Job description
Solution Specialist - ERP
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.
Responsibility/Activity
Business, Account and Territory Planning 10%
Key Tasks:
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
Key Success Criteria:
Create Solution Specialist Territory/Account Plans leveraging Dynamics Industry Workloads/Scenarios and the Solution Specialist
Territory Plan Template and prioritize “must win” accounts and review with extended sales team
o Solution Specialist Account plans completed, opportunities identified and captured in GSX (Global
Sales Experience)/CRM for 100% of Solution Specialists assigned accounts
o Solution Specialist’s Territory plan completed and communicated to Solution Specialist Manager.
Engage with EPG and SMS&P/CA AM (Account Manager) to drive CRM & ERP Discovery Profiling in their Account base
Identify Partners with solutions aligned to your territory and industry focus and review account plans
with those partners (with support from PAM (Partner Account Manager) and IMDM (Industry Marketing Development Manager)
o Solution Specialist has developed and communicated a GSI & MCS plan by August 31 that outlines where GSIs & MCS will be used to win business
Conduct and maintain competitive analysis for territory by using all available resources, (internal and
external) for must-win accounts and determine compete gaps
o Solution Specialist has completed opportunity plans for 100% of their top and must-win deals. This plan clearly communicates the deal attributes (size, close date etc.) as well as Pain, Power, Vision,, Value, and Control
Provide timely feedback to the Partner Sales Executive and/or Partner Sales Manager on your list of must win accounts so they can be incorporated into Partner Business Planning, Capacity and Recruitment planning
Determine with Solution Specialist Manager what portion of plan is coming from EPG AM and marketing spend and what portion is to be Solution Specialist generated.
Include input from marketing team and IMDM into territory planning process to ensure marketing
events are leveraged within assigned territory
o Solution Specialist generates awareness, interest and pipeline by leveraging marketing resources - 20% of Solution Specialist’s full pipeline should originate from Marketing activities
Sales Excellence 10%
Key Tasks:
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.
Key Success Criteria:
Leverage CRM Online in order to seed small deals with potential to grow into large opportunities within
assigned account base
Engage with key partners aligned with Solution Specialists territory to ensure forecast accuracy
Participate in regular pipeline review meetings with extended team to identify pipeline gaps and stalled
or disengaged opportunities and determine next steps
o Solution Specialist prospecting activity contributes to a minimum of 25% of qualified pipeline.
o Solution Specialist maintains required 0.85x weighted and 2.5x full pipeline coverage
Create and maintain all required fields for the forecast using GSX/Seibel/CRM for all Solution Specialist
assigned opportunities in DBC (Deal Based Compensation)
o 95%+ of opportunities have accurate GSX/CRM information - as measured weekly
Win/Loss reviews completed and tool loaded for 100% of Tier 1 wins and losses
Solution Specialist consistently delivers +/- 10% quarterly deal-based forecast accuracy
Understand available licensing options for a customer in order to accurately forecast
Pursuit Leadership & Execution 60%
Key Tasks:
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
Key Success Criteria:
Solution Specialists pursuit strategies clearly defines the Why, How, Who and What of the pursuit
Solution Specialist consistency attracts the best talent to their pursuit teams - these teams win 75%+ of the deals they engage in.
Solution Specialist effectively and independently orchestrates the pursuit team through the sales cycle - maintains a 75%+ win-rate on deals where we decide to engage
Solution Specialist effectively negotiates value-based deals and protects Microsoft’s selling price
Solution Specialist ensures that implementation partner is engaged early and is positioned to successfully design, develop, and implement the solution. Solution Specialist ensures that Premier support is included in 100% of Enterprise deals
Solution Specialist leverages COMPHOT (Sales Program to assist in communicating benefits) to refine competitive sales strategy
Partner (GSI+SI=ISV+MCS) 10%
Key Tasks:
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
Key Success Criteria:
Solution Specialist effectively engages Partner with the appropriate Customer relationships, Industry experience, and Customer evidence resulting in 75%+ win rate for opportunities pursued
Solution Specialist has developed relationships with 80%+ of Partner Sales and Delivery leaders
Early Partner engagement results in 75%+ win rates in engaged opportunities
Partners are building Dynamics capability and capacity as a result of Solution Specialist engagement
Subsidiary and Area Partner plans include clear Dynamics “give/gets” for 100% of the Dynamics prioritized Partners
Continuous Learning & Professional Development 5%
Key Tasks:
1. Industry knowledge including trends, opportunities and risks
a. Single-Industry Solution Specialists - Fluency, Multi-Industry SOLUTION SPECIALISTs Literacy.
b. CRM: FSI (Banking, Insurance), MFG (Auto, High-Tech, Life Sciences/Pharmaceutical), Prof. Services,
Public Sector
c. ERP: Retail, MFG High-Tech, MFG Process (Pharmaceutical, Heavy Industries etc.), MFG Industrial/Heavy Equip.,
Prof. Services, Public Sector
2. Fluency in Enterprise level - business applications selling capabilities
3. Literacy in business processes knowledge for their focus product(s) ERP - (Finance, HCM, SCM, SRM), CRM - (SFA, Marketing, Customer Care, Customer Contact Centre)
4. Literacy in Dynamics solutions that address industry and business challenges
5. Practitioner in Partner and Microsoft Services solutions and capabilities
6. Fluency in Tier 1 Competitors solutions, positioning and pricing. CRM - SFDC. ERP - SAP & Oracle
Key Success Criteria:
Demonstrates Fluency of industry knowledge in single industry.
Demonstrates Fluency in Enterprise business applications selling capabilities
Demonstrates Literacy of business processes knowledge if focused on ERP - (Finance, HCM,SCM, SRM). For CRM - (SFA, Marketing, Customer Care) depending on SOLUTION SPECIALIST focus
Demonstrates Literacy in knowledge of Dynamics solutions for their focus industry(s)
Demonstrates Practitioner knowledge of Partner and Microsoft Services solutions and
capabilities
Demonstrates Fluency in knowledge of Competitors solutions, positioning and pricing
Demonstrates Literacy in Microsoft Licensing
Qualifications
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.
Bachelor’s Degree (B.S./B.A.) is required, MBA or Master's degree is preferred
Field of Study (if applicable): Business Administration, Computer Science
Professional Training and Certification : Business Applications selling, complex sales training (e.g., Miller Heiman, 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 (Pharmaceutical, Metals etc.), MFG Industrial/Heavy Equip., Prof. Services, Public Sector
Fluent in Business Applications Discovery, Solution Development, Product Demonstrations
Fluent in business processes knowledge for their focus product(s) ERP - (Finance, HCM, SCM, SRM), CRM - (SFA, Marketing, Customer Care, Customer Contact Centre)
Fluent in Dynamics technology and Industry Solutions for focus Industry(s)
Fluent in SI and MCS solutions and capabilities
Fluent in Tier 1 Competitors solutions, positioning and pricing. CRM - SFDC. ERP - SAP & Oracle
Literate in 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
Subscribe to us
100% Free.
close