5 sales techniques to convince customers in the CEE market to move to Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management

Microsoft‘s approach to enterprise ERP has become clear in recent years: Dynamics partners should move their AX customers to the newest versions of Dynamics 365 Finance & Supply Chain Management. This move is not only good for your customers, it is also good for you as a Dynamics partner. The value in migrating legacy ERP customers is especially true today with the enormous growth in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) market.

In this article, we’re going to dive deep into how Dynamics partners in the CEE market can invest to align with Microsoft's priorities and get the most out of the possibilities the market has to offer. We have compiled a list of sales techniques and related practices and put them into three major categories:

• Support from the local Microsoft team
• Tips & hints from successful Dynamics partners in the CEE market
• Special funds available for Dynamics partners

Utilize the Microsoft team by following their guidance

Microsoft wants all partners to closely follow their sales methodology, and we would like to emphasize several points for Dynamics partners who are willing to take this approach:

• You don’t need to invent anything new as the best practices, go-to-market resources and sales collateral (from co-branded to solution-specific) are already prepared and coming from Microsoft headquarters. They adjust everything to fit the local scenarios, so you can just follow what Microsoft proposes. If more detailed guidance is needed, Microsoft is there to help you. Besides, you will be surprised how much ready-to-use content is available for you to utilize already.
• Be aware that there aren’t many big D365 F&SCM implementations in the CEE. Therefore, most partners only get one chance to prove their place in the market. The whole selling approach must be polished, and there is no room for error during implementations or deployments. This is Microsoft‘s mission statement and it’s why they provide you with a best practice approach to follow.
• Microsoft is investing in the CEE region by building data centers here, and that speaks to their optimism, as they wouldn’t do so if they weren’t expecting revenue to follow. Microsoft is looking at the CEE as an investment, which is a slightly different from just three years ago, and Dynamics partner should see this change a signal to take action.

Dynamics partners' most effective tactics for selling new implementations

Our team at 1ClickFactory works with a broad set of Dynamics partners from CEE and other regions, and their experiences have led us to compile a list of sales techniques and other recommendations that help to close Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management deals more often and more effectively.

1. Restructure the sales process

Technical presale becomes more and more important in selling the value to the customer. Therefore, investing more in building the technical and consulting competencies of salespeople will help to align the expectations of both customers and implementation teams already in the sales phase of the project. Account managers, who keep a close connection with the customer, are much more capable of uncovering the true needs and pain points of customers. And they can also make better assessments about the best relationship-building activities that should be applied to each customer. Creating a common strategy for developing together with your customers is a must, as they will be able to benefit from your technical competence, merged with your understanding of their business. This approach, coupled with your technical and implementation capabilities, will bring the highest value to your customers.

2. Become a trusted adviser