Top 7 Tips for Creating a Successful Newsletter

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Email marketing is a medium that has been pronounced dead many times, but the opposite is true. Email marketing is very much alive. Research shows that it is still the most successful form of marketing. ROI is high and many companies are still sending out newsletters. Create your own successful newsletter now. It’s easy with these top 7 tips.

Tip 1: determine your target audience

By determining your target audience first, you create an important framework, which determines what kind of content you need to create. So ask yourself: who is your target audience? What are they interested in? What information can you send them that could be helpful, interesting or maybe just entertaining?

Example:
Target group: customers with 50-100 employees
Vertical: construction companies
Contact: Finance Manager

Example of content:

  • Write a story about a successful conversation with a client.
  • A project has been completed and you want to share your most important learning points.
  • A new software update has been released. Explain what happened if you do not update the system.

Tip 2: determine your goal

What do you want to achieve by sending out a newsletter? Would you like your recipients to take action? Maybe request information, register for a webinar or read more on your website? Decide what you want to achieve with your newsletter before sending it. This will help you write a call-to-action and measure the success.

Your call-to-action

Your newsletter should contain at least one call-to-action. Keep it simple. Don’t confuse your recipients with too many options. Write you call-to-action as an imperative sentence.

Example goals and call-to-actions

Goal: create awareness for a new product / Call-to-action: read more
Goal: get in touch with customers / Call-to-action: contact me
Goal: sell a product / Call-to-action: buy now

Tip 3: write an attractive subject line

Spend some extra time on writing an attractive subject line. The subject line is the first thing your recipient will see. It’s the reason why he or she will or will not read your newsletter. You can also use a preheader, which is another sentence that will show when receiving a newsletter. The preheader can provide some extra information or contain a call-to-action.

Examples:

Questions:

  • Are you ready for…?
  • Do you have the right…?

Lists:

  • 5 Ways to …
  • 7 Steps to …

A bit of mystery:

  • The secret of…
  • What everybody’s talking about

Urgency:

  • Only one day left for this great offer!
  • Register now

Advice:

  • The best way to…
  • Examples of….

Tip 4: keep it short and simple

Keep your information short and simple. Your recipients don’t want to read lots of text. They want a text that’s short, well formulated and easy to scan through. The less phrases you need to convince your reader to click through, the better.

Tips for writing:

  • Keep your sentences active
  • Use paragraphs and titles
  • Talk benefits instead of features and functionalities
  • Be careful using jargon

Tip 5: measure your success

After you’ve sent your newsletter, it’s important to measure its success. This gives you important information that you can use to further improve your newsletters. You can see if your newsletter has been opened, if it has led to more visitors on your website or if people requested information or performed another action. With this information you can further improve your subject lines, the information you send and your call-to-actions.

There are different ways to measure the success of your newsletter. There’s the email marketing system you use. Most of them measure results like open rate, click rate, delivered and undelivered emails (bounces). You can also use Google Analytics. Google Analytics can tell how your newsletter has performed with regards to extra visitors to your website.

So set this up, you can add the following code to the link in your newsletter:

?Utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

So if, for example, your link is: www.name.com/gl/partner-service, after adding the code it will look like this:
www.name.com/gl/partner-service?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

To see the results, log in to Google Analytics and go to Acquisition > Source / Medium.

The results will look like this:

 

Don’t spam

Don’t spam people. Only send newsletters to people who are either a customer or who subscribed for your newsletter (opt in). If someone unsubscribes (opt out), honour that request. Legislation is strict and if you don’t want to get in trouble.

Tip 6: start simple

You don’t need a fancy email marketing tool to get started with email marketing and you don’t need to have knowledge of HTML. You can start by using your email client, such as Outlook or Gmail. If you do, remember to put your recipient’s email addresses in the BCC (!). You can also use MailChimp, which is a great email marketing tool and free up to 2,000 subscribers and 12,000 emails per month (2016).

Tip 7: start now

Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your (potential) customers. So don’t wait and start now! I hope with these tips you can set up a successful newsletter by yourself and if you need any more help, please contact QBS Marketing. Have fun!

The most overlooked cost item in ERP system selection

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During ERP system selection, the various costs and possible benefits are analyzed in considerable detail and then assessed for each vendor. Oddly enough, one important component is often completely missed during this process. Which one? The cost of the next ERP system!

The selection of a new ERP application is never done as a back-of-an-envelope exercise. After all, most organisations want to profit from the new tool for many years. Many prospective buyers tell us something like the following:
“From a bookkeeping standpoint, the investment’s term of depreciation is 5 years. But ideally we want to work with the new solution for 10 years or more”.

Anyone who wants to work with a system for that long must have a really good crystal ball. Because in 10 years’ time, a lot can change! What will the world look like in the year 2026? Which devices will we be working with then? How far will the technology be developed? And which parts of our future have yet even to be invented, developed and marketed? So there are plenty of questions, and from today’s vantage point we can only guess at the answers.

To get a handle on this challenge, it can be instructive to turn the clock back some 10 years. Can you remember the exact state of technology in 2006? No one had ever heard of tablets back then. Let alone the verb ‘swiping’! WhatsApp didn’t even exist at that point. Google was a relatively unknown company. And cloud technology was in its infancy. Perhaps this comparison provides you a bit of perspective into what we can expect in terms of new developments in the coming 10 years. But far more importantly – can you comprehend what all this means for your potential ERP suppliers? Consider the required competencies, for example; or the required R&D budgets, the availability of international sales channels or the necessary entrepreneurship and decisiveness, of course.

If you think about the future of ERP technology, you come to the conclusion that you are selecting more of an ERP concept these days than an ERP solution – a concept that is developing at a furious pace. And which must develop! Because vendors that fall behind or miss the boat at any time are quickly lost in this market. And the most painful bit: their clients are lost, too.

Companies that are considering new ERP solutions would do well to test their vendors’ degree of future-proofing rigorously. Do the vendors on your shortlist have any chance at all of surviving this rat race until 2026? Are they (sufficiently) profitable these days, for example? Do they have sufficient international scale? What is the size of their R&D budget? How innovative are they? And is a formal product roadmap available for the solution on offer?

By getting a good understanding of the prospective vendors’ commercial legitimacy during the selection process, you can prevent many unpleasant surprises in the future. However, if you fail to look to the future, then just make sure you include a huge sum in your budget for the next ERP system!

This blog was published on MSDynamicsWorld.com

NavAzure: “We are a small company with a great organisational support base”

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NavAzure is a newly established company, which currently one employee, Michael Francois Knudsen, who is the owner and CEO. NavAzure has only existed since April 2016 but is based on Michaels long experience with Microsoft Dynamics NAV. NavAzure is particularly skilled in municipal solutions.

“We have been partners with QBS since April 2016, and are very satisfied”, says Michael Francois Knudsen, who knew of QBS group from a previous job. “For a startup like NavAzure, the partnership with QBS group is ideal because we trough the partnership gain access to possibilities and knowledge that would otherwise require a large organization or great costs. Besides this, I find that with QBS group as organizational support, I have time to focus on business. Even though I have become part of a larger organization, I can still claim ownership of my business”, Michael enthusiastically explains.

Knowledge of licenses at your fingertips

Michael likes the fact that it so easy to gain knowledge on many areas such as licenses. “I needed to clarify some questions regarding licenses and was very pleased that I could through QBS group, swiftly and with ease could solve the issues. It was very satisfying to be able to give my customer a quick answer. It was great for me not having to spend time on tasks like this. If it had just been me, I would not have had the same pull and could not have found the information that quickly.”

I have become more skilled professionally

Even though Michael has comprehensive experience, he still finds a need for further development of his skills. “I have used my partnership with QBS group to educate myself through training. I definitely feel I have gained better experience and am more professionally skilled. Besides that, it is a great benefit that Quattros and gained bonus makes it easy and attractive to use training and other services”, says Michael. “Furthermore I can use QBS group to e.g. generate leads and to be visible online. That gives me time to focus on my skills with the customers.”

Part of a greater network

“It is important to me, that I through QBS become part of a greater network, where partners can meet each other and share experience, knowledge and assist one another with tasks. It is great getting together face to face, so we keep each other in mind if we come across tasks or knowledge that would be relevant to other partners”, says Michael.

“It also benefits the customers. In the network of partners and at QBS we can use the different skills and resources of each other so no task is too big. We gain a support system of skilled and experienced resources, which ensures the customer that when dealing with a QBS partner there is – with nearly 60 QBS partners in Denmark, always someone who can help with the customer’s solution. For me it is not important to own the resource the customer needs when I have a vast support team around me with some of the most skilled people in the field.”

Access to support

“To me it is important to know that I have access to support daily. In that case I know that no matter what challenge I encounter, I will be able to get help and do not have to spend time chasing information on a certain area like Dynamics NAV and Microsoft,” Michael Francois Knudsen concludes.

Do you want to become a QBS group partner?

Eduard Dell appointed as Area Lead DACH

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Following the market entry of QBS group as Microsoft Dynamics SMB Distributor for Germany, we announce the appointment Eduard Dell (42) as Area Lead for the DACH Region per May 1st 2016. In his role Dell will lead the QBS activities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Eduard Dell looks back on many years of management experience in the IT solutions business and the Dynamics partner channel. Dell has more than 15 year experience at Microsoft Germany, where he held various positions, holding responsibility for the growth of the ERP and CRM business. In his latest position as Partner Sales Manager, he was responsible for the SME business for Dynamics NAV and CRM, with a significant focus on the cloud transformation of the partner offerings. He brings a wealth of experience in the area of developing successful business for both Microsoft and partners.

“We are in times of great market changes that provide enormous challenges to our partners. I am therefore delighted that the proven QBS Partner Services and Support will now also become available to the Dynamics partners in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We will expand our team and further develop our services to further improve the support to our partners in the DACH region, leading to more business opportunities and an improved profitability. Our goal is building a strong QBS community which will serve as the foundation for the future success for all involved” said Eduard Dell.

Nelson Tavares de Silva, VP Channels at QBS group: “We are really delighted to welcome Eduard to QBS group. With his vast Microsoft experience, drive and passion we feel a big milestone has been set to support the long term SMB distributor business success in the DACH region. We trust that all German Microsoft partners see this as a positive signal and recognize that QBS group is making significant investments in people, local German services and repeatable cloud solutions like OneBizz into the DACH region, so we can start to “divide tasks and double the partner success”.

Make Money Using ISV Solutions

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Nowadays, as a Microsoft Dynamics partner you can’t do without Independent Software Vendor (ISV) solutions. We understand that you can’t automate all of your customer’s business processes by yourself. Now you don’t have to because there are lots of ISV solutions available that can help grow your business and make you money!

What are ISV solutions?

ISV solutions are additional software with which you can extend the standard functionalities of Microsoft Dynamics. There are horizontal ISV solutions, which can be used by companies in different industries. For example solutions for integration and e-commerce. Then there are vertical solutions, designed for companies in specific industries which automate industry specific processes.

There are four ways to make money with ISV solutions.

Implement ISV solutions

First of all, you can implement ISV solutions with your own customers. That way you get paid for doing the implementation. You also make money on selling the solution, which is usually a percentage of the purchase price. You receive a percentage of the annual maintenance fee from the ISV partner, which comes back every year.

Ka-Ching! (Can you hear that cash register already?)

Become an ISV partner

The second way in which you can make money is to become an ISV partner yourself. You get paid for selling your solution and for maintenance. Of course, a small percentage of that goes to the partners who have sold and implemented your solution but most of it goes to you. To become an ISV partner you need to register your solution with Microsoft and get CfMD certified.

Work with a competence center

The third way in which you can make money with ISV solutions is by working with a competence center. A competence center is a Microsoft Dynamics partner who helps other partners with the implementation of an ISV solution. They also deliver additional services such as support and pre sales. You can work with a competence center if you want to offer your customer a certain ISV solution but you don’t have the knowledge to implement it yourself.

Working with a competence center can help you make money more indirectly than the other options we mentioned. It will save you money, because you don’t have to invest in training. Your customer’s can rely on you to automate all of their business processes. You are their ‘trusted advisor’ when it comes to business software and they’ll remain loyal. Which ultimately will lead to more revenue because the next time they need a solution, you’re the one they’ll call!

Become a competence center

The fourth and final way to make money with ISV solutions is to become a competence center yourself. This is especially interesting if you have specific knowledge of an ISV solution which other partners don’t have. As a competence center you can help other partners with the implementation of an ISV solution with their customers. You make money for implementation, selling licenses, support and additional services.

We can help!

So don’t be shy about using ISV solutions, they are a great way to make money. Contact Sven Noomen if you’re looking for the right ISV solution for your customer or go to our marketplace for an overview of all ISV solutions from QBS group partners.

Without the help from QBS group we wouldn’t have succeeded.

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Blisss is a Dutch reseller of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The company was founded in 2007 and is based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. They have been working with Microsoft Dynamics NAV since 2008. Besides NAV they also build apps. Bliss is a fast growing company and employs a lot of young people.

An ‘in between’ party

Dirko Wijers, founder and owner of Blisss, decided to join QBS group soon after the establishment of QBS group in 2013. He explains why: “Microsoft is a very big company, and that makes the relationship with Microsoft very distant. Especially for small and medium sized partners. For them it’s often hard to cooperate with Microsoft and to find the right information and help. That’s why, as a small and medium sized business, you need an organization that’s in between. That supports you in all areas that are important for your business. Marketing, training, licensing, sharing knowledge with other partners, you can’t do it all by yourself. QBS group can support you with that, they are pragmatic and enterprising.”

Support by Partner Care

Dirko is very pleased with the support service of QBS group. Dirko: “I have good experience with Partner Care & Licensing. The lines are short, they help you quickly and they sort things out for you. The contact’s personal, you know their names. They have very good knowledge of licensing and they helped me very well with a licensing issue I had. That issue was that we were still using a former SPLA licensing model, because we have been working in the cloud for a long time. We needed to transfer to a newer model and with their help we managed to do it in three days. I’m convinced that without them we still wouldn’t have succeeded.”

Online traceability

Dirko regularly uses the services of QBS group: “We have participated in training courses and won clients through lead generation. Soon we will start with online marketing through QBS group. I find online traceability important. Because I think that a potential customer who approaches you himself, has more interest in your product than a customer gets approached by you, for example by cold calling. And the chances of you winning over this potential customer are much higher. That’s why I want to continue to improve our online visibility and QBS group can help us with that with their online marketing services. ”

Feeling of community

Dirko also would like to see Microsoft Dynamics partners work together: “You used to have a community of Microsoft Dynamics partners who worked together and shared knowledge. That is something I believe in. We are not competitors, but we pursue a common goal which is that Microsoft Dynamics NAV will be the most widely used ERP system in the Netherlands. I think QBS group brings back the old feeling of community. For example with an event like QBShare where partners can meet. But also by collectively buying services, which is cheaper than doing it by yourself. There is only one who does that and can and it’s QBS group. “

QBS group acquires Master VAR activities of Konica Minolta IT Solutions GmbH

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QBS group expands her activities to Germany and now represents the largest global Microsoft Dynamics Partner network with close to 300 Microsoft Dynamics partners in 14 countries

Leusden/Munich, January 2016

Quattro Business Solutions (QBS group), Microsoft and Konica Minolta IT Solutions GmbH have reached an agreement, under which QBS group takes over all Microsoft Dynamics Master VAR activities of Konica Minolta IT Solutions GmbH.

QBS DACH will be the new organisation taking care of the activities related to the role of QBS group as Distributor for Microsoft Dynamics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

This step means an acceleration in the QBS DACH investments in people and local (German language) partner services, that will directly benefit the current 50 QBS partners and will strengthen the QBS community. Next to this it enables QBS DACH to scale up and welcome and support more Microsoft Dynamics partners from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Based upon the planned growth of QBS DACH and other regions, QBS group will support over 400 Microsoft Dynamics Partners and ISV Partners by the end of 2016, indirectly supporting more than 40.000 Microsoft Dynamics customers.

Joop van Voorthuijsen, CEO of QBS group: “I am very proud that we have reached this agreement and now also support many partners in Germany. In less than three years we have grown our organisation to now supporting close to 300 Microsoft Dynamics partners in 14 countries. This is a great achievement and I am proud of what our team has achieved. Recent information from Microsoft shows that on average QBS partners outperform non-QBS partners, underlining the success of our network. With the addition of QBS Germany as part of QBS DACH to QBS group, we have an even stronger foundation for future success for all stakeholders; customers, partners, QBS group and Microsoft.”

Thomas Kombrecht, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Microsoft Germany: “The goal of Microsoft is to consistently continue the two-tier distribution model for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV channel, which was already implemented in many other European countries. It should also be ensured that the service offering to the partners in the various countries is uniform. QBS group doesn’t interact directly with end customers and is ideally positioned to support partners in the Microsoft Dynamics area.”

Cloud SureStep Content Now on the DLP!

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Cloud SureStep courses are now available on the Microsoft Dynamics Learning Portal (DLP).

Cloud SureStep is a training program which has been designed to help partners in their journey to the cloud. You will be able to learn all about the ‘why cloud’ with content suitable for CxO level, Sales management, Marketing and Solutions.

QBS group partners with an Advanced and Extended Service Level Agreement have access to the DLP. More about our service Levels

Are you ready for the Cloud?

QBS can help you capitalize on the cloud with the following services and offerings:

  • Marketing & Lead Generation
  • Cloud SureStep training and certification
  • Cloud Azure deployment
  • Licensing questions
  • OneBizz Partner Program

Have a look on our website for more information about our Partner Services or ask your local Partner Account Manager.

To the Dynamics Learning Portal for Cloud SureStep

QBS group partners Rainbow Solutions and Quadira join forces

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Rainbow Solutions has started a full partnership with Quadira to offer and support Quadira’s Advanced-Forms® Output Management to their customers.

Advanced-Forms® is the Output Management solution for the easy design, enrichment, distribution and digital archiving of any document. Advanced-Forms® seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Dynamics software and is Microsoft certified (CfMD) for NAV2013, NAV2015, NAV2016 and AX2012. This has made Rainbow Solutions decide to add Advanced-Forms® as ISV solution for NAV to their NaviTrans solution. Rainbow will implement this total solution at their new customer Mooy Logistics.

Hajo Kanters, founder and CEO at Quadira: “Advanced-Forms® is the state of the art output management solution which we have developed based on a clear requirement of customers in several branches, such as the Dynamics NAV community. Many of those customers are looking for a solution with which they can easily create documents, add extra data to those documents and distribute them automatically in an digital format. Normally this can only be done through customization by specialists from the ERP partners. We noticed that among the Dynamics partners, such as Rainbow Solutions, there is a strong demand to minimize these activities as much as possible, so that they can focus on the ERP implementation itself. This has already been successfully revealed at several Rainbow Solutions customers. That is why Rainbow and we have decided to do this installation at Mooy Logistics together, in a partnership”.

Wim Korte, CEO at Rainbow Solutions: “We see a clear requirement in the Dynamics NAV market for solutions where users can easily digitize and automate the outgoing document process flow. Advanced-Forms® has already proven itself for several years now with a solid and highly skilled Quadira organisation”. ”We therefore have decided to include Advanced-Forms® in our total product portfolio and our total solution which we are now going to implement at our new customer Mooy Logistics”. “We are very enthusiastic about all the options and features that Advanced-Forms® offers and we look forward to a long term partnership. Quadira will fully train and certify our people, so that we can implement and support Advanced-Forms® by ourselves”.

More about Rainbow Solutions on our partnerpage

More about Quadira on our partnerpage

Creative Ways of Dealing with Your Capacity Problem

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A lot of Microsoft Dynamics partners are dealing with a capacity problem. Qualified and experienced specialists are scarce. Partners could do more business if they’d approach this problem more creatively. They could outsource to third parties, train juniors and make temporary use of resources from other partners.

As a Partner Account Manager I often talk to partners who are looking for experienced professionals. There’s a huge demand for technical consultants, functional consultants and developers. A problem so severe that partners sometimes even have to turn down projects. Or delay the acquisition of new projects. All of which have a negative effect on sales.

Not only is it hard to find the right people, but it’s also very costly. Recruitment agencies charge high fees. Specialists’ salaries are high. And it takes time and therefore money to get new people up-and-running in their new job. And just when your new specialist is finally billable, one of your own people receives a better offer and leaves. Meaning you have to start your search all over again.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a great solution for partners. There are a lot of specialised third parties available that can help you with tasks like upgrading and development. They can also do performance optimisation and even make functional designs. These parties, often abroad, are incredibly experienced and charge favourable rates, which are big advantages. Partners using subcontractors for those tasks in general work more effective and efficient and they are able to sell and implement more projects.

Juniors

Another solution is the use of juniors. Partners are often looking for highly experienced seniors to do all the work, but much of the work can be done by juniors as well. In projects I generally see seniors involved, maybe a few mid-level consultants. But no juniors. Assign at least one junior to every one of your projects. Get them involved. That way your more qualified staff have their hands free to do other work.

Getting juniors involved also helps to solve the problem in general. Because by doing so, juniors gain experience and have the chance to someday be seniors themselves. Especially if you offer them training and coach them on the job. In the long term that leads to more qualified specialists and a bigger pond to fish in. Juniors also will give a fresh view and new ideas in to your team, they aren’t spoiled with history.

Seniors should function more as a mentor or coach. These people are too scarce to do all the work by themselves. And by solely relying on them, you’re creating your own problem.

Resources from other partners

And last, but not least, you can also make temporary use of resources from other specialised partners. Customers are expecting more and more integrated business solutions. For partners it will be difficult to have enough capacity for all specialisms themselves. Pro-actively sharing (specialised) resources is an upcoming trend which partners should join.

So yes, qualified staff is hard to find. A problem which leads to extra costs and missed opportunities but let’s deal with it more creatively so not to stop us from achieving our ambitions.

Do you need more information or do you have any questions? I’m here to help so please let me know!

Mobile friendly website for QBS group

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Our website is now easily accessible for users of mobile telephones.

In November 2015 QBS group moved their website to an ‘adaptive’ design. This means that the website is easily accessible by using a mobile telephone. On the advice of Sander van Leeuwen, online marketer with QBS group, it was a necessary step. Sander: “Over the last two years, we have seen a considerable increase in the number of visitors to our website through mobile telephones. In order to provide our website visitors with a good user experience, we decided to optimise our website for mobile usage.”

An efficient approach

The project started in the summer of 2015 and was approached efficiently. Sander: “The complete website of QBS group consists of over 1200 pages in 10 different languages. So it would be a lot of work to build a complete new website, which wasn’t necessary as all we wanted was a website that was easily accessible for visitors with mobile phones. So we decided to ‘reuse’ the old website as much as possible. As far as content is concerned, the website stayed pretty much the same. The only thing that was ‘freshened up’ was the website’s look and feel.”

An adaptive website

The website of QBS group is now an ‘adaptive’ website which is more than just a ‘responsive’ website. Sander: “A ‘responsive’ website means that the content of the website stays the same on every device. An ‘adaptive’ website, however, shows different content on different devices. For example certain images are not shown on mobile devices. Also tables that are not suitable for mobile devices are not shown.”

It has only just begun

QBS group’s adaptive website went live successfully, but that doesn’t mean the work is over. Sander: “It has only just begun. Releasing a new website means the start of a new phase. We are now going to see how the mobile version of our website is being used and how we can improve this. For example, if we see that more people register for events on the mobile version of our website than on the desktop version, we can choose to move the link for registering higher up the page on the mobile version. And in that way increase registrations.”

Marketing partners

The new website was made possible by QBS marketing partners Spankracht and Maxdoro. Sander: “Spankracht took care of the new ‘look and feel’ and Maxdoro was responsible for coding. I’d like to say thanks to both partners for their hard work. They’ve done a great job.”

See our mobile version

Interested in seeing how the mobile version of our website looks? Take a peek on your mobile phone or just make your browser window smaller and experience the difference.

Would you like your website to be adaptive too?

Do you need your website to responsive or adaptive? Not sure whether it’s necessary for mobile access to your website? Need help to review the possibilities? Then please contact us for our advice.

Why every Dynamics ERP partner should embrace Dynamics CRM

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We live in a world where the customer is our new CEO! Where companies can only grow if they are attractive for new customers. And at the same time deliver outstanding services to their existing customers. So if your customers are your biggest asset, it is smart to pay maximum attention to this asset. And to do everything you can to make them happy. And keep them satisfied.

Traditionally companies started their process automation with things like accounting, order management and warehousing in an ERP system like Dynamics ERP. Sales and marketing processes were scheduled for a later stage of the implementation. Any then often these processes were covered with the CRM module of Dynamics NAV, AX, GP or SOL. For obvious reasons! It was easy to implement. Offered great integration. And was good for an acceptable TCO value. Many sales departments however felt this as a compromise. And not without reasons! ERP is built around the structured order, creation and delivery processes. Where in CRM the unstructured (potential) customer is the central point. So that’s two completely different angles!

The Microsoft strategy

For many years Microsoft’s predecessors Navision, Damgaard and Great Plains developed CRM functionality into their ERP offerings. But a few years ago Microsoft decided to change that strategy. Since then the company puts all her development efforts regarding the CRM domain in the Dynamics CRM product. And not in the CRM modules of Dynamics NAV, GP, SOL and AX anymore. Today there’s really no indication that this strategy will chance.

Your customer needs

Where the development of the CRM module in the several Dynamics ERP solutions slowed down, the buying behavior of prospective customers changed in an unbelievable past over the last few years! And is still changing. The impact of more powerful customers and significant changing buying behavior is that companies can only survive with the best possible tools for sales, marketing, service and social. And unfortunately that’s not the CRM module of Dynamics ERP anymore!

If you ignore this….

In the next 3 to 5 years all current Dynamics ERP customers will buy a professional CRM system. If you’re lucky they will buy Microsoft Dynamics CRM. But if you’re unlucky they will buy something else. Like Salesforce.com. That’s none of your (ERP) business, you think? Well, you’ll be surprised! Today Salesforce.com is well known for their strong CRM offering. But they also have a development platform called SalesForce 1. And today they are able to also deliver an ERP system, called Financialforce. What will happen if your ancient NAV version 3.70 user or AX version 3.0 user with loads of customizations will see today’s version of FinancialForce? Please check this video here: http://www.financialforce.com/

The entrance of SFDC in your Dynamics ERP customer base will work as a Trojan horse. Over time they will also steal your NAV, GP, SOL or AX customer. And you’ll end up with nothing….

Cost versus value

Using the CRM module of Dynamics NAV is of course a cheaper solution than implementing Dynamics CRM as well. So is walking to your customers and leave your car at home. But most companies don’t buy ERP and CRM solutions with the goal to limit the costs. They acquire these systems to become more effective. So they focus on the value! And like it or not – the sales and marketing people at your customers and prospects will find more value in Dynamics CRM than in the CRM module of your Dynamics ERP solution.

Scenarios

So Dynamics ERP partners that want to protect their existing customer base and find new customers more easily have to add Dynamics CRM to their value proposition. Here I see two possible scenarios. Either you will market, sell, deliver and support Dynamics CRM yourself. Or you go for a partnering model. For smaller ERP partners it will probably be smarter to co-operate with an existing Dynamics CRM partner. At WPC 2014 Microsoft reported that already 28 of the top-50 Dynamics ERP partners worldwide have built up substantial Dynamics CRM units. You can find CRM partners open for this kind of co-operation through your Microsoft contacts of via your local Master VAR.

The cost of this is…

Building your own CRM practice demands for an investment. That’s why a co-operation model might be an interesting alternative. Both options demands for a time and money investment. But at the end the cost of ignoring all this and do nothing will cost you more! And this is probably going to be more expensive every day you wait longer….

Should you, as a Dynamics NAV ERP partner, need any support on this, please contact us.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 Feature Comparison

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When it comes to upgrading your clients to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV are you able to provide them detail about the differences between each version? This page may help.

When it comes to upgrading your clients to the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV it can feel like you are ‘hitting your head against a brick wall’. Convincing them that moving to NAV 2015 will be more beneficial to their business than sticking with their current version can take a lot of effort.

I imaging you have advised your client that keeping their solution up-to-date is essential to the future of their business. Taking advantage of the new available functionality and enhanced capabilities in the recent releases can also boost productivity, reduce costs, and improve customer service. But it would help to understand the functionality they have in their existing version and how migrating could help them.

However, unless you are a veteran of Microsoft Dynamics NAV it is unlikely you will know the feature variations of each version. So how can you possibly give them the right advice and convince them they need to migrate?

Well, Microsoft have come up with a very handy ‘Feature Comparison Tool’ which compares all versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV, from version 4.0 to the latest version; NAV 2015. The tool allows you to compare all previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics NAV with the latest incarnation NAV 2015, to see how the new version differs from your current solution. The capabilities that are highlighted are all based on core product functionality that has been developed by Microsoft Dynamics.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015 Feature Comparison Tool

If you are a current or potential Microsoft Dynamics NAV user and need to discuss any software requirements then please reference to our product site ERP Central for more information.

How to survive Mobilegeddon?

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On the 21st of April 2015, Google released a major update that might have a huge impact on the mobile visibility of your website. This update has now been renamed in ‘Mobilegeddon’. If your website receives a lot of mobile search traffic via Google search and your site is not suitable for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, this search traffic could decrease.

What is a mobile friendly website?

Your website is ‘mobile friendly’, when your pages are easy to read and easy to navigate, without a need to zoom in or to flip your device.

How important are these visitors who visit your site via a mobile device?

Of course, as owner of the website, you are the only one who can give the right answer. But there is a clear trend that mobile usage is substantially growing.

In the Netherlands there are as many smartphone as laptop users and the number of people with a tablet equals the number of people with a desktop computer. In the United States 94% of the people search via the smartphone. And 77% of all mobile searches is carried out at home or at work, thus in places where probably also desktop computers are present.

Google rates ‘mobile’ so important, that ‘mobile friendly’ is now included in the search results.

What should you do now?

Step 1 Test your website on mobile friendliness

If you want to be sure your website is mobile friendly, check your site with the mobile-friendly test of Google.

Step 2 Determine the impact of the “Mobilegeddon” update on your mobile traffic.

If your website doesn’t pass this test, determine how big the impact is on the number of visitors to your website.

Google Analytics lets you see the impact of organic search traffic via mobile devices in the period before and after the 21st of April. Now you can determine if this impact justifies an investment in for example a responsive website.

NOTE: If you want to know how to generate this insight via Google Analytics, contact QBS group.

Step 3: Make your website mobile friendly

If you decide that you should invest in a mobile friendly website, you can choose from four strategies, depending on your budget and degree of urgency:

  1. Convert your existing desktop website into a responsive version.
  2. Launch a mobile site next to your existing desktop website.
  3. Replace your existing website entirely with a new, sustainable, adaptive or responsive website.
  4. Make your most important pages responsive first.

Decide how your organisation and your visitors experience a mobile site.
Do they see mobile as an extension of the regular website or is mobile an important starting point?
Is it all about sales and conversion or do you just want to inform your visitors?

Probably, you are already informed about this by your web builder and maybe you have already received several offers for the development of a new website.

Important in determining the right choices, decide what you want to achieve with your mobile site. What is your primary goal and how will this mobile website contribute to achieving this goal?

 

What Dynamics NAV Partners can expect from Directions EMEA

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In the first week of October you can find the European Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners heading North East. They’ll travel to the city of Poznan in Poland – this year’s location for the DIRECTIONS EMEA event.

DIRECTIONS is an event for Dynamics NAV partners, organized by Dynamics NAV partners. Traditionally this event was focused on the technical and functional roles in a partner organization. Over the last few years however this focus shifted to cover also the more business related topics and roles.

There are two editions of DIRECTIONS: one for the US and one for Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA). The US edition took place in San Diego in the second week of September.

This year the organization committee expects a large attendance at the EMEA edition. May be even an all-time high! For that reason they picked a much larger location. Last year’s edition in Vienna was sold out quite fast and a number of partners ended up on the waiting list.

What can Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners expect from this year’s event?

  • The introduction of Dynamics NAV 2015. DIRECTIONS is the platform where Microsoft releases the new version of Dynamics NAV, called Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2015. Of course partners can expect a large number of deep dive session regarding new functionalities, the availability on new devices and upgrade strategies.
  • IN and ON. At DIRECTIONS 2013 Microsoft announced the slogan IN and ON. IN Office365 and ON Azure. This new slogan was and still is a nice reminder for partners that Dynamics NAV is not a stand-alone solution anymore! Over time Microsoft wants her partners to sell and deliver integrated solutions, rather than point solutions. After all the famous Microsoft stack is the most compelling reason for prospects to choose Microsoft over any other competitor.
  • A Business Solution from Microsoft. As the next step after IN and ON we can expect the introduction of BSfM. That’s the new acronym for a Business Solution from Microsoft. This expression was announced at the Worldwide Partner Conference last July in Washington. BSfM goes beyond IN and ON since it also includes solutions like Dynamics CRM and Power BI. It will be interesting to hear Microsoft’s strategies on the transformation of her partner channel from just Dynamics NAV to BSfM solutions.
  • R2R, GR2R and RAMP. Two years ago Microsoft started a new project in her NAV and GP channels called Road to Repeatability (R2R). This project focuses on methodologies of selling and delivering high volumes of new customers in a very efficient way. Last year the company designed a short edition of this program called R2R RAMP. But again, only meant for a selected group of partners. This autumn however the RAMP program will be offered to the NAV partners all over the world at four main NAV events in the US, EMEA and Asia Pacific. In short the R2R approach is a shift from Projects to Products. From complex, expensive and long lasting customized projects to a standardized approach based on a standard solution, a faster sales cycle and a short delivery process. Could be cloud based, could be on premise.
  • The RAMP Leadership track in Poznan. At this DIRECTIONS event NAV partners can attend the Leadership track of the RAMP program. It’ll give them insights in the changing buying behaviour of modern prospects and the most efficient way for a partner to react. On top of that comes a high-level overview of the impact on the different domains in a partner company, such as Sales and Marketing but also Delivery and Support. The separate in-depth Sales and Marketing tracks can be attended after DIRECTIONS since Microsoft is busy offering these courses in many countries throughout Europe.
  • New growth aspirations for Dynamics NAV. Earlier this year Microsoft disclosed that Dynamics NAV crossed the magic barrier of 100.000 midsized NAV customers worldwide. The official number was an impressive 102.000 with a growth of 8.000 customers over the last 12 months! We expect Microsoft to announce the next milestone in this growth path. But also when this milestone should be achieved. And what partners can do to contribute to this ongoing growth. We expect that the R2R way of thinking needs to contribute to the ongoing (and even faster) growth of Dynamics NAV in the worldwide marketplace.

Partner Master Class, a sister company of QBS group, is a Microsoft certified R2R training company. PMC delivers these training courses throughout Europe since the start of the program two years ago.

Your benefits?

Only RAMP certified partners get access to the Microsoft Dynamics subscription pricelist and get an interesting discount on Azure pricing. That’s interesting of course. But much more important is probably the fact that this program prepares partners to be successful in the new era of subscription pricing, packaged solutions, faster delivery and growth in volume.

Interested?

Are you interested in joining these programs? Feel free to contact us and/or schedule a meeting with us in Poznan. You can contact us at info@qbsgroup.com

See you in Poznan!

How Buyers Buy… and four ways Marketing can help them choose you

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This time I wanted to share an interesting article from Marketing Profs with you, which is based on a survey by Mike Schultz and John Doerr. The article is called “How Buyers Buy… and four ways Marketing can help them choose you”

How Buyers Buy… and four ways Marketing can help them choose you

With the Internet, the Great Recession, and intensification of competition in many industries, the way buyers buy has changed. Buyers are busier, they have more choices, and they are better informed than ever.

So what are the companies that are bringing in new customers and growing their accounts doing that’s different?

To find out, bestselling authors and world-renowned sales experts Mike Schultz and John Doerr went to the source: buyers themselves. They surveyed over 700 B2B buyers responsible for $3.1 billion in annual purchases. They wanted to know what the winners of actual sales opportunities are doing that’s different from what others are doing and published the results in Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently.

Seven factors rose to the top as those that most separate winners from second-place finishers. These factors are displayed in the image on the right.

 

Although those factors directly relate to what the seller did during the sales process, there are four core ways Marketing can help support Sales to do those things.

1. Connect buyer needs and your company’s solutions

“Listened to me” and “understood my needs” were the No. 4 and No. 5 factors, respectively, among those that most separated the winners from the rest. Factor No. 7 was “crafted a compelling solution.” It’s often Marketing’s role to understand buyer needs and develop materials and insights that hit on buyer hot buttons. Most companies, however, leave it up to individual sellers to come up with all the ways to match needs to solutions.

At the same time, Marketing tends to have reams of data for how their offerings benefit the customer. Marketing can and should create playbooks—graphs, charts, grids, and so on—that show how specific buyer needs match up to company products and services as solutions.

To make it relevant for sellers, marketers should collaborate with sales leaders to come up with questions that sellers can ask to uncover needs across different categories. By asking those questions, sellers demonstrate that they are listening to buyers, at the same time uncovering a broader set of buyer needs.

This kind of tool—and appropriate training on how to use it—can have a major impact on sellers’ consistently connecting the dots between needs and solutions.

2. Educate buyers with new ideas and perspectives

Of the 42 factors we studied, the No. 1 factor that separated winners from second-place finishers was that sellers educated buyers with new ideas and perspectives. In marketing lingo, we’re talking about content marketing. It’s never too early to start educating buyers via valuable content on your website and blog.

Later in the sales process, companies often leave it up to sellers to figure how to educate buyers on their own. But it’s marketers who are masters of storytelling, crafters of the best PowerPoint slides, and producers of insightful content such as whitepapers, videos, research, articles, webinars, and the rest.

The more Marketing supports sellers to provide and introduce those new ideas and perspectives proactively to buyers, the more sellers will sell and the happier everyone will be.

3. Persuade buyers they will achieve worthwhile results

“Persuaded me we would achieve results” was the No. 3 factor among those that most separated sales winners from second-place finishers. That statement has two important parts: (1) results and (2) some reason buyers believed they could achieve them.

This is truly an area in which Marketing can shine by producing… Case studies that demonstrate how results were achieved with clients Testimonials—text and video—featuring buyers and their experiences and results Research and trend data to support that the new idea, whatever it is, is the wave of the future, and that those companies employing said strategy will succeed in the new business environment Presentation decks to help sellers explain new ideas and showcase the return-on-investment case

These kinds of marketing pieces not only help buyers see what results are possible but also build a buyer’s desire to achieve those results.

Brand awareness and perception also play a key role here. The stronger a company’s brand, the more likely buyers will believe that similar results are within their reach.

4. Collaborate with buyers

The No. 2 factor among those that most separated winners from second-place finishers was “collaborated with me.” Marketing is often instrumental in creating platforms for its customer base and market for interacting with the company.

Platforms can be as simple as running online and offline events, or as involved as creating robust online communities. Either way, Marketing can create the perception, and provide the platform, for the company to be collaborative and customer-focused

 

This Blog was originally posted by Marketing Profs

Marketing and the Buying Journey

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In the past, many B2B marketers have focused their efforts primarily on marketing communications and short term – interruptive – lead generation. The orientation and buying journey of customers in the B2B market however has changed dramatically in recent years. Potential customers now make their decisions and compile their shortlists for solutions and vendors, based upon their online experience (websites, blogs, social media, forums….). Typically they will only have contact with sales people after they have already ‘travelled’ along 50-70% of their buying journey.

In a research study, Gartner concluded that IT providers have to rethink their ‘Go-to-Market’ and sales models. “Personal interactions with providers are still the most influential activity in B2B buying decisions“, said Tiffany Bova, Vice President and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “However, buyers do not value their interactions with salespeople as much as they did in the past. As a result, sales teams must adjust processes and skills to learn to guide buyers through their purchase cycle.” During the past few years, the sales organization has lost its control of the sales cycle.

Based upon these developments, it is Marketing that has to change and take the responsibility for helping and guiding the potential customer during his/her buying journey. It is a dramatic change for many organizations, but if performed well, will be a strong driver for leads and additional business.

Key elements to this are identifying and understanding your target market(s). Based upon this you then need to define the so called buying personas (who is/are involved in buying your solution?) and build an understanding of their needs, pain points, challenges and behaviour. The key to future selling starts with sharing your knowledge. Providing your potential customers with relevant content along each step of the buying journey will position you as an expert and thought leader in your particular field. To produce such content is not an easy step and represents a huge (marketing) challenge for many companies, but those companies who don’t start now, will face an uncertain future.

So, the field of marketing has changed. But are marketers able to adapt to this change? In the past many marketers were creative persons, investing lots of time in developing campaigns, copy for brochures, organizing events etc. The new marketer must have a “split personality”. Not only must he/she be creative and able to develop the crucial content that is needed to be found via online channels, the new marketer also needs to combine these alpha skills with beta skills. Analytical skills are necessary to discover and understand trends, knowing when to target leads with the right content and calculating the ROI of marketing activities.

The modern marketer must be creative, data driven, revenue minded and tech savvy!

Of course  this discussion is not new and most business leaders are able to participate in this discussion. But how successful are you in bringing this theory into practice? Do you make the correct use of the new channels and tools? Do you have proper insight in buying personas and customer journeys? Do you know which channel delivers what result? And how do they influence each other? Are you able to select the right tools to support your marketing and sales team? Are you able to successfully implement these tools? If the answer to any of these questions is “no”, how do you see the future of your organization?

Connecting all elements of the marketing and sales process to each other is crucial.  The challenge is to identify the key person(s) within the decision making process and to provide them with relevant and interesting content at the right time using the correct (online) channels.  This in turn will help to move them from being a website visitor to prospect, lead, opportunity and finally to a new customer.

It is crucial  that marketing and sales are closely aligned and work towards common goals. This provides an additional challenge in ensuring that all relevant information captured during the marketing phase is recorded in your CRM system, so the sales team can benefit from the insight and advantage of this rich information, which enables them in successfully converting a lead in to a customer.

This blog is an excerpt of the QBS Marketing Paper. Interested in the full paper? Download the QBS Marketing Paper here.

Interested to find out how we can support your organisation in the area of Marketing and Lead Generation? Contact us here!

Retaining customers in the cloud

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The Microsoft Dynamics channel has been busy for some time now with the transition from the traditional on-premise model to the cloud delivery model. With this, the customer is no longer the owner of the user rights to his licenses, but simply a buyer of a service that gets settled on a subscription basis.

In this new setting, the financial risks shift from the customer to the vendor and the customer has more power. This shift from a capital investment (CapEx) to an operational expense (OpEx) has already had a significant impact on customer loyalty and retention! After all, in a cloud model, it’s a lot easier for a customer to say goodbye to his supplier.

During Microsoft’s WPC 2013, last July, it was remarkable that – of the many hundreds of sessions – only two had customer retention in their titles! Both focused on Microsoft Dynamics, by the way. Winning new customers is apparently far more popular than retaining existing customers. However, if you analyze the business models, you discover that customer retention, or churn management, is one of the most important indicators of profitability.

Let’s start with the definition. Churn can be described as the situation in which an existing customer stopsbuying products and services from a given company.

In the traditional world of on-premise and CapEx, all the risk was for the customer. After all, he had already laidout the majority of the investment beforehand without the certainty that the solution fit. Or even before it could be put into operational use! As the illustration below shows, the on-premise partner receives at least 70% of the turnoverfrom a four-year period in the first year.

Illustration 1 – Investments in the traditional CapEx model

This is quite a different image from the world of subscription models based on OpEx! With a comparable totalinvestment of $2 million over 4 years’ time, the customer spends only 10% of the turnover in the first year! So the pot of gold is no longer available immediately at the start of the project, but should be filled only at the end of the contract term (at least if everything goes well).

With this, the financial risk has clearly shifted to the partner. Certainly if the agreed contract period is (much) shorter than four years. And what if the customer decides not to extend the cooperation and to terminate the contract after 12 months? Then the investments from the pre-sales phase, including the salesperson’s commission, probably haven’t even been “earned back” yet. Let alone that a red cent ever got earned on that project!

 

 

Illustration 2 – Investments in the OpEx cloud model

In the cloud model, the buyer has the opportunity to “taste” extensively before he actually becomes a user. If things taste good, he can then extend this with all sorts of smaller “micro-transactions.”

Customer loyalty, retention and churn management are terms for activities that vendors initiate to prevent churn. Customer retention is the primary driver for profitability in a cloud delivery model. As it turns out, it’s impossible to operate profitably with churn in excess of 35%. In practice, the first six months turn out to be crucially important to a successful, long-lasting relationship.

Retaining customers in the cloud demands for a complete different mindset and approach. Dynamics partners who want to be successful in the near future better start their preparation on time. How far is your company in this process?

Content Marketing

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One of the hottest topics of modern marketing is Content Marketing. CEO’s and CMO’s instruct their teams to create more content and on average companies spend 25% of the marketing budget on content. But what is content marketing really all about?

Content marketing is about creating, curating and distributing valuable (of value to the customer!) content, combined with measuring its impact on awareness, lead generation and customer acquisition. Simply put, it is business relevant communications …

In this sense it is the antidote to “interruption marketing.” Instead of pitching products or services, a content marketer equips buyers with the knowledge to make better-informed decisions. So, it starts with sharing your relevant knowledge with your prospective future customers. Central to content marketing is the belief that if businesses deliver consistent, helpful information to buyers at the right time, then prospects will ultimately reward the company with their purchase and loyalty. And they do!

Content marketing is used by some of the greatest marketing organizations in the world, but also by small businesses around the globe. Why? Because it works. A famous study by research firm Yankelovich found the average person is exposed to about 5,000 ads or offers per day. Buyers have tuned out interruptive marketing, and businesses must respond by reaching prospects in new ways.

Content marketing is one of these new ways.

Businesses that succeed in developing timely, relevant, non-promotional content reach potential buyers both directly and through the most persuasive channel of all: word of mouth. Exceptional content, like remarkable solutions or great customer experiences, induces conversations and incites sharing. Both through word of mouth and through online channels such as blogs and social media.

Effective content marketing requires you to shift thinking from marketer to publisher. This shift consists of four new emphases:

  1. Define a critical group of buyers (buying personas).
  2. Determine what these buyers really need and how they want to receive it.
  3. Deliver that information in a way that maximizes the impact on the company’s goals.
  4. Measure the result and recalibrate.

Content marketing doesn’t end at creation. A thoughtful content distribution strategy is also a prerequisite for success. Some popular ways for distributing content are:

  • Blog
  • eNewsletter
  • White Paper
  • Referent cases and case studies
  • eBook
  • Video
  • Infographics

 

Finally, like great content, also poor content will be noticed by potential buyers and can have a huge impact on your business. Of course this will not be the impact you are looking for.

So, go the content marketing way, but shoot for a professional level!

The new role of Marketing

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In the past many marketers mainly have been busy with marketing communications and short term – interruptive – lead generation. The orientation and buying journey in the B2B market has changed dramatically over the past years.

Customers now orient and decide about their shortlist based upon their online experience (websites, blogs, social media, forums….). Typically they will only have contact with sales people after they have already travelled about 50-70% of their buying journey.

Based upon the above, it is Marketing that has to change and take the responsibility for helping the customer with his buying journey. It is a dramatic change for many organisations, but if performed well, will be a strong driver for leads and additional business.

Key to this are deciding about your target market and knowing your potential customers. Based upon this you need to define the so called buying personas and build understanding of their needs, pains and behavior. Then, future selling starts with sharing your knowledge first. Provide relevant content for each step of the buying journey and potential customers will recognise you as an expert and thought leader. Certainly not an easy step and a marketing journey for many companies, but if you do not start now, your future is one of many uncertainties.

Of course at Quattro Business Solutions we aim to support our partners with their marketing journey. I look forward to discussing this with you and your team.