Susanne Dansey’s Blog

The Mr. Busy Campaign will be bidding SBSCers in UK and Ireland a hurried goodbye as he gets replaced by three new campaigns.

Here’s what the Mr. Busy campaign achieved:

• 101 Partners took part in the campaign within five weeks
• 24,000 end users were reached
• 98% of Partners told Microsoft that they would like to see more of these campaigns

I don’t know what the sales looked like as a result of this campaign but the more you buy through the Channel, the more they can be recorded. (I am as subtle as a brick sometimes!)

I’m pleased to tell you that Microsoft took the feedback given by those who participated in the campaign and the following improvement are due to be implemented:

• An even easier to use web tool
• Partner logos printed in colour instead of mono
• Partners receiving reports to show if they ordered an email campaign what their open rates etc… have been
• Partners receiving an email to tell them when their mailings were despatched and what the estimated delivery date will be
• Partners able to order more than 200 will have them allocated to them at their own cost
• Contact details of a data provider with pre-negotiated rates for Partners to take advantage of

I was lucky enough to hear some of this feedback which was provided to the MS team who presented at the recent OEM events and so if you haven’t had the chance to submit yours then you should let your PAM know or Emma Cockburn who is overseeing these campaigns.

So, what have you got to look forward to? Does this mean that you are getting the heads up? Something we’ve been asking for?!

Keep your eyes peeled for the next campaign to go live mid-November. The first focus area will be on Security and Reliability.

As you saw from Vijay’s summary of his SBSC PAL conference call, this is one of four topics that will be delivered through the small business channel.

It’s probably a good time to look at what is coming down the pipeline from Microsoft and think about how you are going to use it to your benefit.

Let’s take these four areas and look at them a bit more closely:

Security and reliability

This will cover topics such as storage, backup and recovery, as well as security. If you are thinking of using the Microsoft campaigns then start to think about Windows Server, SBS, Vista, OneCare, and ForeFront. It would also be good to think about ’server readiness’ i.e. warming your customers up to thinking about the new products that are on the 2008 horizon as well as what you have to offer them now. Promotions to use in addition to the one just mentioned could be ‘Now is the Time’ Offer and the Office Ready Programme.

Business Productivity

I would suggest thinking about productivity, collaboration, and mobility. The types of products that will be promoted will be things such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007, Windows Mobile 6 (think about selling it as a second-sell to SBS), Vista, Office Communicator (OC), and of course Server (SBS or Windows Server).

Business solutions

This is going to talk about database and Line Of Business (LOB) applications. That’s going to cover topics such as SQL and the Dynamics range. This is a good opportunity to have a more sophisticated conversation with your clients. If you have a few of these, you can also talk about volume licensing.

Customer Acquisition and Retention

You’ll see focus on CRM here as well as ‘rich web experiences’. You can use the marketing campaigns to talk about CRM, BCM (Mark Mulvany has been talking to the Irish Partners about BCM on a larger than thought scale - more information on this to follow - very interesting!).

So you know the topics, I’ve suggested a few topics to talk about, so the next step is to work out if and how it fits in with your business plans.

If you don’t know about these products and want to then you have some time now to look into them. Get your hands on a copy of DemoShowcase and get yourself on some of the upcoming training programmes. If you are available for the OEM road shows that are coming up in the next few days then sign up now.

Got a Microsoft Partner Account Manager (PAM)? Then ask them how they can help you use these tools to generate further awareness about your business activities. Don’t have a PAM? Then give me a nudge and I will put you in touch with the MS PAM peeps who are keen to meet and help you. Some of them will be attending the Forum and will be presenting at one of the workshops.

One-man-band or 35-man company, you have the opportunity to work with Microsoft, because, in or out, they and those who adopt these campaigns will drive this forward regardless. With all the new products coming round the corner (WS2008, Cougar, Centro etc…) plus the continued need to drive Vista, Office, and SBS, they will be working with those Partners who choose to. If your business model is around hosting, or built on something that is just a small part of your puzzle, then you’ll have the choice to dip in and out when suits.

Use this information as a heads up, we’ll be working with our Partners to drive this messaging forward and these subject areas are supporting what most Small Business Specialists should already be talking about.

More information on this to follow from Microsoft via the Small Business Newsletter and SBSC communications. If you aren’t receiving them already then make sure your profile is up to date.