We can continue to sell Microsoft Office 365 just like previous Microsoft Office products OR we can treat it like we do any major upgrade and do it as a consultative sale. Our standard cover letter includes the following —
” Turner Technology has a different approach to services than our competitors in the market. We are less focused on a particular business model and more focused on what is the right answer for your firm.
We are willing to take this approach because we believe that good IT service is founded on a clear understanding of our clients and their business needs. It also gives you an opportunity to see how we work and think before committing to working with us. We are confident in our ability to be a good partner and want to invest in this approach to provide a strong starting point for our working partnership.”
Microsoft Office 365 is more than just the applications and Email Exchange Server. If done right, we need to help the clients through re-understanding how they use their computers both on the network and with their mobile devices for communication and collaboration.
You have heard about the Microsoft Customer Immersion Experience — that is part of this approach: but it’s not the first step, nor is it the last! Before a customer even attends an CIE event, we want to understand what is driving their need to move. This is done using the Value Discovery Workshop (VDW). By asking what is core to their desire to change – whether it is document portability, security, collaboration, etc., a recommendation of what it possible is made.
Sound like too much work? I’ve pared down the VDW into a list of 15 questions that can be reviewed with the customer, which we can plug into the VDW and come up with the recommendations behind the scenes for them.
The next step is needed to show how Microsoft Office can help – make it real. That’s where the Microsoft Customer Immersion Experience comes into play. After the client understands what can be done better, they then get to come in and see for themselves. A remote CIE can be done through a browser – we do not have to have a big event around it. Again, is this step always needed? No, but after the decision is made to move to Office, there will be questions about ‘how do we do this’? A CIE can be set up at any time for them to try these things out without having to worry about server or user configuration, or the customer may be eligible for a trial tenant and can start using it on their own equipment.
The last step is to prove the value using the Value Calculator. All of this ties into the underlying foundation for the Total Economic Impact of this move. Again, the formality of the Value Calculator may not always be needed — it depends on WHY the company is making the change to Office 365. If there is any doubt about the financial value of moving, make sure you take advantage of this tool.
Doesn’t this sound more like the Turner approach to business?
We are working on an internal guide that can be used to help guide our clients and create a plan for roll-out and onboarding that is taken from the Microsoft Office Adoption Guide that relies on these steps being done before the sale.
If you have not seen the resulting documents from a Value Discovery Workshop or Value Calculator, please contact Gretchen!
