In my new role at Scribe I have had an opportunity to meet with many Dynamics VARs over the past five months. At each meeting I have asked them about the competition. For the first time, I am starting to hear Salesforce.com mentioned at least in some of the EMEA markets. However, the number one competitor for most Dynamics VARs is another Dynamics VAR. So, when you are out there competing with the same product and pricing, how do you differentiate your organization in order to win the business? I think everyone inherently knows that you must instill confidence that you understand that customer's unique needs (even if they aren't all that unique) in order for your organization to deliver the best solution. That means you need special expertise, the ability to prove that expertise and the references to back it up.
The answer according to Microsoft is to "go vertical". Certainly developing special expertise by immersing yourself in learning the details of industry is very useful when talking to those potential customers. That involves understanding the evolution of that industry, the current business model, challenges and the ecosystem. This understanding then incorporated into marketing collateral and product customizations. But understanding and leveraging the ecosystem is equally important. Often the ecosystem includes market intelligence and list providers, as well as niche application ISVs. These can be valuable organizations to partner with as they target the same market that you do, and potentially are more established. However, we have all been involved in partnerships that produce few results. The reality of partnerships is that regardless of the programs put in place or the people who run them, they only work if both companies generate more revenue because of the partnership. So, how do you make your organization more valuable to these key players? You do it by making it cheaper, faster and easier for their customers to continue to use their products and services.
Have you identified the key data or list provider within your vertical target and developed an alliance with them? Maybe you are involved in some type of lead exchange scenario. But what if you can offer their customers a seamless way to bring that data into their CRM system- with intelligent updating, not just a data dump. You now have made their service more accessible and potentially easier to use. You are now more valuable to both the data provider (who is going to bring you into more opportunities) and more valuable to the prospect (who now sees you as having something special over your competition).
Some industry ecosystems have niche applications that will remain in place, so understanding how those applications need to be connected to the Dynamics ERP or CRM system is critical to proving that you can offer that customer a total solution. When systems are connected, the "stickiness" of any given application increases- again, making you a valuable partner to that niche application vendor.
So, as you develop your vertical solution offering, or look to expand your current vertical solution(s), review what your offering includes to support the existing ecosystem. Verify that your customers can easily enrich their CRM data with market intelligence from industry leading providers. Include seamless connectivity between their Dynamics applications and other relevant applications. Make your organization valuable to key members of the ecosystem. You will be establishing your organization as the expert, thereby differentiating yourself from the competition.
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