As a Microsoft Partner, you will have access to a library of Microsoft resources to help guarantee your success. This could be in the form of ready-made go-to market campaigns, sales playbooks, or co-funded marketing efforts.
But, how do you make best use of it all?
When it comes to Marketing and Selling their products and services, what many Microsoft Partners struggle with is that their peers and competitors are all Microsoft Partners as well, selling the same types of products and services.
So, what makes you different?
First, understand that while many of your competitors offer the same suite of services, each will specialise in a different area – as do you. Your job is to find the area where you yourself excel, and put your focus on that.
Microsoft’s partner resources include detailed guides for competitive differentiation. It starts by looking at your competitors - what do they offer, how do they offer it, and what they may have that you don’t.
Next, ask how you differ from your competitors? Do you serve areas that they don’t? Do you have knowledge that they lack? Do you offer more value? Once you have these answers, you’ll have a clear path forward to differentiate yourself in the marketplace.
Next, who’s going to buy from you?
This isn’t an easy question to answer but making sure it’s answered is extremely important. Marketing is expensive, and if you try to market towards customers who will never purchase your services, you’re wasting your money that could be better spent elsewhere.
Finding your target customer means first defining where they live - are they in your service area, what they need or how they think? Next, understand whether your potential customers reside within a specific industry vertical - healthcare, retail, education, resources and so on. Finally, you evaluate their size and budget.
Armed with this information, you can create a decent-sized list of companies to market to. Once again, Microsoft has resources that can help you - for example, its partner referral services that can pass your information along to companies that you’ve identified as being in your target demographic.
You have your target customers; you have your differentiation - now you need to present this information in a concise and compelling manner to your target accounts. This is probably the hardest part—and it can be very difficult to know if you’re getting it right.
At Triggerfish, we specialise in helping Microsoft partners create targeted value propositions that get at the heart of customer pain points and help them travel down the journey to a converted sale. For more information on how to create your own value proposition and leverage the resources that Microsoft can offer, reach out and contact us today!