It’s a fast-paced week at Microsoft’s Inspire conference. It’s a gathering of 17,000 Microsoft partners here to learn, network and envision what tomorrow might look like for their businesses and their customers.
It’s clearly a week about passion for the future.
Microsoft launched a number of new products and processes this week that in their view, will solidify their relationship with selling partners, better meet their customer needs and internally restructure to better serve both those audiences.
Why did they do it? They didn’t have to. But it’s a passion for automation and the good it can do for business - and the world - that drives Microsoft.
Some of the announcements:
Provide more focus and accumulating more customer knowledge on key industries and how they best can use Microsoft tools
Provided more valuable resources and guidance for selling partners.
Streamlining products for more efficient one-platform use by customers
Encouraging independent software vendors more access to Microsoft platforms to provide more efficient builds and increase the Microsoft platform value
There’s an ever evolving tweak to Microsoft platforms, process and relationships as they go forward understanding the world keeps changing and the secret to success is to be in lock-step with the needs of partners and customers.
Is your sales process keeping up with the needs of your customer? Do sales and marketing have the right tools? Is your customer relationship what it should be? Are you getting the most efficient results you can? When was the last time you asked yourself- asked your staff- if there’s a better way for your internal process, a better way to reach the customer or more efficient time or product design?
Microsoft feels the need to keep refining their processes platforms and relationships – and they’re a pretty successful bunch. Remember 17,000 partners came out to hear what Microsoft leadership had to say.
Is it time for you to revisit some of the cores of your sales process – from inter-office relationships, to sales, marketing, reporting, analysis?
If you have that true passion for sales – and passion for sales should mean passion for optimum success – then you need a strong, repeatable sales process you can count on. It gives you a base to build into the future. It builds confidence and it creates vision for where that optimum result lies.
Rick McCutcheon is a Dynamics CRM MVP with expertise in sales process design, social selling and CRM strategies. Rick has been involved in the CRM industry since 1990 as a company founder, senior executive, reseller, industry association board member, educator consultant and professional speaker. He is the creator of the Full Contact Selling (FCS) methodology for Dynamics CRM. He can be reached at rickm@fullcontactselling.com.