MANAGING CUSTOMER REFERRALS

Transcription

1 MANAGING CUSTOMER REFERRALS February 2019 MICROSOFT CREATE A PROFILE 1

2 CREATING CONNECTIONS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS Referrals are about creating connections between customers, partners, and Microsoft with the goal of meeting customer needs. We re continuing to enhance the referrals capability in partner center with this in mind, bringing more sources and scenarios into a consistent, predictable experience that helps both you and your customers achieve your business goals. Here are our guiding principles for referrals: Customer connection. You have a way to connect with customers and other partners in the context of deals and engagements you are driving. Seamless experience. You have one place to showcase your organization s profile with your preferences and expertise, and a way to manage all customer referrals coming from any source within Microsoft. Consistency and transparency. All customer connections are driven based on consistent and transparent methods. Customer choice. These connections honor customer trust and choice. Data. Knowledge gathered from previous referrals is used to inform future connections ensuring relevancy for you and success for our mutual customers. MICROSOFT 2

3 ATTRACT MORE CUSTOMERS BY TELLING YOUR COMPANY STORY You know that getting customers to notice you is critical to the success of your business. The first step to winning referrals is creating a business profile that highlights your areas of expertise. Effective profiles have a narrative that s crafted to connect with the right audience. Here are a few action items that will help you tell the story of your business: Set up a LinkedIn page. Review profiles of companies you respect to get a better idea of how to use this valuable platform to your advantage. Weave your brand story into your profile by highlighting the customer needs you address. Focus on your business offerings and avoid using jargon. Keep your profile up to date to share the latest from your business. Indicate accurate and detailed preferences in your profile so you can better connect with potential customers through our customer search experience. MICROSOFT 3

4 TURN REFERRALS INTO RELATIONSHIPS Maintaining a healthy network is more than just finding new referrals and closing sales. It s about understanding how to manage your relationships to create long-term customer loyalty. Here are best practices for turning referrals into healthy relationships that help your business scale. Be responsive Getting back to customers quickly increases your chances of closing the deal and improves your search ranking in the future. Pursue only the referrals you intend to actively engage Carefully consider your response after finding a match. Be sure to accept only the referrals you intend to actively engage. Update your status at each stage This will benefit you in the long run because it enables Microsoft to utilize the feedback to help drive your future search results and referral volume. Regularly evaluate your profile If a referral didn t work out, it s the perfect opportunity to review your profile and make changes as needed. MICROSOFT CREATE MICROSOFT A PROFILE 4 4

5 BUILD A BUSINESS PROFILE THAT LEADS TO SUCCESS SIGN IN TO PARTNER CENTER UPLOAD YOUR LOGO WRITE DESCRIPTION ADD YOUR WEBSITE CONNECT YOUR LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGE IDENTIFY YOUR EXPERTISE SET CUSTOMER PREFERENCES SELECT LOCATIONS MICROSOFT 5

6 1 SIGN IN TO PARTNER CENTER Already have a business profile? Access it here. (Contact support if you have trouble signing in.) If your organization has a partner center account, but you haven t yet created a profile, be sure that under User accounts your global admin has provided: Business profile admin privileges to a marketing professional in your organization who manages the customer-facing business profiles. Referrals admin privileges to a sales or marketing professional in your organization who engages with customers and manages referrals. After signing in to your dashboard: Navigate to View business profiles under Partner search. Select your country/region Create a business profile. You can create a profile for any country in which you re able to serve customers. MICROSOFT 6

7 2 UPLOAD YOUR LOGO Your logo will be displayed to customers as a thumbnail. It s best to use a simple, high-resolution, professional version of your logo. It does not need to contain your company name. You can upload your logo as a GIF, JPG, or PNG file, with a maximum width of 300 pixels. 3 WRITE DESCRIPTION Here are the best ways to write a description that engages customers and enhances your visibility to Microsoft sales teams: Be concise. Use short sentences and groupings of three or four bullets Large blocks of text are difficult to read online. Lead with your specialty and what s most important for customers to know about you. Give prospects a reason to keep reading beyond the description ADD YOUR WEBSITE Enter the URL for your business website. If you have multiple URLs, choose the one you think will give customers the best first impression. 5 CONNECT YOUR LINKEDIN COMPANY PAGE Enter the URL to your company s LinkedIn profile. Don t have one? Create one now. It s easy and a critical marketing tool. MICROSOFT 7

8 6 IDENTIFY YOUR EXPERTISE List your business specialties with a focus on your specific areas of expertise. Authenticity is key, so be thoughtful with your selections. Selecting every option will not necessarily help the right prospects find you. In fact, if too many referrals are coming your way and don t result in success, then it could have a negative effect. We recommend allowing Microsoft to automatically add and remove tags based on your business activity. These tags will show up as endorsements in search pages. For the first four fields, choose from the preselected drop-down menu. Skills and capability is a free text field, so enter any items you believe will appeal to your desired customers. MICROSOFT 8

9 7 SET CUSTOMER PREFERENCES Be authentic and accurate when describing your preferences. This helps customers determine whether you have the right expertise for their needs. If customers are not a good match for your expertise, it may have a negative impact on your future search results. 8 SELECT LOCATIONS Add only business locations where you ve proven your ability to serve customers and deliver your solutions. The listed here will receive referral notifications, so consider listing an distribution group to strategically specify who in your organization will receive these notifications. Be sure to click Save this location and add another one to add the location. You will be discoverable by customers and Microsoft sellers once you publish this profile. MICROSOFT 9

10 STAGES FOR MANAGING REFERRALS Once you get the hang of it, referral management is easy. The system is designed to encourage you to update the status of each referral within a specified time until it is closed. Keep in mind the referral management experience will continue to evolve based on your feedback and integration of additional scenarios. Details about each of the stages are on the following pages. MICROSOFT 10

11 INBOX Engagements in this group are new referrals that have been received from another party, from Microsoft, or at a customer s request. You have 14 days to choose Accept or Decline. Once accepted, the referral will be moved to Active. If you do not accept within 14 days, the referral will Expire and move to Archive. Details available on this page include: Customer qualification level (direct or sales qualified). Customer details such as their stated need and contact information at this stage. Microsoft seller/agent contact information if they have chosen to share it with you. Details you need to provide when you accept a new referral. (CRM ID is from your system if you choose to enter this referral in your system. Estimated value refers to the total value. Each of these fields can be edited at any time.) Options to provide feedback to Microsoft when you decline a referral. Information to enter when a deal is accepted Information to enter when a referral is declined MICROSOFT 11

12 ACTIVE Referrals in this group have been accepted and are actively progressing through your sales cycle. Update the status once you close the deal as Won or Lost. Enter total deal value when you win the deal. Or, enter reason for marking a deal as lost. Once closed, it will move to Archive. Updating this information is extremely important. It helps the system understand what customer referrals are a good fit for you and improves relevance in matching. ARCHIVE Referrals in this group have been closed (Declined, Expired, Won, or Lost). Information to enter when a deal is won Information to enter when a deal is lost ARCHIVE Referrals in this group have been closed (Declined, Expired, Won, or Lost). MICROSOFT 12

13 HOW CUSTOMERS FIND YOU Here are the steps customers take when they perform a partner search. Search Customers can use keywords to find partners with business profiles that contain related tags and descriptions. Filters Customers can use filters to narrow down their partner options based on location and customer size. Group Customers can choose partners from the final results grouped by competencies attained, performance with referrals, and geographical location and proximity. MICROSOFT 13

14 CONGRATULATIONS! You re on your way to not only building a business profile that attracts the right referrals, but also turning those referrals into happy, long-term customers. MICROSOFT CREATE A PROFILE 14