Convergence is a great opportunity to have face to face, in-depth conversations with people who care about Dynamics products and ISV solutions. Sometimes you think you already understand the pressing issues, the business climate, and the market trends that people are thinking about. Other times you get a bit of a surprise.
One such surprise came during a conversation with a sales director at an established ISV that had only recently entered one of the most competitive horizontals for Microsoft Dynamics. We were discussing their outlook on the Dynamics market and I asked how they differentiate their product from their competitors. To my surprise, they had no response. “To tell you the truth, we don’t really focus on that,” he told me.
I was shocked, to put it mildly. How does a company compete in a crowded market space without a solid competitive story to tell? Everyone knows there is more than one way to win new business, but without some kind of strategic differentiation, you’re software sales strategy is adrift. As I see it, this attitude also explains some of the other…shortcomings…that Dynamics ISVs often exhibit. It is not much of a leap to understand why many ISVs don’t deliver enough leads to their reseller partners, or why they don’t invest enough effort in establishing their voice as thought leaders.
Is competitive strategy lacking more generally for Dynamics ISVs? What does this do to the rest of the sales and marketing strategy?
