Overview
contributes to the overall one microsoft strategy and leads the consulting sales account strategy. Leads the consulting account team account-planning preparation, defining consulting sales priorities and collaborating with consulting delivery/account-aligned leads to leverage insight and provide input to overall account plan.
drives for agreement with the account team on customer and partner stakeholder ownership, including consulting-led stakeholder relationships. Demonstrates a deep understanding of a customer’s business and differentiates themselves in complex selling environments by sharing insights, reframing the status quo, and quantifying business impact that motivates customers to take action.
orchestrates the consulting-sales relationship with the core account team, driving for a positive one microsoft customer experience by collaborating closely with colleagues to ensure successful creation, maintenance, and execution of the account plan. Drives the sales cycle from lead qualification through to deal closure, effectively executing pre-sales process requirements (e.g., microsoft customer engagement methodology, or mcem). Drives discussions of deal terms and conditions (e.g., scope, milestones, price) with customer stakeholders, in collaboration with the consulting account team, to ensure agreement and successful deal closure.
qualifications
required/minimum qualifications:
1. bachelor's degree and 9+ years industry sales experience in the commercial or public sector (e.g. Finance, local government) or related work experience.
2. 5+ years consulting solution sales experience.
3. experience with sales in the public sector
4. demostrated expeirence managing large and complex consulting projects.
5. demonstrated experience managing client relationships with large enterprise customers and public sector institutions.
6. demonstrated experience selling cloud-based solutions to enterprise customers and public sector.
additional or preferred qualifications
7. bachelor's degree in business, information technology (it), or related field and 10+ years industry solution or consulting sales experience in the commercial or public sector (e.g. Financial services, local government) or related work or master's degree in business, information technology (it), or related field and 9+ years experience in technology sales experience inthe commercial or public sector (e.g. Finance, local government) or related work or equivalent experience.
8. 8+ years consulting solution sales experience.
responsibilities
strategy and planning
plays leading part in setting the account vision together with the account executive and core account team. Leads consulting of the contributions of the account team and the consulting account team to the account vision and strategic approach. Provides insights, ideas, and recommendations to address immediate and longer-term customer priorities and microsoft objectives. Drives agreement with account team on consulting and partner strategy. Leverages, and coaches others to leverage, appropriate tools, frameworks, and methodologies to develop a deliberate approach to position potential modernization and digital transformation outcomes specific to their industries across 3 horizons which are aligned with customer's priorities. Understands the weaknesses and strengths of competitor solutions and footprints and leverage this knowledge in strategy and planning.
· leads the industry solutions account planning contribution with the wider microsoft customer and partner solutions (mcaps) account team, defines industry solutions sales priorities to leverage insight and influence the overall account plan. Defines strategy for developing industry solutions opportunities that are aligned with the account strategy, leveraging microsoft's strategy and industry solutions catalog go-to-market solution plays. Leverages business outcomes specific to their industries across 3 horizons as a point of view/roadmap for digital transformation. Ensures that industry solutions input is considered during account-team planning sessions, and provides updates per required account-team governance and rhythms. Leverages expert understanding of revenue drivers for other microsoft business segments (e.g., microsoft azure commit to consume (macc) and drives planning appropriately (e.g., cloud-
success metrics, revenue-recognition timelines). Brings new ideas to the team, utilizes and scales existing intellectual property (ip) into the overall account plan. Thinks strategically about account planning for assigned accounts, setting standards and priorities, leveraging industry solutions transformation (ist), industry solutions engineering (ise) and industry solutions strategic partners, engaging internal and external decision makers on long-term business planning, and anticipating needs of assigned accounts to generate cloud growth.
relationship management
owns and maintains in agreement with the core account team customer and partner relationships, influences key decision makers, and leads effective rhythms of connection with customer and partner stakeholders, appropriately leveraging the virtual consulting account team. Builds and maintains relationships with appropriate network of microsoft decision makers and leaders, and successfully leverages them where needed for customer and partner success. Leads overall microsoft-customer relationship with one or more chief executive officer(s).
· plays a leading role, working jointly with account executive, in defining and leading overall customer relationship "rhythms of connections." Leverages insight from consulting account-delivery team to ensure awareness of status of projects in delivery. Ensures execution of regular consulting "rhythms of connections" with customer to seek customer feedback and maintain proactive dialogue on overall consulting value provided, as well as relationship risks and issues. Anticipates issues/risks on customer satisfaction, determines the root cause of problems, removes blockers, and establishes recovery action plan to improve customer's overall experience. Proactively seeks to develop cxo connections between customer and consulting to enable customers to provide feedback directly to microsoft executives and to develop customer/consulting executive relationships.
· drives and leverages for agreement with the core account team, building and strengthening relationships with microsoft partner teams, such as software and customer success teams, (e.g., atu and csam), as well as the pursuit and delivery teams, through regular rhythm of connections. Brings expertise, insights, and perspectives from customer engagement to microsoft business to drive deeper customer engagement. Contributes to and leads the microsoft overall account teams, solution teams, and other partner groups.
accelerate cloud growth
proactively builds and maintains up-to-date knowledge of customer's business priorities, risks and challenges, internal landscape (e.g., organization structure, stakeholders, business performance), industry/sector challenges, regulations,
trends, and futures (e.g., impact of artificial intelligence [ai], sustainability) to meet customer needs and drive customer satisfaction. Proactively connects with internal and external network of industry experts to build industry knowledge and connections. Shares knowledge with virtual team. Presents at industry and/or external events, providing internal and external thought leadership and mentoring. Demonstrates expertise and insight, leveraging social media platforms appropriately (e.g., via press releases, blogs, and presence in the public eye). Utilizes public outlet feeds to direct followers to content and recognized as an authoritative source and subject matter expert.
· leverages microsoft consulting go-to-market scenarios to drive intentional customer conversations about microsoft cloud adoption. Provides feedback on required go-to-market scenarios based on local market requirements and opportunities. Articulates return on investment (roi) to drive business-case discussions about microsoft azure cloud adoption. Educates cxo-level executives and decision makers on microsoft's value proposition aligned to the customer’s priorities and maturity, appropriately differentiating competitor solutions. Proactively builds relationships with cxo across the customer's organization to educate potential future stakeholders on microsoft's value proposition and create new connections for joint customer and microsoft cloud opportunity.
· identifies, qualifies, leads, manages, and closes strategic industry cloud opportunities on prioritized accounts aligned to documented customer business value and outcomes. Has in-depth knowledge of advanced cloud solutions and cross-check with the solutions of key competitors. Drives advanced workloads and usage. Accelerate microsoft cloud differentiation (e.g., security, ai) against competitors and win more market share. Increase customer business value with advanced technology (e.g., ai) and drive consumption.
account team orchestration
orchestrates the consulting-sales relationship with the core account team, working closely with enterprise colleagues to ensure successful creation, maintenance, and execution of the account plan, and a positive one microsoft customer experience. Orchestrates across the account team, customer success team, service team, and the industry solutions account team, effectively influencing and collaborating with account-aligned and solutions-aligned, pursuit and delivery colleagues to bring the best resources to ensure customer success and customer satisfaction. Coordinates activities across these partner teams and
with the customer to successfully close deals. Follows and champions the one microsoft methodology (e.g., the common sales and delivery methodology for microsoft). Coaches others, sharing insights, good practices, and novel methods. Carries out lessons learned activities. Engages/influences people (even those outside of one's scope of accountability) and leverages resources within microsoft with thoughtful leadership.
deal excellence
leverages customer connections and the account team's insight to confirm budget, authority, need and timeline (bant) information to determine progression or lack thereof of a lead to become a consulting opportunity and throughout the microsoft sales process. Leverages trusted customer stakeholder relationships to expand customer thinking. Probes and challenges customer appropriately to determine quality of customer service's bant. Secures pre-sales investment to secure appropriate consulting resources needed to shape and scope the opportunity into a compelling customer proposition. Focuses on opportunities that are in alignment with organizational strategy, prioritizing opportunities based on highest potential for impact/consumption.
· gains active contribution from others in building close plans for all qualified opportunities, initially (at qualified stage) comprising the core budget, authority, need and timeline (bant) information and commercial strategy for the deal, and progressing to include detailed customer procurement process, risks, and issues. Updates the close plan as deal progresses through each sales stage. Obtains consensus and participation from entire account team to the close plan. Executes, updates, and closes on customer-centric actions that achieve alignment between microsoft and customers. Builds and shares plans with the customer. Secures microsoft virtual consulting account team and customer stakeholder buy in to schedule of activities for successful closure of the deal. Anticipates potential risks and blockers and takes proactive action to mitigate to maintain deal velocity. Works with internal key stakeholders and approvers to ensure margin targets, consumption plans, and other key metrics are considered/met.
· ensures all applicable leads and qualified opportunities are linked to customer priorities in the account plan. Maintains accurate sales stage, forecast recommendation (e.g., committed, committed at risk) and due dates in required systems of record (e.g., microsoft sales experience [msx]), in alignment with close plan. Consistently delivers on committed forecast recommendations. Coaches
peers by providing guidance and tips on good practice for ensuring accuracy in deal commitment forecasting. Uses required tooling to report out the state of the business.
· drives discussions of terms and conditions (e.g., scope, milestones, price) with executive-level customer stakeholders (e.g., cfo, ceo, elected officials, board level) for opportunities in collaboration with the entire account team and customer through multiple iterations to ensure agreement. Maintains productive working relationships with those involved in negotiation, persuading others, and driving a positive atmosphere during difficult objections and discussions. Successfully leverages recognized techniques for handling difficult questions, overcoming objections, and respectfully challenging. Builds and executes negotiation activities into the close plan for the opportunity, based on guidance from broader team (e.g., business operations).
· maintains relationship with the customer to secure formal signing of contract and oversees the processing of that, including financial purchased orders. Drives smooth transition of sales-led accountabilities to delivery-led accountabilities. Support the delivery aspects with customers and delivery teams, and drives future opportunities. Once contract is signed and the consulting engagement is in delivery stage, supports tracking the industry solution delivery (isd) direct azure impact (aligned with the consumption plan). Meets or exceeds personal revenue-based incentive (rbi) targets and makes valuable contribution within team and beyond for broader impact. Contributes to win/loss reviews with sales and pursuit management, champions lessons learned activities to drive improvements and efficiency for customers and peers. Identifies repeatable intellectual property that could be replicated and sold to other customers, increasing the sales team's ability to scale the solution and grow market share.
other · embody our culture and values
benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with microsoft and the country where you work.industry leading healthcareeducational resourcesdiscounts on products and servicessavings and investmentsmaternity and paternity leavegenerous time awaygiving programsopportunities to network and connect