of differentiation and drive the real and perceived value of what you offer up - making your business both unique and more profitable.

Full article by John Jantsch here.

Robbie