User Profile
JLTry
Former Employee
Joined 3 years ago
User Widgets
Recent Discussions
Re: Has anyone here published a Teams App? If so, you could be eligible for $10K+ incentives
Thanks for raising the visibility about this incentive for our partners! Often, partners are not able to see the details of the incentives they find in Partner Center, nor is there a way to learn more without clicking through to a page with a number of powerpoints. Appreciate you making this incentive more accessible and easier to understand! -JLHow to get 5x higher billed sales in Marketplace
Elizabeth Beals posted the Forrester commissioned impact study on the value of the Microsoft Marketplace. Our team understands the benefits that partners can gain from the Marketplace channel and how engaged partners usually achieve 5X the billed sales compared to those who are less involved with the channel. I thought I would share my own observations on optimizing your partnership with Microsoft. How to drive higher billed sales in Marketplace Invest the time. Create a plan. Be persistent. Invest the time that you will need. The Microsoft Marketplace should be thought of as its own marketing channel. Like other channels, it requires ongoing attention and care to be successful. And let's be real: things don't always work the way they are intended at first. When that happens, you may find yourself digging deep for patience. But it IS worth it. You'll need to spend time creating and optimizing your listing on the Marketplace, and mastering Partner Center to utilize the analytics for your views and customer data. Also, it is important to connect your listing to your CRM to capture those leads. This is another area that may take some time to configure. It may not be practical to have a full-time channel manager, so consider streamlining your strategy as to how you will use Marketplace to focus your time. Consider which target audience represents your best opportunity. Will you see a larger impact with a B2B plan, perhaps working with other partners is a stronger strategy, or targeting end customers and driving them through Marketplace is the best approach? If you're not sure, consider your top 5 customers and their characteristics. Or the next 5 customers in your pipeline. Are there similarities in segments that might guide you as to your best focus at the moment? Create a marketing plan and include Microsoft marketing benefits. Remember that your marketing efforts will help drive customers through Marketplace. While you may have marketing benefits from Microsoft that will help you drive awareness and supplement what you are planning, the strongest use of those benefits will be to complement your marketing plans. For example, there is a terrific resource from Microsoft available to partners for Digital Marketing Campaigns. This is Microsoft content that can be automated for you. While it is a great resource, it is best used in conjunction with your other digital marketing efforts. For more on how to think about digital marketing, here are two articles I found very helpful on LinkedIn: Thanks to Lee Corbett for posting a great guide to digital channels to drive demand that's worth a read, and Lee also has a quick start guide for a content marketing approach. Be persistent and ask for help. Take advantage of all the programs you have time to manage. And be sure to ask advice about how to incorporate benefits into your current plans. There may be more strategic uses for these benefits in your larger plan. For example, do you have an event coming up that you are planning on promoting, a target customer you are working toward closing, or an important update that is going live? These moments in time might represent good timing to employ some of the marketing benefits you might be receiving. Also, if you are meeting Microsoft sales people, if appropriate, perhaps ask who might be the right Microsoft Seller to speak to about the specific industry or geography that you might be targeting. Remember that not every Microsoft Seller is going to have insight into every vertical or community that might be helpful to you. If you are in a position to need technical support, you may find it takes longer to resolve than you might expect. Continue to follow up if needed, be persistent and advocate to get to a resolution. Remember that there are benefits for your customers to buy from you on Marketplace: easier procurement processes, streamlined vendor management and speed, plus the trust element. Once you invest the time and attention, the Marketplace can be a lucrative channel to help you drive that higher return. See the marketplace guide for the best practices to help you maximize the return from your investment in the Marketplace, which I have also attached below. Thanks for reading, -JLRe: New Forrester Total Economic Impact™ study on the value of marketplace for customers
This is great confirmation of what we've been tracking with our partners enrolled in ISV Success and Marketplace Rewards programs - if you're a partner with a transact offer and not enrolled in one of the Microsoft partner programs, you may be missing out - come join the party! -JLRe: Are you ready to take your Teams App to the next level?
Great shout-out Elena! As an Engagement Manager focusing on Teams partners I can say that we are working on adding more benefits to help support our Teams app developers. And, if you have an idea as to what would be helpful, feel free to reach out. -JLRe: Marketplace Rewards' Azure sponsorship benefit for increasing marketplace sales
Fantastic video from Luxmi! This is one of our most popular benefits in the partner program and can be very useful in helping customers "try before they buy" with a proof-of-concept, or cover initial deployment. One thing the video doesn't make super clear, but if your customers are running on your tenant, you can apply the sponsorship to your Azure as well. Here is a link to an FAQ document for more important information: https://aka.ms/AzureSponsorshipFAQ -JLWhy and How to use a Call-To-Action on your Marketplace Listing
The "Get it now" button on your listing can be frightening. Your Call-to-Action can alleviate their concern. The very actionable button across the Marketplace for transactable offers is "Get it Now." This is very powerful, clear and actionable. But it can also be frightening! We have all been trained to not trust a download button, and to generally not click on anything. And with good reason. Malware, spam, ransom, subscription billing, or that visit from IT to clean up your computer... not to mention the follow up memo to the entire company reminding everyone of the warnings. (I once had to make a 4:00am trip to the tech desk for an emergency wipe.) It happens! There are very real questions and concerns from users about clicking on that button, much from prior bad experiences. Will I download an entire new process onto the server? Will I lock up my computer for hours doing a setup? Will I cause a charge to me or my company? Will I be on the hook for this, or even fired? Even though the Microsoft Marketplace is a safe space, you can help remove potential obstacles and concerns. Include a specific Call-to-Action that tells your prospect what will happen when they click. If your listing is done well and you have led your reader's eye down the page with the content and formatting of your text, a strong CTA will anchor the text, indicate the next steps and encourage the action. This should help alleviate the concern about what might happen when they click, plus it should help to improve your click-through rate. Here are some suggestions: "Click on the Get it now button above to choose the best plan!" "Click 'Get it now' to set up your free trial!" "See a demo when you click 'Get it now' above!" "Click 'Get it now' to learn more!" And here are some examples: Abnormal Security says: Click the “Get It Now” button on the upper left to connect with one of our Email Security Experts. BitFractal says: FREE TRIAL (no credit cards required) directly within the app. Get it now and start using within a click. Intervy says: Click the Get It Now button above and give your team the gift of continuous learning, professional upskilling, and enhanced camaraderie with Intervy. AnnounceBot (in the Teams Store) says: Click Add to a team above to learn more and get your free trial! (No credit card required) Advanced tip: Be sure that you have connected your CRM system to your listing so that you can follow up immediately after the prospect clicks on Get-it-now. Learn more about that here: Connect to your CRM system -JL ISV Success Program Engagement Manager for Teams PartnersRe: ISV Success through the Azure Marketplace
DexterHardy 👏 I loved reading this and hearing from you directly about your success and experience! As part of the ISV Success Program, I would add to be sure to educate yourself and engage in Microsoft's partner programs to get help and benefits that can be so helpful with things like Incentives, Co-Marketing opportunities, Visibility to Sellers, plus Dexter's #2, #5, and #6 above I'm sure all of you reading this are already engaged, but as a reminder, here are some helpful links to get started: Partner Site ISV Partner Page Startup's Founders Hub ISV Success Program -JL ISV Success Program Engagement Manager for Teams PartnersRe: Why and How to use Industry in your Marketplace listing
Great question - this is a fantastic solution, to do different plans, IF it could be picked up and presented in search. To be transparent I do not know the answer, but my best guess is that it would NOT get picked up by search. I will try to get a better answer here and thanks for the question!!! -JL
