News & Views for Australian SBSCs : Marketing

Get a professionally written company solution for the Solution Profile Tool

rupcroft — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:55:53 GMT

To celebrate the launch of the new Microsoft Partner Solution Marketplace, we’re giving your business the chance to shine by helping you create a professionally written company solution profile that you can upload to the Solution Profiler Tool, and even use in your other marketing efforts.

Microsoft will cover half the cost (your out-of-pocket-expense is $80 plus GST) and give you the chance to work with a leading online copywriter who’s helped hundreds of Australian small and medium-sized businesses better connect to their audience and increase sales. This offer is open to all qualified Small Business Specialists, within the Microsoft Partner Program, who have a head-office in Australia.

Order your profile today (offer is limited and ends December 30 2008).

Robbie

PS - this offer is based in part on the feedback we received at the Partner Conference around the challenges with using the tool. So know that your feedback is important & acted upon as much as we can.

Is your business in the know?

rupcroft — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:45:07 GMT

Heads-up from our SMB team about our continuing customer profiling activities.

I really feel these activities will result in more business for all & so am keen to hear your feedback / questions.

Cheers,

Robbie

Recently, we told you about our program to profile our customers so we can tailor our communications to our customer’s business needs and deliver regular, relevant updates from Microsoft and our partners.

We know that by marketing more effectively to our customers, we will achieve a much better response and, in turn, drive a higher volume and quality of sales leads to our Partners.

We are currently deploying via email the first of our tailored customer communications. Called Psst… , we have strived to deliver information, offers and tips that we believe are relevant to our SMB customers.

In the future we will be giving you a partner ready version of this communication so you can also send this targeted communication on to your valued SMB customers.

Link to the website here.

Download a copy of the eDM here.

Get 15% off Office & Windows Server

rupcroft — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 10:01:00 GMT

Quick heads-up on our latest customer offer: get 15% off selected Microsoft Office & Windows Server products - offer ending December 31st, 2008.

Following on from our "Economy" campaign, this is a great way to help customers save money as they start to tighten their belts.

Details here: https://partner.microsoft.com/australia/40086487

Cheers & lemme know if you have any questions,

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

SBS & EBS in the next Action Pack

rupcroft — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 10:26:56 GMT

Given that Small Business Server 2008 & Essential Business Server 2008 have now been released to manufacturing, I'm happy to report that both will be included in the next release of the Microsoft Action Pack. Check out the full listing of contents here.

This is due for shipment on October 24th meaning you should start to receive your kits in the weeks following - hopefully ahead of the WW customer launch on November 12th.

If you're not currently subscribed, then now's your chance to sign-up to receive loads of software, content & training that can help you spot, sell & close deals.

Enjoy,

Robbie

And congrats from me to the SBSC finalists

nickmayhew — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:03:01 GMT

Well done to you all and here's to an exciting conference next week ! Good luck at the award ceremony.

Nick Mayhew

Our S+S Strategy - let me help the SBSC community with your questions

nickmayhew — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:58:59 GMT

I've just posted this note on my blog and I know from talking to Robbie that there are already some concerns and questions arising in the SBSC community around the announcements last week on BPOS and S+S at Worldwide Partner Conference. So here is my offer to the community - send me any questions you have and I do everything I can to answer them. I won't be able to tell you exactly when and how we will launch in Australia as we are still working on the plans, but let me help you all understand the strategy here, how it affects you and what you should be doing to seize the opportunities ahead of us and the community as the market shifts in the way we believe it will. Go off to my blog, and send questions through the email link. I will either post back privately to you, if you request it, or build an FAQ on that blog that collects the main questions I was asked.

"With all the announcements last week on the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) as part of our Software+Services strategy (S+S) we know there will be questions arising in the minds of Australian partners large and small, from value-added resellers to system integrators and ISVs.

Whilst we won't necessarily have all the answers I wanted to use my blog as a way to help our partners engage in a dialog on the subject, ask some specific burning questions and for me to roll out an FAQ type response that I build on as we go forwards.

So feel free to send me any questions you have on the announcements last week, the S+S strategy as a whole, the BPOS partner model etc etc I will then either answer directly to you or via this blog in FAQ format. It is an exciting time in the industry but one with which we understand can create uncertainty in many people's minds - we are committed to helping partners embrace the business opportunities going forwards and of course to better server your customers."

Thanks !

Nick Mayhew

Partner Strategy Lead for Australia

How to grow your word of mouth

rupcroft — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:23:11 GMT

One of the common themes running through our recent series of SBSC roundtables was that most partners rely almost exclusively on word of mouth to generate new business, but that most didn't have a process in place to help maximize it.

What about you? I'm not suggesting that you need to give a 5% discount or whatever for every recommendation that an existing customer brings on (although this does work for some), however it is worthwhile to look at what you're doing to help drive positive recommendations.

Some of the partners I've worked with who are successful with this use a combination of the following:

Newsletter / blog / customer forum on their website to keep people up to date & facilitate feedback (good & bad)
Regular customer satisfaction surveys
Follow-up thank-you notes one month & three months after the installation / deployment / project
Case-studies & referenceable customer sites on your website
Straight out asking (in a nice way) if the customer would mind passing on their details to any colleague or peer that they think would benefit from the service
Always giving two business cards - one to keep, one to pass on

Of course, you need to have top-notch service and sometimes offer that little extra something that makes you unique. Although a sushi restaurant has nothing to do with providing IT solutions, there's a good example of a business doing just this with great results - Check it out here.

Cheers,

Robbie

PS - I picked up this link from one of my absolute must-read blogs - Seth Godin. He's basically the godfather of what I think of as person-to-person marketing & if you're looking to grow your word of mouth, you should definitely add him to your blogroll.

WPC: 2008 SMALL & MIDSIZE BUSINESS PARTNER FORUM AND SMB TRACK

nickmayhew — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:23:45 GMT

WPC: 2008 SMALL & MIDSIZE BUSINESS PARTNER FORUM AND SMB TRACK

Register for the third annual Microsoft Small and Midsize Business Partner Forum (formerly known as the Small Business Symposium). This year, for the first time ever, the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference will include an end-to-end experience for partners focused on the small- and midsize-business market segment. We’ll feature a one-day interactive event on July 7, as well as a new small- and midsize-business track throughout the entire Worldwide Partner Conference, taking place July 7-10 in Houston.

SBSC partners can take advantage of special discount WPC pricing of USD$1395 (full conference fee is USD$1795) – details, special registration code and link to the registration tool can be found online. Partners using the special registration code will be automatically registered for the SMB Partner Forum on July 7^th.

The Small and Midsize Business Partner Forum, held on the first day of the conference, is a networking and learning event for Microsoft Small Business Specialists and other SMB-focused technology providers who want to strengthen their small-business practices. During the interactive one-day Small and Midsize Business Partner Forum—and through the first-ever small- and midsize-partner track held throughout the Worldwide Partner Conference--you’ll have the chance to gain insight on how to balance customer needs with your own growth objectives.

When you attend the Worldwide Partner Conference and the Small and Midsize Business Partner Forum, you can:

Learn strategies from industry experts to help you effectively focus your time, increase your business value, and grow your business.
Hear from Microsoft executives about the company’s direction in the small- and midsize-business marketplace.
Interact with your peers and learn successful best practices that you can implement in your business.
Prepare for the upcoming launch of Windows Small Business Server 2008.
Build core skills and strategies that align with the small- and midsize-business segment.

Nick Mayhew

New Find a Partner website

sbscaustralia — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:18:07 GMT

The very cool map-based Find a Partner tool has just been launched. Some of you may have seen it at the Partner Conference - it uses Microsoft's Virtual Earth technology to give customers a fast and effective way to search for a Partner according to location and/or area of specialisation.

The site also includes tips on how customers should select the right Partner and a summary of the benefits for doing so - you can check it out here.

Partner-TV Launched

sbscaustralia — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 00:59:40 GMT

At the Australia Partner Conference, the Partner Team announced the launch of Partner-TV Australia. This video blog, dedicated to Microsoft Partners, will consist of short interviews from Microsoft staff and Partners developing cool services or solutions which you can watch or listen to via a podcast. Visit and encourage other partners to subscribe to the Partner-TV video blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/ozpartnertv.

Last few days to enter an Award submission

sbscaustralia — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 02:18:36 GMT

With the deadline extended you have until this Friday to submit an award for the Australian Partner Conference.

It's a great opportunity to have your solution recognized by Microsoft and by your peers and there is an award for Small Business Specialists only.

The Small Business Specialist Award honours those partners who are using Microsoft technology to deploy innovative small business solutions. This award is only for partners actively enrolled in the Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community. Small Business Specialists serve all customer types and sizes. However, the purpose of this award is demonstrating innovation for deploying a small business Microsoft-based solution (fewer than 50 employees or fewer than 25 PCs). Key Microsoft products in the small business solutions stack include Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2, Microsoft Windows Vista, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Office Accounting 2007, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Small Business Financials. Submissions should focus on how the partner provides ways for a small business to better connect with customers, partners and employees, to manage business processes productively and to reply on dependable, flexible and secure software.

Submit today

Presenting...... The New Partner Portal!!

sbscaustralia — Tue, 15 May 2007 05:08:06 GMT

As many of you will have noticed, today heralded the launch of our brand spanking new and shiny Partner Portal.

In response to feedback from you guys, we've made some significant changes that will help you find relevant information faster.

Karina Silva, our Partner Communications Manager is the person behind the new look site and I spent a bit of time asking her few questions about the changes and what she'll be doing now she's unchained from her desk.

----------------------------------------------------

So, Karina, its great to have you guest starring on my blog –I know you’ve been chained to your desk for the last few months working on the new Partner website – tell us about the changes Partners will be able to see to the Portal.

Thanks Lorna. This is a very exciting time for our Partners and Microsoft Australia. We’re launching today a new Australian Partner Portal! – This is in answer to feedback from Partners who told us they need quicker and direct access to relevant resources in order to support their everyday and strategic business goals. I’ve always heard Partners saying that they know all the information they need is on our Partner Portal but it was just too difficult to find. We fused this partner feedback with Web best practices to streamline navigation and organise content around the critical tasks that partners need to accomplish and I believe the new Partner Portal is a huge step forward on our mission to deliver best-in-class online destination for our partners.

I know I hear a lot from Partners about it being hard to find stuff on the website – will these changes help our Partners find what they really need?

Absolutely. The new Partner Portal presents an improved search engine that has a relevance rating of 94%. In addition, a more intuitive streamlined navigation guides partners to find the content that they need quickly and easily. We are increasing our content by 75% but all the resources have been brought together for the Australian market, so partners don’t need to be diverted to the global site anymore, improving their user experience. Another key feature that partners will love is “personalisation”. When Partners sign in on the Home Page they will receive content relevant to their membership level. Also, we introduced the “View Your Membership” section that help partners easily access their partner account information such as Partner ID, program administrator, competencies, membership expiry date, etc.

You play a rather large part in creating a dialogue between Microsoft and partners. What else does your role cover?

As the Partner Communications Manager for Microsoft in Australia, I look after the overall Partner Communication Plan to ensure Partners are receiving critical information on time and help them plan ahead their training activities, engaging in customers campaigns, participate in partners and customers events, take advantage of offers and promotions and ultimately help them win in the market place. The Partner Initiative Calendar is an example of bringing this promise into reality. We just launched a new version of this calendar that Partners can download from our website. Other examples of how we help our partners stay up-to-date with all the relevant news & updates is via our Monthly Partner Newsletters, this is a benefit of the Partner Program that thousand of partners enjoy every month. If you are not receiving the newsletters you need to associate your email account to your partner organisation. Your program administrator in your company can help you with this. It’s pretty simple.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

During the week, I like to get out of bed thinking that I will help partners make a difference. In the last 1 ½ years I have been working with many of our Partners on promoting their success stories via Partner Testimonials and Case Studies which is very rewarding. On the weekends, most definitely get me out to bed playing soccer for Mosman Soccer Club. I’m Argentinean what did you expect! :-)

How do you filter the Microsoft jargon to talk real speak to partners?

This is key in order to clearly communicate our messages. Best way to combat the Microsoft jargon is to speak the customer language. At the end of the date, Partners and Microsoft’s goals are around understanding customers needs and making sure they have the best experience with our technology and during business with us. Speaking the Customer language is the step one to succeed on this journey.

What celebrity do you look like?

I have always been told that I look like Neve Campbell.

What do you like most about working in the partner organization within Microsoft?

I really enjoy to be part of an organisation that has genuine interest in helping partners grow their business and succeed in the market place. There are not other things that we think about in our team but improving the partner experience with Microsoft and make their life easier!

SBSC Exclusive Add-On Kit

sbscaustralia — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 04:02:49 GMT

We've finally had confirmation on the release date of the MAPS SBSC Add-On Kit - which will hit your desks in mid April. The Kit is part of a new value-add for SBSCers - and you will receive one every quarter.

Despite the fact that the name of the kit implies that it is only for Action Pack subscribers - the kit will actually be for all SBSCs - whether you're Registered, Certified or Gold and will include the following:

1. Sales and Marketing Tools:

- Small Business exclusive training

- Small Business Demo showcase DVD

2. Software

- 1 copy of Microsoft Visual Studio® Standard edition