Microsoft West Region Partner Community Area

Missed today's Big Easy Live Meeting? let me know and i'll send you the deck and handouts. Plus, they mentioned a neat way to let your customers know about this offer, associate yourself with the group. go to

 

while there, please go ahead and get linked to me too :-)

Get Your Geek On – SMB Nation 2008, October 4-6, 2008, Seattle

Join hundreds of Small Business Specialists to learn more about Windows Small Business Server 2008, Essential Business Server and Microsoft Response Point plus many other technologies. BusinessSpeak track features sales activation content, issues sensitive to owners and much more. How To track provides practical hands-on business knowledge that you can apply immediately. Visit www.smbnation.com to sign up. Extended tuition payment plans available.

 

Please let me know if you will attending - can set up some meetings on the side!

suzl@microsoft.com

 

A significant offer was announced at WPC in Houston this year for the new CRM Online product!   Eligible partners can purchase the Professional Plus version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for just $19 per month, per seat – this represents a 60% discount for our partners!  All Certified (including Partners who have signed a CSA agreement), Gold, and SBSC Partners are eligible. Availability will begin in August for North America, with world Wide availability to be announced.

Call to Action: Go to the Partner Portal for more information about the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Offer (https://partner.microsoft.com/CRMforPartners).  Partners can sign up now with no obligation to purchase

I'm on Joanne Black's email distribution list and get these great articles. Had to forward this on and suggest you subscribe. Link is below.

Suzanne :-)

Get In and Get Started

You've heard it all before: Sales experts talk and talk about creating value. If we just create enough value for our clients, they will buy—whatever the price and whatever the economy. What's new about that?

Yes, the economy is lagging and budgets are cut. Yes, we have competition. Yes, clients are postponing decisions. So now what?

Offer New Ideas
Good salespeople have always talked value. Now we need to put ourselves in our clients' shoes and become creative. We must get in and get started. Think smart, not big. It's always smarter to have a smaller piece of something than a big piece of nothing. Begin with a smaller project, a reduced order, or a regional—rather than global—implementation. Get in, and get to know the client. Let them get to know you. Get to know their business.

Create Metrics
Sit on the same side of the table as your client. Work together to determine the best way to get started. Always, always, always create metrics with your client. How do you, together, define success? Get agreement that once the current project is successful—according to the metrics you've agreed upon—the client will work with you to identify other opportunities within his or her organization. A successful project breeds a successful relationship ... and successful referrals.

Negotiate or Walk
Price. Aha! This is the big hurdle. Yes, the client will want to negotiate on price. That's her job—to build business while watching the bottom line. How many times have you submitted a proposed price to a client and had her say right off the bat, "Great! Where do I sign."? It doesn't happen. We always want to get the best deal, so why wouldn't our clients?

If you must adjust your price, adjust the scale of your project or the deliverables as well. Always get something in return for a reduced rate and write it into your agreement. Maybe the client agrees to write a testimonial or promises to refer you to another business unit in his organization or to someone they know at a different company. Maybe you barter some of your services. Bartering is an age-old way of doing business, and it makes sense in many cases if you want what your client has and he needs what you have. Perhaps the client has software that your company needs, or a consulting methodology that could propel your business. You get the picture. Work it out.

If you can't work things out, be willing to walk away. It's a tough decision, but it may be your best decision. You'll be off to the next client who values what you offer and is willing to pay for it.

What are you waiting for? Get in and get started!www.nomorecoldcalling.com for more information, article and highly recommended book!!

I want to give you an update on the classes for Pac IT Pros members:
Monday August 25th Gil's AD Classes in SF - Microsoft 835 Market Street SF 9:30-4:00pm
Gil Kirkpatrick is one of the leading experts on Active Directory and Active Directory Troubleshooting.  At TechEd and Windows Connections he teaches a one day hands on AD Troubleshooting, object recovery, GPO recovery,  Domain recovery, Forest recovery and AD Disaster planning/recovery workshop.  (The fee for his one day class at TechEd is $799.)

Pac IT Pros is offer the same class Pac IT Pro members for $300 - If you want to do the hands on portion of the class, you will need to bring your own computer capable of running 4 VMs, so relatively new machine with 2-4 gigs.  If you don't have a machine that can run 4 VMs, (a relatively new machine with 2-4 gigs and 7200 RPM drives).  An alternative is to bring 2 less powerful machines and run 2 VMs on each or we will pair you with a partner so each of you will run 2 VMs.  (If you go the 2 machine route, bring a hub/switch and a power strip.)

The cost fee for the AD troubleshooting class is $300.  But wait, before you register, Microsoft has made a generous offers:  Be one of the first 65 you will receive an NFR copy of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition, - 32 bit and 64 bit, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL 2008 OR a NFR copy of Vista Ultimate with SP1 OR an NFR copy of Vista Business OR an NFR copy of Microsoft Office Business with Groove 2007.
http://www.pacitpros.org/component/chronocontact?chronoformname=Class.Registration.48

Monday August 25th - Migrating from AD on Server 2003 to AD on Server 2008 - Microsoft SF 835 Market Street SF 4-6pm
I asked Gil to offer his Migrating form AD/Server 2003 to AD/Server 2008 tips, tricks, hints, and pitfalls to avoid class.  If you are like me you can't wait to migrate to AD 2008 to take advantage of all the new features.  Such as granular passwords, detailed AD change auditing, restarting AD with out re-booting a server just to name a few.

In this class Gil will talk you through steps to successfully migrate from AD 2003 to AD 2008.  By the end of this class you will know exactly how to migrate from AD 2003 to AD2008 including: Preparation for migration, prepping AD for migration, how to migrate, and post-migration checks and AD clean-up.  Gil will also cover some of the pitfalls inexperienced IT Pros make during migrations and how to avoid them.  By the end of this 2 hour class you will know exactly how to upgrade your company's AD from Server 2003 to AD Server 2008 problem free.

The cost for this class is $60 and you can register now at
http://www.pacitpros.org/component/chronocontact?chronoformname=Class.Registration.49
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Server 2008 Class at Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill/Walnut Creek)
This class is being offered by Diablo Valley College or www.dvc.edu - If is NOT a Pac IT Pros sponsored class.
This fall I am teaching a Server 2008 class this fall at Diablo Valley college on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-6pm. We will be covering the hot new features in Server 2008 such as Server Virtualization, Server Core, Server Isolation, Domain Isolation, new networking protocols, new GPO's. etc. It's a 16 week course, a good excuses to get out of the office early two days a week and your cost is around $100.  DVC has 64 bit machines with 4 gigs of RAM which is perfect for running several VMs at the same time.  Lat time I checked there was room for 4 more students.  For those wanting to become Microsoft certified this class will prepare you for the 70-642 MCTS exam.  (DVC students receive a 50% discount on the exam.)

Registration for this class is on the DVC web site, http://dvc.edu  The class is CNT-114, section 8566
Register today, the first day of class is Tuesday August 26.
Any questions, here's how to get in touch with me.
Doug Spindler
douggg@comcast.net
925-258-6600