Job Details:
Experience: N/A
Job Function: Information Technology
Employment Type: Full-time
Job Description:
Describe the focus of your work group and a general description of the work performed by the workgroup. The Solution Specialist Sales Team is responsible for driving sales of Microsoft Dynamics solutions into Enterprise Businesses with Partners. For Enterprise Resource Planning focus should be on Industry Targeted Workloads and for CRM, focus should be primary on Enterprise Business (Corporate Accounts and above).
Why does the role exist? The Solution Specialist is responsible to develop and lead opportunities with Customers. They are “business applications sales experts” and drive the sales cycle forward at all stages through their deep understanding of Business solutions selling to the targeted BDMs (Business Decision Makers). Prospecting and opportunity leadership requires Solution Specialists to build tight segment alignment with EPG (Enterprise Product Group) & SMSP-CA (Corporate Accounts) and to work closely with the Enterprise Account Team Unit to ensure they are uncovering Business applications opportunities focused on defined Industry Workloads and scenarios.
The Solution Specialist exists to deliver Leadership across the 5 Practice Areas below:
Planning – engages with business segments, partners and marketing to ensure Dynamics opportunities are identified and targeted.
Pursuit Leadership/Execution – leverages Industry, Customer, Microsoft and Competitor knowledge to develop, communicate and execute winning pursuit strategies.
Value Selling – Understands the customers economic drivers, effectively builds customer relationships with a wide range of customer influencers and participates in impactful conversations that frame the way Customers think about their business effectively positioning Dynamics to deliver value.
Partner – engages and leverages Partners including Microsoft Consulting Services to both win business and develop practices that enable MBS to scale and grow.
Sales Excellence -drives business results through actively prospecting for new business opportunities, maintaining a quality pipeline of opportunities, and consistently delivering on quarterly forecasts.
These five practice areas enable the Solution Specialist to successfully execute on the solution sales strategy to drive revenue targets across the Microsoft Dynamics solutions portfolio.
How does the role add value? The Solution Specialist adds value to customers by understanding the pains and opportunities to be addressed within their specific business and linking Microsoft Dynamics solutions to solving their business requirements. They add value to Microsoft due to their high level of sales acumen, connection to the Account Team Units, and ability to skillfully manage and close complex sales cycle.
How is role unique from other roles?
1. Its in-depth knowledge of targeted customers’ Line of Business decision-makers (Presidents, COOs, EVPs of Sales, Operations, HR, Marketing, etc.), the business applications they use – the challenges they face with these applications.
2. Its focus on sales excellence and ability to skillfully manage a business Solutions sale to a business executive.
3. Its ability to leverage a core set of partners and their Microsoft Dynamics add-ons and/or implementation expertise into a business value solution for specific customers.
4. Their knowledge of selected industry targeted workloads, how Dynamics solutions solve business problems specific to that value chain, other Microsoft customers in the same industry with similar business problems, and the core set of partners for that industry
5. Their integration and tight connect to the other Microsoft sales teams as a way to uncover ERP/CRM opportunities within the MS managed account list.
What are key initiatives and challenges facing this role over the next six months to three years?
1. Focusing on intense competitive situations with SFDC, Siebel, Oracle, SAP, Epicor and Local/Regional competitors.
2. Contributing to a shift within Microsoft’s field sales organizations, from focusing on product feature and function sets to focusing on selling business solutions that address specific customer business pains.
3. Maintaining knowledge of Microsoft Dynamics Industry target workloads and scenarios, and the importance of these to the overall business value proposition of these and how they can further help meet customer business pains and opportunities.
4. Build Industry Knowledge: Align to top Industries within their region and build knowledge around industry value chain, references and industry partners.
Summary of Primary Job Functions:
Responsibility/Activity
1. Business, Account and Territory Planning:
1. Territory & Account Planning Plans are aligned to EPG/Corporate Accounts plans and completed by end of Q1
a. Engages in segment territory planning to identify the top Dynamics account/industry targets
b. Engages in segment account planning for assigned accounts and ensures that Dynamics opportunities are identified for prospecting
2. Key partners & MCS (Microsoft Consulting Services) identified in the plan have the capabilities to match the market opportunity within the territory
a. Engages with selected GSIs (Global Systems Integrators) & MCS to develop joint account/territory plans that enable Dynamics to win projects while building GSI & MCS capability and capacity
3. Plans identify marketing planning opportunities for targeted audiences and priority industries for the territory and customer segments
a. Engages with Dynamics and Segment Marketing resources to develop targeted audience marketing that generate awareness, interest and pipeline
4. Plans define accounts Solution Specialist should be proactively driving opportunities where Microsoft has the highest probability of winning
a. Leverages the Dynamics Opportunity Plan to clearly define an opportunity in terms of Pain, Power, Vision, Value, and Control
Estimated annual % of Time : 10%
2. Sales Excellence :
1. Actively prospect for new opportunities in assigned accounts and/or territory
2. In addition to prospecting, Solution Specialist leverages appropriate roles [PPS (Principal Platform Specialist), IMDM, AM, GAM (Global Account Manager) etc.] to build and maintain pipeline of quality opportunities
3. Maintains required pipeline coverage (0.85x weight and 2.5x full coverage), consistently delivers +/- 10% quarterly forecast accuracy.
4. Updates GSX/CRM weekly with current and accurate information for owned opportunities.
5. Completes Win/Loss reviews for all Tier 1 competitors – SAP, Oracle and SFDC.
Estimated annual % of Time : 10%
3. Pursuit Leadership & Execution:
1. Leverage fluent Industry, Customer, Microsoft, and Competitor knowledge to develop and communicate winning pursuit strategy
a. Why will the customer make a decision? (e.g., Compelling need, Compelling event/timing,
Budget and business value)
b. How will the Customer decide? (e.g., Evaluation process, Criteria for decision making,
Customer’s readiness and resources for this initiative, etc.)
c. Who at the Customer will really decide? (e.g., Evaluation team members, Microsoft internal
support / coaches, Senior Executives, Political, and influence map, etc.)
d. What are Microsoft’s win-themes to beat the competition [e.g., faster time-to-value, better
end-user productivity from broader adoption, better lifecycle TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) etc.?]
2. Assemble high-quality cross-Microsoft and Partner/MCS teams who contribute and execute on the
Opportunity Plan
3. Effectively leads and orchestrates Pursuit team to successfully win and close business
4. Uses knowledge of Customer value drivers, competitors and Microsoft solution strengths/weakness to
maximize revenue. Recognizes and effectively dis-engages from inappropriate business
5. Ensure appropriate implementation services and post-deployment sustainment (Premier Support) is in place to ensure high customer satisfaction
Estimated annual % of Time : 60%
4.Value Selling:
1. Deliver impactful Customer conversations that leverage their fluent Industry, Customer and Dynamics solutions knowledge
a. Solution Specialist reframes the way Customers think about their business and effectively position how Dynamics will deliver value
2. Advise Customer on new aspects about their business including opportunities, risks and alternatives
a. Solution Specialist is comfortable suggesting best practices and provocative insights about changes that Customer should be implementing
b. Solution Specialist creates constructive tension that motivates Customer to make favourable Microsoft decisions
3. Effectively build relationships with a wide range of influencers across Customer to gain insight, position solution value and gain support
a. Solution Specialist effectively develops Customer advocates who sell and build consensus on his/her behalf
4. Understand Customer’s economic drivers and effectively integrates these drivers into conversations, solution development, presentations and proposals
5. Actively participates on the Customer’s Steering committee to ensure successful implementation and Customer is part of Reference Program
Estimated annual % of Time : 5 %
5.Partner Engagement :
1. Engage with Partner and learn their business applications, industry, sales and delivery capability
and capacity
a. Solution Specialist discovers where Partner has pre-existing Customer relationships that can be leveraged to win business
2. Develop and maintain relationships with Partners, leverages these relationships in Sales pursuits
to influence engagement and investments
3. Ensure Partners are engaged early in the Sales pursuits
a. Ensure appropriate customer positioning
b. Effectively lead these resources through the Sales pursuit
c. Effectively manage conflicts and escalations when they arise
4. Ensures Partners are building required capacity, have the right mix of resources
a. Provide Partners and PAM clear and timely feedback on progress and improvement
requirements
5. Effectively aligns with Dynamics Partner Sales Manager and EPG Alliance Manager (GSI) to ensure Partner planning and execution encompasses Dynamics requirements
a. Feedback, both positive and negative, is communicated to partners clearly and in a timely fashion
Estimated annual % of Time : 10%
6. Continuous Learning & Professional Development:
Demonstrates Fluent (Level 400) industry knowledge if single-industry Solution Specialist and Literate (Level 200) if multi-industry Solution Specialist (covers multiple industries)
Demonstrates Fluent (Level 400) Enterprise business applications selling capabilities
Demonstrates Literate (Level 200) business processes knowledge if focused on ERP -(Finance, HCM,SCM, SRM). For CRM – (SFA, Marketing, Customer Care) depending on SOLUTION SPECIALIST focus
Demonstrates Literate (Level 200) knowledge of Dynamics solutions for their focus industry(s)
Demonstrates Practitioner (Level 300) knowledge of Partner and Microsoft Services solutions and capabilities
Demonstrates Fluent (Level 400) knowledge of Competitors solutions, positioning and pricing
Demonstrates Literate (Level 200) Microsoft Licensing
Estimated annual % of Time : 5 %
Qualifications:
Experience:
What work experience is essential to the job? How many years of previous work experience would it typically take to gain sufficient experience in these areas to minimally fill this job role?
No related experience 5 – 8 years of related experience
1 – 3 years of related experience 8 – 10 years of related experience
3 – 5 years of related experience 10+ years of related experience
What type of supervisory or management experience would be necessary to fulfill the job requirements, if any? Not applicable. Extensive experience in working within teams is required.
Education:
What education is typically required for the job?
Required Preferred
High School
Associate’s Degree
Bachelor’s Degree (B.S./B.A.)
MBA
Master’s Degree
Jurist Doctorate
Ph.D.
Field of Study (if applicable): Business Administration, Computer Science
Professional Training and Certification:
Business Applications selling, complex sales training (e.g., Miller Hyman, Spin, Michael Bosworth, Holden, etc.), sales methodologies [equivalent to MSSP – Microsoft Solution Sales Process)], financial acumen, executive engagement and presentation skills, negotiation skills, Line of Business applications, CRM and ERP, Industry knowledge.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
Subject Matter Expertise
Industry knowledge including trends, opportunities and risks
o Single-Industry TSPs – Fluent (Level 400), Multi-Industry TSPs Literate (Level 200).
o CRM: FSI (Banking, Insurance), MFG (Auto, High-Tech, Life Sciences/Pharma), Prof. Services, Public Sector
o ERP: Retail, MFG High-Tech, MFG Process (Pharma, Metals etc.), MFG Industrial/Heavy Equip., Prof. Services, Public Sector
Fluent (Level 400) Business Applications Discovery, Solution Development, Product Demonstrations
Fluent (Level 400) business processes knowledge for their focus product(s) ERP – (Finance, HCM, SCM, SRM), CRM – (SFA, Marketing, Customer Care, Customer Contact Centre)
Fluent (Level 400) Dynamics technology and Industry Solutions for focus Industry(s)
Fluent (400) ISV, SI and MCS solutions and capabilities
Fluent (Level 400) Tier 1 Competitors solutions, positioning and pricing. CRM – SFDC. ERP – SAP & Oracle
Literate (Level 200) Non-Dynamics Microsoft technology
Abilities
Strong, proven track record of consistently exceeding quota using a consultative/solution selling approach, focused on solving Enterprise customer problems with Line of Business solutions, within customers and markets that require a “break the mold” approach (e.g., size of transactions, complexity of sales, shifts in perception, etc.).
Demonstrated experience and expertise selling technology to senior business decision-makers by reinforcing the value of the technology to the customer’s overall business pain and/or strategic opportunities.
Proven record of effective account management, including Account Planning, Opportunity Generation and Management, Communication Plans, and Business Management Excellence.
Is a resourceful problem-solver, leveraging internal and partner resources where and when needed to do what’s right for the customer and for the organization.
Working effectively within a virtual team, taking strategic direction from opportunity owners and considering inputs from team members.
Listening to customers (as opposed to telling/selling), probing for business process pains and opportunities, in an effort to meet or exceed their expectations.
Leveraging partner-facing readiness activities to continuously find ways to scale capacity within a territory or vertical
Top Solution Specialist Traits:
Develops a deep understanding for customers unique market opportunities
Profiles and Prioritizes Territory based on factors driving customer’s propensity to purchase.
Formulates provocative insights about the customers’ business
Advises the customer new things about their business; new opportunities or looming risks
Targets most influential and often most challenging contacts, not afraid to challenge their thinking
Builds relationships based on value resulting from insights about the customers’ business
Develops effective Pursuit Strategies – Builds great pursuit teams – leads teams to Win deals.
Engages in the social conversation to share provocative viewpoint
Builds close partnership with marketing to help package and tailor message to different audiences
Provides creative solutions resulting in win-win
Appendix (Skill Level Descriptions & Glossary):
– Level 100: Conversant. Aware of key issues associated with the technology or skill, where and why it is appropriate to use, and major limitations on applicability. Knowledgeable of appropriate terminology. Aware of limitations of own knowledge, and of how and when to seek additional expertise.
– Level 200: Literate. Has received in-depth training in the technology or skill, and is knowledgeable on methods and procedures for its application. Capable of practicing the technology or skill, but lacking in substantial real-world experience in execution and implementation.
– Level 300 : Practitioner. Fully trained and competent in the technology or skill, with appropriate real-world experience in its application. Uses the technology or skill on a regular basis, and is knowledgeable of business, technical, and other challenges and critical success factors for implementation.
– Level 400: Fluent. An acknowledged leader in the use and implementation of the technology or skill, with multiple instances of successful implementation of the technology or skill, including success stories and case studies to demonstrate credibility with customers, partners, and Microsoft employees.
– Level 500: Expert. Globally acknowledged expert on technology or skill, with authorship of key technologies or of published materials contributing to understanding of the field. Able to explain reasoning behind key technical architecture choices. Leader in developing Journeymen and in creation of course content for advancing the state of Microsoft’s Corporate capabilities.
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