By now you’ve probably had the email telling you whether you’ve requalified as an SBSC for 2008. Having seen some of the mailing list responses, there are people wondering whether a requalification has actually taken place? The email from Jen says that Microsoft can now pick up whether a Partner has fulfilled the criteria. That seems fair enough to me as last time all I did was copy my references from my Partner Portal page into an email to be sent to Microsoft. I couldn’t understand why at the time? It might have been good to indicate this change was coming before it actually happened but to be honest I’m pretty nonplussed about it.
The issue I see is that too many partners see a SBSC Accreditation as an automatic ticket to deeper engagement with Microsoft and more customers. In reality the first is true because people in Microsoft are making it their business to engage with us but with the second, it’s not a free ticket to loads more business, it doesn’t negate you having a coherent business plan or doing those normal business related stuff you do to grow your business. Yes, SBSC is valuable but as the cliche goes, you get out what you put in. If you want deeper engagement with Microsoft, then start thinking about how you go from SBSC Partner to Certified Partner and then eventually to Gold Partner, work on getting those competencies and engaging on the programmes that Microsoft reserves for those Partners that have fulfilled these criteria.
How do you win new customers? By sheer bloody hard work, sometimes over many months and by establishing a relationship with the business owner and developing trust. We seem to think that if only Microsoft told end customers what SBSCs were, everything would be right with the world, that we could turn up to a customer, show them our blue badge and they’ll be slapping out a cheque before we’d left the building. Yes, I want Microsoft to do these things but I’m realistic about things as well. Unless we want to change ourselves and adopt new business models and adopt new technologies then SBSC or no SBSC we’re stuffed big time!!!
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January 10th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Here, here, Vijay. Great post. In the long term, Partner programmes come and go and it really comes down to the nouse of the business and how they conduct themselves.
I don’t know any situation where business comes for free and it’s more about those who have faced what Godin calls ‘the dip’ and come out the other side shining after persistence.
It’ll be interesting to see how the SBSC programme pans out this year!
January 11th, 2008 at 4:04 am
Nice blog. So true that many partners *expect* MS to just drop leads into their laps. I think its typical of today’s bizzare attitude of expecting the rewards before the work…
January 11th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Suze, thanks for reminding me about “The Dip”, I really should read that.
January 11th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Hi Ben,
Good to hear from you mate. I think you’re a great example that people should be following and congratulations on your recent recognition as one of Deloitte’s top 50 fastest growing companies in New Zealand.