Partner Marketing Excellence or How to Get Your Customers Excited...

Are you an expert?

You'd better be. Otherwise, why would people pay for your services?

And how do people know that you are an expert?

Well, you tell them, of course.

But not straight out...by demonstrating in a non-intrusive, permission based way, that you know what the hell you are talking about.

And, on yesterday, WIN (What's Important Now) call-where we focus on partner sales and marketing excellence, we had three guests who do just that.

First up, we had Brent Leary of CRM Essentials. Over time, he's leveraged his blog to demonstrate to his customers, prospects, and the industry that he is at the forefront of understanding how CRM helps small businesses. Between the blog and his weekly podcast, he's grown a permission-based asset of individuals who WANT to consume the content he produces.

Next, we had Roxane Ferguson of Diamond Technologies in Newark, DE. With detail that usually is reserved for a wedding, Roxane created a "remarkable experience" for the 130 customers and prospects who showed up for her event in October. By offering them a variety of experience options, including the Microsoft RV, a presentation, a networking area, and more, she was able to convey the message of "expert" without actually doing so. 

Lastly, we had Joseph Quintana of the Foundation for California Community Colleges and Cathy Souza from ComputerLand in Silicon Valley.

The two of them have a partnership that would be the envy of almost any vendor. FCCC relies heavily on Cathy and the Cland team for advice because she pro-actively, regularly, and reliably educates them in a "non-salesy" way about the latest and greatest Microsoft technologies.

You're an expert. How do you prove it?