Office 365:12 Things VARs Can Do To Be Successful Online

Steve PicklePartnerMonitor Group

CLD02

Lisa SlimMicrosoft Alliance Business Manager

Hewlett-PackardMPN partner since 1989HP Enterprise Business

Ro Kolakowski

Company Partner

6th Street Consulting

MPN partner since 2006

SharePoint

Evan RichmanSr. Product ManagerMicrosoft Corporation

What is this Session About?

In this session you will…Learn about the bottom line benefits of adopting Office 365

Get 12 specific tips to drive Office 365 and cloud sales

Hear about 3 specific tools to help with Office 365 and the cloud

Not all VARs are the Same…

Product/Service Focus greater emphasis on consulting and customizing off-premise

greater emphasis on traditional reselling

But they all have good reason to adopt Office 365…

• Resell, deploy and service premise-based hardware & software

• Typically on hourly, as-needed basis

• Emphasis on monthly managed service contracts

• IT outsourcing and/or traditional premise-based solution deployment

• Customized software solutions (e.g., CRM, SharePoint)

• Service expansion on a project or ongoing contractual basis

• Resell cloud solutions

• Custom development on cloud platforms (e.g., Azure)

• Embraces cloud through process of becoming Hybrid or Solution VAR

• Migration builds on competencies in customer support

• Sells Office 365 as a complement to managed services offering

• Sells Office 365 to expand solutions that can be used to build custom services (e.g., add Exchange expertise)

• Exclusively resells cloud solutions, making Office 365 a natural fit for platform offerings

Time & Materials (T&M) /Traditional

MSP/T&MHybrid

Solution Cloud-Specialist

…And Doing So can Provide Margin Lift

Operating Profit

$17.2k $16.2k $30.1k $30.5k $10.9k $15.5k

Operating Margin

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

T&M VAR MSP Mixed Model VAR

Solution VAR

Premise Based Office 365

Operating Profit

$12.0k $12.5k $23.9k $25.7k $3.3k $5.3k

Recurring Sales – Beyond Year 1

Operating Margin

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

T&M VAR MSP Mixed Model VAR

Solution VAR

Year 1 Sales

Move Away from Lengthy Premise-Oriented Sales Process

Example opportunity accelerators

Implement a structured approach to identify and qualify leads

Synchronize initial cloud conversation with early stages of refresh planning

Provide "pre-demos" during customer webinars

Sell on financial value and scalability

Focus on educating customers and building evangelism inside the clients

Accelerated time

100 Seat

2 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

6 weeks

1 day2 days

Avg. Time

1 day

4 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

2 days

Variable

~11 weeks

CurrentStage

Initial Convo/Sales Hooks

Customer Education

Product Demo

Deal Closing

Targeting & Lead Qual.

Quote Prep.Treating Office 365 as investment similar to premise purchase

Starting customer on 30-day trial or providing repeat demos

Waiting to have cloud discussions until customer is consideringrefresh/upgrade

Providing customer options instead of recommendation

No standard lead qualification process

Inhibitors to cloud service sales

We Have Identified 12 Steps to Help You During Each Phase of the Sales Cycle

• Coordinate conversation with existing maintenance visits

• Leverage knowledge of customer business

Optimize Customer Interaction

• Maintain relationships for the eventual conversion

• Drive check-ins and educational conversations

Seed Customers

• Develop customer heatmap scoring system

• Prioritize Leads based on • Readiness• Awareness• Ability

Assess Customer Readiness

“The cloud is transformative. It is not a matter of if, but when. It is a decision based on business value, not technology.”

• Engage BDMs and ITDMs in conversation

• Reinforce technical advantages and business value of cloud solutions

Engage Beyond IT

• Emphasize similarity of front end UI

• Decrease concern of need to learn new system

Sell On Familiarity

• Conduct cloud conversations during refresh planning

• Incorporate cloud expansion with other changes

Synchronize Customer Transitions

“SMBs want to be up to date, but not necessarily cutting edge. ‘The cloud’ can seem daunting…”

• Provide examples of cloud solutions used by similar size companies

• Leverage existing cloud customers as references

Promote Lighthouse Wins

• Hold regular Webinar demos for customers

• Conduct customer education with multiple customers at once

Scale Customer Education

• Designate one employee to serve as point of information for cloud

• Leverage deep knowledge to answer customer questions/concerns

Develop Cloud Experts

“SMBs need to witness organizations around them making the transition. Very few people want to be on the bleeding edge.”

• Provide phased roll out of Office 365

• Ease customers transition to operating expense model

Start Small…Scale Fast

• Provide TCO and long-run savings statistics

• Introduce the economics of a subscription based service

Sell On TCO (Value)

• Get the customer up and running as a way to experience Office 365

• Decrease sell time thru concept of lower upfront investment

Demonstrate Thru Execution

“ With cloud, the cost is so much cheaper than what you would pay for on-premise;

it makes it very attractive.”

Stage

Initial Convo/Sales Hooks

Customer Education

Product Demo

Deal Closing

Targeting & Lead Qual.

Quote Prep.

Avg. Time

1 day

4 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

2 days

Variable

~11 weeks

Current

Example opportunity accelerators

Implement a structured approach to identify and qualify leads

Synchronize initial cloud conversation with early stages of refresh planning

Provide "pre-demos" during customer webinars

Sell on financial value and scalability

Focus on educating customers and building evangelism inside the clients

Accelerated time

100 Seat

2 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

6 weeks

1 day2 days

Office 365 Partner Resource Kit

Easy Ways to start conversations with your customers

To-Customer Hooks And Messages

Lead Qualification Scorecard Starter

Questions you can use as a starting point

Sales Best Practices and Tip Sheet

12 key best practices to accelerate sales

An Opportunity Mapping Tool

Partner TypeAlternative Solution

Seats

365 Version

Price per Seat

Attach Services

Inclusion of Office CAL

Customer Relationship

Three Key Takeaways

After today you should…Model the bottom line impact of Office 365 on your business

Identify specific actions you can take to drive Office 365 and cloud sales

Get specific tools to help with Office 365 and the cloud

Office 365 Go Do’s

At WPC After WPC Moving Forward

Enroll In Cloud

Essentials

Learn About Office 365

Determine How You Fit

Build An Attached Service

Business

QuickStart for Microsoft Online Services: A partner onboarding experience

www.quickstartonlineservices.com

© 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to

be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.