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This article appeared in the January 2008 issue of Redmond Channel Partner magazine. It was one of a series of articles, "written by channel leaders from inside and outside Redmond's walls as they share their recommendations about where partners should focus their efforts for 2008 and beyond."
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| Take Five Strategic Steps |
| Mike Harvath |
| CEO & President |
Revenue Rocket Consulting Group, LLC.
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As a growth-strategy consultancy that's worked with more than 200 Microsoft partner companies, we offer the following general recommendations for 2008:
Fix what's broken in sales. Focus first on a technology solutions set, second on geographical location and third on vertical or functional areas. Find the sweet spot where all three converge with the goal of becoming the No.1 or No. 2 provider in your market. Specialize, focus and dominate is the lesson here.
Fix new-account acquisitions. We recommend a combination of these three approaches:
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One-to-many: Sell to multiple buyers at once by, for instance, conducting seminars at your local Microsoft office, seeking out speaking engagements and offering webinars and white papers.
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One-to-one: Make appointments for yourself and your sales team with executive-level buyers of your services.
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Many-to-one: Use your extensive business network to develop a formal referral program, targeting sources who can help you reach the right buyers.
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Expand your service lines. Many partner firms focus too much on technology consulting and too little on dealing with customer business problems. Successful companies must offer services along the full system-development lifecycle.
If you're a VAR, move toward selling services. With the shift to SaaS and other subscription-based models, the era of implementing software for clients is quickly winding down. But Microsoft solutions will continue growing more complex with each release—and the need for knowledgeable service-based companies that can customize and build out those solutions will grow as well.
Consider a merger or acquisition. Look for a company that's both a strategic and a cultural fit—and remember that the most likely candidates may not actually be for sale.
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