Beatrice Mulzer, VP

SMB Nation

Agenda

• Introduction

• Educational Sales

• Perspective

• Live Demo

• Exclusive Partner Offers

Introduction

• Why We Are Here?– Increase Sales

• Speaker– Author, Consultant, Trainer

• Author -Making It Big In Small Business 2006• Co-author – Technical books around SBS

– MCT, MCSE– Executive Editor

• SMB Partner Community magazine

Get The Toolsh

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What is the Assessment Toolkit?

Step-by-step guide to identifying opportunities:– Business needs

• Goals

• Plans

• Competitors

• Challenges

– Technology Requirements• Hardware

• Software

• Services

Creates a Win/Win

- Help your customers, earn $$$

Educational Sales• The easy way to increase sales with

– new customers– existing customers

• Makes selling – Easy– pain-free– non-invasive

• Good for “technicians” seeking more business opportunities….– …but not gifted at sales!

Perspective• Session today is your “turn-key” consultants

– Consulting business development methodology– Like getting part of an MBA degree in a day!

• Leverage points– Replicable with new employees– Repeatable– Extending SBS with new business model

• Sum: “SMB Consulting Practice in a Box”– More than SBS 2003– Includes Office 2007, Vista and much more!

• Business Assessment– Annual Technology Budget and Fiscal Year– Business Demographics– Business Processes and Procedures– Core Business Functions– Communication Methodology– Management

• Technology Assessment – Hardware and software inventory– Backup, Disaster Recovery– Connectivity, Internet and E-mail– Data Storage– Network Infrastructure– Remote Access– Security

• Custom templates– Add your business logo/personalize – Select a standard/promo template from

where questions will be pulled– Answer a series of four attribute questions

and Question Bank (QB) will use these attributes to pull relevant questions

– Choose (from the QB pull) the questions wanted to be in custom template

– Save the custom template

• The Really Good Stuff– Office– Vista– Mobility– Messaging &

Collaboration

SBS R2

• New Technologies– Microsoft Windows Server Update Services– Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition

• New benefits– Expanded mailbox limits to 75 GB– Automated network-wide patch and update

management– Daily report on status of desktops and server(s)

running Microsoft software

Ongoing Sales and Marketing

Assessments help drive new business

• Assessments can be an impactful sales tool to you help you:– Discover new opportunities– Easily prove the business value of solution– Tie technology solution to business goals

• The end result is:– Shorter sales cycle– Larger deal size– Acquire lifetime

customers

“Making use of the Small Business Technology Assessment Toolkit has worked well for us for the past few months. We have

seen our SBS 2003 sales go through the roof!”

- SBSC Award Submission, WPC 2006

Assessment Basics

To propose the right solution, you need the right information

• A business and technology assessment will help you:– Understand prospects’ short- and long-term business goals– Gain insights into how prospects do business– Identify new opportunities– Define technology as a long-term investment, not a short-term fix– Develop a proposal that matches business and technology needs– Create the foundation for a long-term relationship

How’s it helping other partners like you?

Out of 440 Partners that have conducted one or more assessments:– Almost 70% of partners that conducted

assessments closed new sales – Almost 90% of prospects who participated in

assessments converted to customers – Almost 50% are selling a broader solution that

includes, but is not restricted to…

Source: Assess and Win Partner Incentive Survey Aug06-Jan07

Success Stories• Larry Allen, Netcom,Inc., Atlanta

– “…customers amazed we are asking business questions…”

• Mark Valles, The Fulcrum Group, Keller Texas– “…we charge $500 USD for the assessment…”

• Mike Bryett, Bryett Enterprises, Ltd, Windsor Berkshire UK– “…completed in a single visit…”

Best Practices from Partners (1 of 3)

• Shortens the sales cycle– Do a complete assessment, complete proposal

• Creates a more professional image– Reports to customer are changing their impressions

• Eliminates cold call awkwardness– Sales call is focused, comprehensive, and productive

• Opens a broader/deeper communication channel– The partner knows much more about their business

Best Practices from Partners (2 of 3)

• Tech Assessment for IT guy– Make the IT guy look good and like you

• Customize the assessment for each customer– Deliver the appropriate detail and length

• Assessments are a good filter for customers– Lets you weed out the undesirable customers

• Align business drivers and business deficiencies– Align them with solutions the Partner can deliver

Best Practices from Partners (3 of 3)

• Partner emails businesses that fit SBS 2003 profile– Offering the Business Assessment for free

• Business Assessment is free – Charge $ for Technology Assessment, reimburse later

• An excuse to get in the door again– A new opportunity to listen to the CEO

• The toolkit gives you a structured Sales Process– From beginning to end – “We won the business because

we were organized”

Fee or Free?

• SMB Partner Community Magazine Survey Results (Demo)

What Can Go Wrong

• You try to solve the immediate problem

• You don’t involve the customer enough

• You don’t follow up soon enough

• Customer doesn’t understand your proposal

• Does your customer need Financing?– MS Financing, sign up today – Be ready!– https://www.microsoftfinancing.com

Prepare Your Prospect

• Set proper expectations about assessments• Explain the two assessment stages: business and

technical• Communicate objectives and time required, verbally

and in writing– For businesses with 2-24 PCs = 1 hour for business

assessment and 1 hour for technology review– For businesses with 25-50 PCs = 1 hour with Owner and

3-10 hours for technology assessment– Set expectations on when you’ll present your findings

Prepare Yourself• Research

– Gather information about your prospect

• Tailor– Tailor your questions to ensure terminology is

relevant

• Prepare– Prepare marketing information

• Customize– Review and customize your assessment

Start with a Business Assessment

• Meet the business decision-maker and use the assessment to:– Develop an in-depth dialogue– Identify, define and determine business

needs and processes– Determine where technology can provide a

clear ROI• Start the assessment:

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Standard:11-24 PC CompaniesStandard:11-24 PC Companies Advanced: 25+ PC CompaniesAdvanced: 25+ PC Companies

Basic: >10 PC CompaniesBasic: >10 PC Companies

Superstar Steve Rubin

“We have found the toolkit to be a very successful tool, and in fact have closed a deal every time we’ve used it” - Steve Rubin, Small Business Specialist and president of Microsoft partner WorkITsafe.

Learn how you can close nearly 100% of your deals from Steve: ww.assessmentframework.com/smbtoolkitpartnersuccess

Toolkit Readiness Center

• Supporting Resources (templates)– Customer Letters– Marketing flyers– Sales and Solution proposals– SBS R2 Network Configuration Worksheet– Three-year IT planning summary– and more

• Go to Toolkit Readiness Center from https://partner.microsoft.com/assesssmbneeds

‘Assess & Win’ – Exclusive Partner Offers

You “Give” You “Get”

1. Conduct assessments with prospects/customers.

2. Submit business assessments to Microsoft*.

3. Submit a short survey to Microsoft.

• After the first 5 business assessments, you can earn one free for-resale copy of SBS 2003 R2 Standard**.

• For every 5 business assessments, you earn 1 partner point***.

*Business Assessments are required to be in English. All required fields need to be submitted **Limit 1 copy per partner organization. Any language of SBS 2003 R2 Standard.***Limit up to max 20 points.

To get started, visit: https://partner.microsoft.com/assesssmbneeds

Get a FREE Copy of SBS 2003 R2 (a US$599 Value) and Partner Points

You “Give” You “Get”

1. Submit 1 SBS & Mobility Assessment online*

Get inserted into the pool to win a Mobile device: **• HTC Excalibur @ $405/unit• HTC TyTN @ $650/unit

*SBSCs who submit 1assessment are eligible to win a mobile device. Assessments must be on both SBS and Mobility.**- Microsoft will communicate 10 winners on the 10th of every month (March 10, April 10, May 10, June 10, July 10).- Entries are capped at 10 (assessments) per month.- If you do not win in a particular month, then those entries roll over to the next month.- Entries must be submitted online through Assess & Win center. 

Exclusive Offer for Small Business Specialists – Win a Mobile Device

Select the Right Marketing Campaign To Generate Demand for Your SolutionCreate professional marketing materials yourself and save money. Marketing materials are all ready for your marketing staff to download and easily customize:

1. Choose your target audience

2. Choose the right campaign based on your solution and audience

3. Plan your campaign including marketing vehicle

4. Download and personalize with your company logo and contact information

5. Customize the message to include your solution and attach a promotional offer and specific call to action

ACTION:ACTION: Generate demand for your Generate demand for your assessments at a low cost: assessments at a low cost: https://partner.microsoft.com/ partnermarketingcenter

Customizable Marketing Materials

• FREE Campaign materials including:– Presentations– Business letters– Emails– Flyers– Postcards

• Offers & promotions to help you generate leads and close deals

• Marketing how-to guidance

Next Steps

• Generate Demand with free customizable marketing materials

• Get the Technology Assessment Toolkit– Leverage

• “SMB Consulting Practice in a Box”• Turn-key methodology• Templates (don’t reinvent the wheel!)• Microsoft Offers ($$$)

• Result– Increase Sales and build lasting, profitable business

relationships.

Questions?

?

Thank you for attending today!