Susanne Dansey’s Blog

This is the first time that I have been able to sit down and compose a long(ish) post since those few hours I spent sitting in Starbucks in Heathrow Airport.

I’m usually quite honest on my blog and I felt that this post would be no different.

For a few years now I have enjoyed working as a SBSC Partner in the Microsoft and Small Business Community. I’ve worked with those who don’t sit under the Microsoft SBSC ‘radar’ such as developers and application trainers, I’ve worked with the end-users (customers) in the SMB field, and of course I’ve worked with Microsoft Partners. In everything I have done I have really enjoyed it and most of that is down to the people and personalities that choose to work with me.

I’m listening to Vlad’s podcast about the SBSC PALs programme and chatting to one of my favourite Partners at the same time. We’re talking about how easy it is to fall out of the Community loop when work takes over (how dare it!). Vlad’s short but informative podcast is a great example of how something that doesn’t take a lot of effort to review can pull you back into the hive of activity that constantly goes on. But what strikes me is that there is some strange sort of pressure that some people put on themselves to stay ‘in touch’ with their finger on the Community pulse.

I’ve felt this a fair bit in the last few weeks as I’ve been getting used to working in a completely different type of Microsoft Partner. Only this afternoon, I popped back onto the UK Community Forum to say ‘hello’ and it felt like I’d found my old pair of slippers at the back of the wardrobe, and it felt good…

At the beginning of July this year, I received an email announcing my MVPship which I am still extremely proud of. From that point on, I watched the MVP newsgroup feed bulk up my inbox to a scary amount which got me thinking ’should I be replying to all of this?’. I’ve only been able to find time to answer one of the questions (licensing!) because the rest of the time I’ve been busy trying to keep on top of all those things that I did pre-MVP. What with these, regional Group activity, forums populated with really important subjects, podcasts, blogs, events, I think I need to clone myself just to keep up!

My job at Westcoast is their Microsoft Channel Development Manager. When they brought me onboard they basically said that I could do what I did in my spare time as a profession. That’s get paid to help foster the Small Business Community with a keen focus on SBSCers in the UK - how lucky am I? (A: very). I still get to work with Westcoast (I did in my former life), I still get to work with Microsoft (from a different but very interesting angle), as well as the Partner Community (and a big ol’ company to support me).

So there was me, day one in my new job, knowing exactly what I have done in the past to get me here and sitting amidst a few hundred people who weren’t used to the way I do business. How many SBSC partners (particularly up in Scotland) knew that the language in the SBS Community was somewhat different to that of Microsoft, let alone distribution. I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to get ‘buy in’ but I am so pleased to say that I stupidly forgot what mattered: people.

This isn’t a big plug for Westcoast but this is my blog and you read it so I can’t keep the bits that make me all excited away from here.

In three weeks I have seen the guys at work feed off the information I and others have given them about the Community. Very simple things like opening dialogue beyond a straight sell makes such a difference and looking back, the ’science’ is just the same type that my Community friends are doing everyday.

I suppose I thought starting there would be like starting a fresh page in a new exercise book at school but in fact it’s just a new page in the same book and it’s flippin’ fantastic.

The very simple idea of talking beyond the box is achieved by having the confidence to do it. It’s like when an IT company changes from ‘fire fighting’ mode to that of a proactive business consultant - you still sell the same stuff but your perspective on your clients changes. The feedback from Partners already has been really constructive and positive and we’re riding the wave of change quite nicely in the office.

Distribution is a lot different from what I was used to, but the fundamentals are the same - the principal asset are the people and the bottom line is the amount of ££/$$ we make. I’m back into waking up and the first thing I think about is what I’m going to be doing that day with the team. Slowly, I’m getting some degree of routine and as you can tell, I can get back to what I love. I miss my former life a lot but I suppose you can never lose your roots right? You can take someone out of Small Business but you can’t take Small Business out of them. I need the Community to keep me in this frame of mind. Without either, I’m not going to be very good at my job and not very helpful to Partners.

So, I’ve been a bit quiet (hooray!). But don’t worry, this is a new chapter for me (the WWPCs always do this to me!) and I am laying some important and exciting foundations that SBSC Partners and their regional Groups will no doubt be hearing of shortly.

I want to thank all those Partners and friends who have been a sounding board for me in my new role and if there is anyone else who wants to chip in then let me know.

Just a few more weeks until I’m ready to remove the stabilisers and I’ll be off!