1. Using the SMB Sales Guide
Small and Medium Business Sales Guide
Windows 8: Built for business, compatible with life.
Using the SMB Sales Guide
With Microsoft’s epic Windows 8 Launch, amazing new device form factors, and a huge PR wave, this guide was created to help cross-sell and up-sell small and medium businesses of 25 employees and up. It is designed to be simple, not comprehensive, highlighting key features important to small business, for what may be brief sales engagements often by phone. Unlike individual product sales guides, which contain deep feature content, this sales motion pitches 3 “business packages” with differentiated benefits for SMBs.
The guide is organized into 6 sections corresponding to a typical sales process (see black bars on left):
1) Capture Customer Interest
Engage your customer or transition from another conversation by exploring their business needs: Amazing Devices, Data Protection, Mobility, Collaboration, Work/Life Balance, Hassle-Free Technology.
An open-ended question on each topic is suggested to help learn more about the Customer’s business and gauge their pain points and opportunities.
Where a Customer engages, highlight a capability or two from the list, to help your Customer “Imagine your business with …”. Be creative!
The objective is not to go through the entire list, but to hook Customer desire to learn about the new capabilities available in the following 3 business packages.
2) Explain the 3 Packages
Next, describe the 3 business packages and promos to help Customers choose which is right for them.
When presented with a “Good, Better, Best” choice, most customers will gravitate to the middle (“Better”) choice.
The “Business Advantage” package is our strongest value proposition, with strong features and price promotions.
Say each package name, and the type of business it is designed for, to the customer.
The goal is to get customers to self-select one of the top two packages, based on how they perceive themselves.
Don’t get stuck detailing the different product versions in each package. Highlight them and move on to describe the exciting launch promotions with each.
Emphasize the promo discount percentage (available for a limited time) to gain interest.
Delay pricing discussions until “How to Buy” on page 4.
Each of the packages are color coded, (gray, yellow, and blue backgrounds). The colors are used throughout this guide to indicate which benefits, features, promos, and licensing/pricing, go with each package.
“Let me tell you what benefits you get with each package …” - ❾ Benefits
The table at the bottom of the page helps clarify the benefits Customers receive with each package and self-select their package of choice.
Each package adds-on benefits to the prior one, clarifying the “Good, Better, Best” choice model.
Use the customers reaction to these 9 benefits (together with what you learned of their business needs above to decide where to focus your solution selling (with guidance on pages 2 and 3).

2. Small and Medium Business Sales Guide
Using the SMB Sales Guide (Continued)
Small and Medium Business Sales Guide
Windows 8: Built for business, compatible with life.
3) Sell the Solution
Each of the ❾ numbered benefits in the page 1 table correspond to a numbered solution selling section on page 2 or 3 (organized and color coded by package).
These pages provide more depth in Customer “Pain”, specific “Solution” features, and “Outcomes” - with evidence or case studies on the benefits achieved.
Select only a couple of these benefits that resonate with the customer, and then start a solution sale targeting one of the three packages tied to those benefits.
Most benefits address a business need through multiple features across several products in the solution package. For example “❷ Protect sensitive company data on your devices” addresses data theft (with Windows BitLocker), data corruption (with malware protection), data backup (with SkyDrive), and accidental deletion (with Recovery of prior document versions in Office).
Use this sales engagement discussion to go beyond listing features, and imaginatively explore how these capabilities could change your customer’s business.
Anchor the indispensable value these product packages will provide to the Customer’s business for years to come, establishing the value before discussing licensing and pricing on page 4.
The case studies referenced (and many more) are available on-line at (Search on company name)
4) Up-Sell to Cloud
Continue the solution selling (Pain, Solution, Outcomes) from page 2 with the Cloud benefits ❼❽❾ of the Enterprise Class business package on page 3.
Based on Customer interest, determine if you should up-sell to the Enterprise Class cloud package.
With the ease of IT management through the cloud, device independence, and payment flexibility, this cloud solution may be the easiest way to jump ahead for a company with limited in-house capabilities and/or capital.
Companies with mobile or remote employees will particularly benefit from this package
5) Address Any Objections
If the sales conversation goes off-track, use the purple objection handling table to address the issue, then re-engage where you were in the sales process.
Do not cover these if the customer has not raised one of these objections.
Do not go to page 4 until your customer is bought into the value, and has identified a preferred product package.
6) How to Buy + Example Pricing
Now that your customer knows which package they want, page 4 can help clarify the type of licensing which best fits their needs. While individual products/versions/editions are available separately, try to sell as a package.
The table identifies SMB license options for each package, and outlines the “Licensing Benefits” that differentiate each type of license. Note: This table does not replace comprehensive, detailed licensing documentation.
The bottom of the table illustrates how the current promotions impact “typical” pricing of package elements. This is not meant to provide a quote. Quoting would typically be handed off to a trained licensing specialist, to tailor to the individual customer situation.
These prices are to “soft close” the package value, approximate the cost, (including promo savings), and educate on the value of licensing elements (including Volume Licensing and Software Assurance). The table shows the flexibility in different ways of buying to meet customer preference
Mention that company-wide adoption provides an additional 31% discount, and company-wide adoption of the full platform saves another 15%.
Limited time promotions offer steep discounts to standard estimated prices (ERP) for an exceptional upgrade that will enable dramatic Business Advantage.
Close by getting commitment on your Customer’s preferred package choice and hand-off to a licensing specialist.