Nurturing Partner and Customer Relationships Christina Bauer Agenda My Background How are Good Partnering & Good Marketing Related? Tips for partnering with Microsoft no matter how big your company is Tips for getting attention of prospective partners What does Microsoft do for partners? Tips for partner planning how to achieve results! Q&A
Christina Bauer Many, many years in high-tech marketing 15 years for start-ups Built channels for Best Software, Abra Software, Cyber-Ark Software Microsoft PAM-Managed Partner for 5 years Entrepreneur Now working for Microsoft Initially Partner Marketing Manager Now run DIG Program #1 Source of partner-led pipeline in MS US mid-sized enterprise: $88M to date on total goal for all US of $100M. #1 Source of Cloud pipeline and revenue I am a draftee be gentle! Our First Question Question: How are Good Partnering and Good Marketing Related? Answer: Marketing to partners is the same as customers. Nurture!!!!
The Nurture Enemy: The Blitz!!! Blitz occurs when someone comes in your office & says: we need leads now Do a blitz call-down for an event Do a one-off email blast or postcard Do an event next week The Challenge Brain works by repetition Old study rule: repeat something out loud 7 times to remember Same is true for your prospects Must hear your message 5-7 times to remember Each time = 1 touch Your Friend: The Marketing Touch A marketing touch = A single message to a single audience The message goes to the same list The message offers the same solution (SharePoint is one touch, BizTalk is another touch) The message always has an offer, something FREE to attract attention A marketing campaign = multiple touches My rule is 5-7 touches over 6 months
Touch Example: SharePoint Example: SharePoint Offer = SharePoint webinar List = IT Directors in your area, with phone & email Touch 1 = Email about webinar Touch 2 = Telemarketing call Touch 3 = Reminder email about webinar Touch 4 = Post webinar email. Thanks for joining us, do you want slides? Or Sorry you didn t join us, do you want slides? Touch 5 = Post webinar call with same content By the time event is over, your prospects should connect your name with SharePoint Six months down the road, when a project comes up, they will think of you again! Become a trusted advisor! Most partners are selling services, not product You need to sell them the way THEY sell This is a relationship sell You act as a trusted advisor to your clients and prospects Rule when talking to prospects: you are NOT a salesperson, you are a tech expert calling with knowledge they need to be successful What do trusted advisors do? Build a relationship over time with YOU, 1:1 Know you and your needs Don t call WANTING something, but OFFERING value What DON T trusted advisors do? Send out impersonal messages Not know about you and your needs Call one time and disappear
Suggestions for a multi-touch campaign Circle your campaign about a set date Seminar Webinar Launch date This will help to ensure that sales calls, emails etc happen in sequence Vary the ways you touch your 1 audience about your 1 solution PERSONAL emails. No graphics, no fancy stuff. Should look like a note from YOU to THEM (preferably actually not you, but someone in sales) PERSONAL letters. PERSONAL calls. Be patient! It takes 6 months for a pipeline to build Tip: Always have an offer Average IT person gets 100 unsolicited calls/week and more than 50 unsolicited emails/day How do you break through the clutter? Be sure to have always have a great FREE offer Technical white paper ROI calculator 15-20 no-obligation online demo Introductory meeting Needs assessment Risk assessment Not-so-great offers Discount (more on that later)
My favorite offers for Partners! LEADS LEADS LEADS! Money to drive leads No money? Try vision, persistence and personality My favorite offer for CUSTOMERS! My Favorite Offer: Events Microsoft events are the best, easiest and cheapest offer Co-brand landing page with MPE (MicrosoftPartnerEvents.com) My Favorite Type of Event: The Breakthrough Free information on Microsoft Products. We don t always do a great job in boiling down new releases into key points and training IT folks use it!!! My favorite event title is Breakthroughs in (SQL Server, Unified Communications, Collaboration, etc etc) Over six years, it has never failed (although internally everyone got sick of it!)
Our Next Item Tips for Partnering with Microsoft no matter how big your company is Step One Learn The Alphabet Soup SMS&P = Small & med business Breath = smaller businesses Depth = medium-large EPG = Enterprise Short list of 1000 enterprise accounts Global = Huge global companies, managed out of different areas where HQ is located Managed Partner = Partner with a set Microsoft business contacts (Partner Account Manager, Partner Community Manager, Partner Marketing Manager) Join the program and you have a manager!
Step Two Build Buzz Tip One: Track & Report Revenue Find out what deals Microsoft is aiming at in your area (depth list, EPG list etc.) Announce wins on the Depth list, EPG list etc Announce everything else anyway Participate in events & offers Understand the fast-moving culture Get onto the short list Ask the questions whenever you meet a new Microsoft person What do you do? How can someone like me help you meet your goals & objectives? Step Three Maximize Managed Partner Status Join the Program and you ALL have a Partner Manager!!!! Keep regular Partner Manager Contacts These are monthly or bi-weekly calls or emails Soooooo tempting to cancel to fight internal fires Resist the temptation this is your chance to catch up on news and be introduced to opportunities! Track revenue Meet goals in your business plan Leads Revenue Win wires Case Studies the easiest to do by far!
Step Four - Expand your network! Local contacts are great, but even better to build relationships in Redmond and all over WWPC sign up for structured networking meetings with both local and national folks Your PAM can give you the names of folks to reach out to if you are unsure Try to connect with the product management side of the solutions you carry When meet, discuss what you like and great ideas for the future Pinpoint the PACs to join and network your way onto them! Start local User Groups for the products you support, if they haven t been started already Now We Consider Tips for getting the attention of prospective partners Hint: it s similar to customers
Map out the sales cycle Not only good for attracting partners, but you will need to get them these sales tools to be effective Figuratively map out sales cycle (flow chart etc.) Typical components include: Marketing touch campaign Lead comes in Send out brochures Sales PPT Tech Demo Proposal Template Literally map out sales cycle: Set up meeting and place all materials for your offer on table Consistent look? Look like form the same company Professional? Different from competition? Choose a competitive differentiator! We all know how important it is to choose a competitive differentiator! You don t want to invest in a campaign that turns into sales for your most hated enemy the competition Challenge is that differentiators are SO hard to develop! Companies spend hundreds of thousands on market assessments and research to define a competitive differentiator that is: Unique Compelling Until now, I have NEVER worked for a company that can spend millions on defining competitive differentiators, so I have developed a sure-fire system to define this in less than 10 minutes.
My Competitive Differentiator Cheat Sheet Take your top salesperson out to lunch Ask him/her what they say when they re pitching & top competitor ABC comes up Translate what they say into marketing speak as follows: TRACK results and ROI Set up a CRM system Excel MS CRM After event, send data back to Microsoft Registration list, if appropriate Check depth list, and any traction there Encourage sales to use CRM Do report that lists new activities by rep List your activities too when calling case studies etc! Trust but verify send leads to sales but track HOW they follow up Send regular reports (monthly, quarterly) on the results of your multitouch campaign (internally & to other partners like MS etc)
Design Campaigns for Hunters or Farmers Old Adage Two types of Salespeople Hunters like the kill of a new deal, don t want to be bothered with service questions afterwards Farmers love to build long-term relationships. Do half customer service and half sales Try to get hunters to build new channel, farmers to nurture Before setting up a campaign, ask is it for hunters or farmers? Hunters are great for breaking into a new arena or competency Farmer are great for cross-sell campaigns, or launches of new versions of old products your company has sold before Critical for ensuring you have the right partner mix! The pretty girls at the dance won t necessarily approach you! You may know the answer, but it s important to ask the question Make sure sales folks know if their follow-up will be different, get that commit Pitfalls to avoid (AKA my favorite mistakes) The Marketing blitz v. a personalized, multi-touch campaign Throwing the leads over the wall v. having the entire sales process mapped out Not getting credit where credit is due v. tracking leads so when sales says I did it! you can add Not without me! Making marketing decisions based on hearsay v. at least SOME data Not doing multi-touch campaigns to MY MARKETING prospects, such as inside resources and outside partners like Microsoft
A note on program effectiveness Often, in creating programs the creative gets the most focus Again, great thing about lead generation is that such choices can be driven by years of data Actual campaign effectiveness driven by: list (60%), then offer (30%) and then creative (10%) If your campaign isn t getting the results you want/need, it is most likely the list! Our First Question What does Microsoft do to enable partners?
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Case Studies Our Next Item Tips for Partner Planning how to achieve results!
Work together to estimate your prospecting need Some companies have run rate business from current customers ISV s (Independent Software Vendors) average 20-30% Custom services can be 60-80% Where does your organization fall? As lead gen marketers, this is a KEY question! Need to set meeting with sales, management and take a swag at what everyone estimates will come in next year Key questions: Will recurring revenue from current client base increase, decrease or stay the same? What clients have big projects on the horizon? How much could these bring in? What revenue goal is break-even? What revenue goal would hit 20%, 30% 40% growth? Marketing needs to end up with a goal number for prospecting activities On a Calendar year cycle? Not too early to start this process! Ready to prospect!
#1 Rule of Business Planning Once you create a plan, it is then 100% assured that will NEVER happen! Business and marketing plans are living documents meant to be constantly updated and changed as new date available. The first time data comes in in a way you didn t expect, it s just new interesting data to analyze! Use the information to change your suppositions and edit your plan. For example: Average sale size smaller than thought Productivity by salesperson higher than thought (more leads please!) Response rates to campaigns higher/lower This spreadsheet can be on your desktop, something you run and re-run Again, key to this process is to have closed-loop ROI as well #1 Questions, Answers & Thanks! chrisbau@microsoft.com