Ultimate Guide to Partnering®

269 – Stop Guessing, Start Winning: How to Master Microsoft Co-Sell with the FAME Framework


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with Leigh Ann Campbell, Ultimate Partner Community Member

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Welcome back to the Ultimate Guide to Partnering® Podcast.

In this insightful episode of The Ultimate Guide to Partnering, host Vince Menzione welcomes Leigh Ann Campbell, CEO of Rev Alliances and a seasoned expert in building successful Microsoft partnerships. Leigh Ann shares her remarkable journey, including her pivotal role in transforming Quest into Microsoft’s number one co-sell partner worldwide. They delve into the critical elements of effective partnering, introducing Leigh Ann’s powerful “FAME” framework: Focus, Audience, Message, and Execution (now “E-squared” with Enablement).

The conversation uncovers practical strategies for navigating the complexities of the Microsoft ecosystem, emphasizing the importance of sales enablement for your own team, understanding Microsoft’s internal scorecards, and aligning partnership goals with your CRO’s revenue objectives. Leigh Ann provides valuable advice on focusing your approach, crafting the right message for the right Microsoft audience, and executing with precision. She also shares her vision for the future of Rev Alliances, including the exciting integration of AI to scale her proven methodologies and help even more partners achieve their greatest results.

Key Takeaways:

  • Sales enablement for your own sales team is crucial for scaling your Microsoft partnership beyond the alliance team.
  • Understanding the tectonic shifts in customer buying behavior is essential for rethinking partnership models.
  • Data quality and a shared purpose between your company and Microsoft are fundamental for a strong partnership.
  • Leigh Ann Campbell’s FAME framework (Focus, Audience, Message, Execution/Enablement) provides a practical roadmap for partnership success.
  • It’s vital to understand Microsoft sellers’ scorecards and how they are measured to align your efforts.
  • Engaging your CRO and aligning partnership KPIs with sales goals is critical for company-wide buy-in and success.
  • Focusing your efforts on a specific area of success within Microsoft and then expanding is more effective than trying to do everything at once.
  • Building trust and making it easy to work with your company are key to successful engagement with Microsoft sellers.
  • Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insider knowledge from industry leaders shaping tomorrow’s digital world. Tune in now for an inspiring conversation that could redefine your business strategy!

    Keywords:

    Microsoft partnership, co-sell, sales enablement, partner program, ISV, SI, Rev Alliances, Leigh Ann Campbell, Vince Menzione, Ultimate Guide to Partnering, FAME framework, focus, audience, message, execution, enablement, Microsoft sellers, channel partners, partner strategy, alliance management, tech partnerships, B2B partnerships, software partnerships, cloud partnerships, Azure, Microsoft Marketplace, partner center, co-selling with Microsoft, achieving partner success, partner growth, revenue generation, pipeline development, Microsoft ecosystem, navigating Microsoft, partner of the year, product integration, AI in partnerships

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    Leigh Ann Campbell Audio Episode

    [00:00:00] Leigh Ann Campbell: Sales enablement, uh, not of Microsoft Sellers. This is your sellers. Ah, because it doesn’t, it doesn’t do you any good if the only group within your company who understands Microsoft are the, is the alliance team, right? Because that doesn’t scale. You need your sales people out there doing co-sell with their peers at Microsoft.

    [00:00:23] Vince Menzione: We believe this time is like no other. We believe we refer to these as the tectonic shifts,

    [00:00:28] Intro: all the hyperscalers in the world, if you add them all together, managed services will be one and a half times larger

    [00:00:34] Vince Menzione: because it is the customer buying behavior that has created the need for all of us to rethink our models

    [00:00:41] Intro: until we have data quality, the effectiveness of AI cannot be realized, and effectiveness of the partnerships cannot be realized.

    [00:00:47] Intro: Can you figure out first, what your purpose is and how Microsoft can support your purpose and how you can support Microsoft purpose? Now we have a partnership. It’s the ultimate partnership.

    [00:01:00] Vince Menzione: Welcome to, or welcome back to the Ultimate Guide to Partnering. I’m Vince Menzi, own your host, and my mission is to help leaders like you.

    [00:01:08] Vince Menzione: Achieve your greatest results through successful partnering. And today I have for you a leader who’s helped organizations drive their greatest results as Pinnacle Partners working with Microsoft. I. Leanne Campbell was a leader that led one of the largest ISVs to the top partner status working with Microsoft.

    [00:01:26] Vince Menzione: And today she leads her own company as CEO of Rev Alliances, and I’m privileged to have her join us today here in Boca Raton. Leanne,

    [00:01:35] Leigh Ann Campbell: welcome to Boca. Thank you so much for having me.

    [00:01:37] Vince Menzione: I’m excited to have you. You know, you and I have known each other for several years. Yep. And when I first met you, you were leading one of the largest partnerships working with Microsoft.

    [00:01:46] Vince Menzione: I thought we’d spent some time talking about your career journey and how you got to this point in your career.

    [00:01:51] Leigh Ann Campbell: Absolutely. So I was born and raised in Silicon Valley, so uh, just kind of worked out that tech was where I wanted to be and where I landed. So I have spent over 25 years. Wow. You’re too young to be 25.

    [00:02:06] Leigh Ann Campbell: You started 10 years

    [00:02:08] Vince Menzione: old, I’m sure. Yes.

    [00:02:09] Leigh Ann Campbell: Uh, working in all types of companies within Silicon Valley. Right. So I’ve done the startup thing, I’ve done the.com thing, like we’ve talked about. Yes. And you know, later in my career I had a great opportunity to lead sales and alliances for companies like PeopleSoft and HPE.

    [00:02:26] Leigh Ann Campbell: So Very cool. I feel like I’ve seen it all. I bet you

    [00:02:30] Vince Menzione: have. So tell us about, ’cause the journey to Quest and. My introduction to you was when you were actually leading the alliance strategy for Quest. Mm-hmm. And at that point had taken the organization to the pinnacle working with Microsoft. And I thought maybe you could take us through what that was like, what you, uh, found when you got there, and then how you led the organization into that journey.

    [00:02:52] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah, thank you. So when I got there, quest had already been around for quite some time. I think they were founded in the late eighties, early nineties. Right. So their claim to fame with Microsoft was their ability to migrate Office 365. Right. So fast forward to when I joined in 2019 ish, they were somewhat struggling to figure out the better together story now that Microsoft had moved on to cloud.

    [00:03:20] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yep. Right. So my team and I had the opportunity to kind of rebuild that partnership and so we really started. Looking at what mattered to Microsoft, what mattered to Quest, and figure out how we can get best of both worlds. And so, gosh, four years later, we built Quest into the number one co-sell partner worldwide.

    [00:03:42] Vince Menzione: Wow. That was amazing. And I knew Quest from back in my Microsoft days. And they had gone through several lights, I would say.

    [00:03:49] Intro: Yep.

    [00:03:49] Vince Menzione: They were a private company. Then they became part of Dell. Mm-hmm. And they became private again, or I don’t remember the, the, the path exactly. You came, when you came there, they really weren’t relevant in the Microsoft ecosystem.

    [00:04:02] Vince Menzione: So how did you get them there? Like was there any, any learnings or We’re gonna talk a little bit more about what you do today with partners. Yeah. Is there any specific learnings from that experience that you’ve moved forward with?

    [00:04:11] Leigh Ann Campbell: Oh my gosh, so many. Uh, I would say overall the value that Quest brought to the table was they really had a wide variety of solutions to help customers, right?

    [00:04:22] Leigh Ann Campbell: So. They touched all areas of Microsoft except for dynamics. So the message that we were bringing to the Microsoft sellers were, we can do it all. Like just pick, we’ve got 25 solutions in the marketplace. Yeah. And 25 co-sell approved products. Just pick ’cause we can be your one-stop shop. And I thought, wow, they’re gonna be banging down my door.

    [00:04:44] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yep. For all these opportunities, when in reality nobody needs everything. They have a very specific need. Right? And so we went through several years of kind of rebuilding our messaging to make it be more focused to figure out who within Microsoft would. Care about that. Get compensated on it. Right. And so that we could build a joint go to market strategy.

    [00:05:06] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Very cool.

    [00:05:07] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah.

    [00:05:07] Vince Menzione: And then you left to go on your own and you started Rev Alliances. Yeah. So tell us a little bit more about Rev Alliances.

    [00:05:12] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah, so Rev Alliances really came out after we made it to the top with Microsoft as their number one partner for co-sell. We had won partner of the year rewards, right?

    [00:05:23] Leigh Ann Campbell: I felt like, wow, we’ve, we’ve really done this. I had a lot of friends and colleagues back in Silicon Valley who were saying, Hey, what were your best practices? What did you do? Could you help me? And I thought, wow, this feels like the logical next step. So, so I made that move and have been helping partners for about two years now.

    [00:05:43] Vince Menzione: Very cool. And you work with both ISVs, independent software vendors, which by the way, we’re now calling software companies. After my conversation with Jason Gravy, they’re redefining the category. Then you also work with SI organizations. Yep. Can you elaborate on how you’re helping these companies achieve more?

    [00:06:00] Leigh Ann Campbell: Absolutely. So my learnings from my time at Quest as well as all the other organizations I’ve had the chance to work with, I developed a methodology called Fame, fame, fame. Right. And it’s, it’s a, it’s a great song too, but it is a great song. I will, I will not sing it for you. Nor will I, um, and fame is based on what I saw, you know, at my time with Quest.

    [00:06:24] Leigh Ann Campbell: But what I’ve also seen across all size organizations, everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame. Yes. Whether it’s your CEO being on stage with Satya Nadella, or your sales executives actually engaging with their peers at a large partner like Microsoft to drive sales, or your salespeople getting. If their phone calls returned.

    [00:06:45] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. From sellers wanting to drive business together. Right. It’s difficult. Yeah. So everyone wants that 15 minutes or hopefully more with your partner. And so at my time with Quest, I figured out how to really simplify this whole process of how do you build a partnership and get it to market and drive revenue.

    [00:07:03] Leigh Ann Campbell: Pipeline faster. And so that’s, that’s really what FAME is. And Okay. I wanna know, you’re gonna have to tease this out for me. I will. I would love to. There’s an acronym that stands for something. Yes. So FAME stands for focus, audience Message and Execution. Okay. And so you drill down into each one. But I think focus is, is obviously Yeah.

    [00:07:25] Leigh Ann Campbell: A hard place to start. ’cause again, if people think I can do it all or they think. I’m a global company, so I wanna touch every continent with my solution. My recommendation is start small. Build your brand with, you know, that sales play or that sales audience or that industry or that location. Okay. And then expand from there.

    [00:07:48] Leigh Ann Campbell: Got it.

    [00:07:48] Vince Menzione: And,

    [00:07:48] Leigh Ann Campbell: and that’s what

    [00:07:49] Vince Menzione: we had to do. The focus means different things to me. Yeah. Sometimes it’s clarity, like yeah, this is clarity. Like what is the specific thing you wanna go achieve? Yeah. And then I always talk about maniacal focus. Mm-hmm. Which is another execution level of focus, right. Where just the attention to detail mm-hmm.

    [00:08:04] Vince Menzione: On the execution. But what you’re saying here is. You wanna take and focus in an area where you believe intuitively you can be very successful land That first is what you understand it. Yes. And then build from there

    [00:08:16] Leigh Ann Campbell: ab. Absolutely. Or, or start where somewhere where you already are successful. Right.

    [00:08:21] Leigh Ann Campbell: Because it’s, it’s easy to do the win wires. It’s easy to share your success and get people excited about working with you when you’ve already got the demonstrated success.

    [00:08:30] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Yeah. And then what do you, when you’re working with an organization, how do you help ’em get to that point on focus?

    [00:08:36] Leigh Ann Campbell: You know, I dive deep into their area of expertise.

    [00:08:41] Leigh Ann Campbell: We look a lot at, at sales, past sales to see, you know, is there an area, is there an industry where you have strength? Um, and we kind of start with that as well as their product focus, obviously, because Microsoft has individual product groups as well. Right? And so if your product drives a ton of Azure.

    [00:09:01] Leigh Ann Campbell: Let’s go focus with on my next one, which is audience. Let’s go focus your message on the Azure audience, the Azure sellers at Microsoft. So that’s step two is the audience message. Message is, is tricky. You would think it, you know, customers, my partners think we’ve got a whole marketing department, we’ve got great messaging.

    [00:09:23] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yes. But is your messaging to your end customer or is it to a Microsoft seller? Ah, to really understand your better together story

    [00:09:30] Vince Menzione: and what should it be?

    [00:09:31] Leigh Ann Campbell: It should be your better together story. Better, right? It should be, here’s how I can help the customer and here’s how I can help you, how I can help you land and expand in your business, you know, with the partner.

    [00:09:44] Leigh Ann Campbell: Let’s go back to audience

    [00:09:45] Vince Menzione: for a second. Yep. Um, because I, I remember a slide that you’ve shared when we’ve done presentations together and, uh, it’s, it’s, it’s very interesting ’cause I think a lot of people don’t recognize this piece. In that it’s not one person at Microsoft. Right, right. And that’s where you try to get to with the, with the audience component, if I’m not mistaken.

    [00:10:03] Vince Menzione: Right? Absolutely. Um, and that, I think that’s where I think a lot of partnerships fail in that I’ve got a relationship with somebody and that’s where I’m gonna be successful. Something more about how you help them kind of navigate Microsoft.

    [00:10:16] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a tough one. Yeah. I mean, everyone knows Microsoft is one of the largest companies in the world and it’s, it’s really complicated to navigate.

    [00:10:25] Leigh Ann Campbell: And you know, my first question is always, what’s your scorecard? You know, how are you measured? What does success look like for you as a seller at Microsoft? Because once I understand that, then I can figure out, are you the right person to be working with on this opportunity or not? And I can’t tell you how many times people skip that question.

    [00:10:45] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yes. And they think, oh, I’ve got a resource. I’ve got somebody who I can talk to at Microsoft, unfortunately, then will get paid on what you’re, you know. Focused on, yeah. Makes it hard.

    [00:10:56] Vince Menzione: And then also the account executive is not necessarily the only seat at the table with the customer. Absolutely. In fact, in many cases they’re the least frequent seat at the table and there’s a whole team.

    [00:11:07] Vince Menzione: They’re like the quarterback. Right. And there’s an entire team. There’s a front line and there’s, you know, there’s the whole team is there. Yes. Supporting them. So how do you help them with that component? ’cause that’s also the, a very complex Yep. I think it’s hard for. Other organizations, ISVs and sis alike.

    [00:11:22] Vince Menzione: Yep. To figure out that PO component of it,

    [00:11:25] Leigh Ann Campbell: the ae. Everyone thinks the account executive, I just need to get to the account executive, and they’re at that 50,000 foot level, like you said, the quarterback to make sure that their customer needs are being met from a bunch of different specialists. Right. And so when I was at Quest.

    [00:11:42] Leigh Ann Campbell: We saw, I mean, we sold into large enterprises who had 15 to 20 different sellers. Yeah. Specialists. Across the board. You have Azure specialist, a modern work specialist. The time you had a data and AI specialist. Right. Business applications. Business applica part of the business. Yes. Yes. And so that’s part of the exercise with focus at the very beginning, right.

    [00:12:04] Leigh Ann Campbell: Is okay, so let’s figure out where your product fits within Microsoft, and then we can dive deep into the right audience and then the connection. Magically happens and people wanna talk to you because you’re speaking their language.

    [00:12:16] Vince Menzione: So let’s talk about the E in fame.

    [00:12:18] Leigh Ann Campbell: Okay. E stands, I, I’ve changed it up a bit now.

    [00:12:22] Leigh Ann Campbell: It’s E squared. E squared. E squared, yes.

    [00:12:24] Vince Menzione: So it’s fame square,

    [00:12:26] Leigh Ann Campbell: sort of. Yes. The e, uh, stands for enablement. Okay. Sales enablement. Uh, not of Microsoft Sellers. This is your sellers. Ah, because it doesn’t. It doesn’t do you any good if the only group within your company who understands Microsoft are the, is the Alliance team, right?

    [00:12:45] Leigh Ann Campbell: Because that doesn’t scale. You need your salespeople out there doing co-sell with their peers at Microsoft. And so enablement is really teaching your sellers how to speak Microsoft, Microsoft 1 0 1. How are they organized? How to prepare for a account planning session with a rep. Uh. The hardest part is helping them understand, to bring an ask with them.

    [00:13:10] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yes. You’d be surprised how many reps, you know, they get in a room and then the Microsoft seller says, what can I do to help? And they’re like, nothing. I, I’m good. It’s, it’s, no, you need to bring an ask. And so that’s so, so enablement. And then the second part is execution. Okay. And so back to your maniacal focus.

    [00:13:28] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. That’s here on execution. It’s showing up every day, prepared to have those conversations With Microsoft, it’s. Partner center. Right. There’s a lot being talked about with partner center and Marketplace and it’s a lot. I mean, it’s not for the faint of heart. For

    [00:13:43] Vince Menzione: sure. Let’s peel back on this a little bit because we’ve both been in the room with these partners.

    [00:13:49] Vince Menzione: Uh, I went back inside to an ISB for two years. Mm-hmm. And I got to see how difficult it was to get people to understand how to work with Microsoft.

    [00:13:56] Leigh Ann Campbell: Right.

    [00:13:57] Vince Menzione: So what do you do there? I know you, I know you had to do it at Quest and now you’ve done it with other organizations, alliances. It is often that the sales team just doesn’t understand, right.

    [00:14:07] Vince Menzione: Right. What, what their role is here mm-hmm. And their expectations. So I want to, I want to kind of peel back a little bit on the expectation piece.

    [00:14:15] Leigh Ann Campbell: I think that’s a really good point In my experience, uh, your fastest path to success with your Microsoft partnership is having buy-in from your CRO. Yeah. The CRO if, if you can align.

    [00:14:29] Leigh Ann Campbell: Your KPIs or your goals and objectives to your CROs sales goals. He or she will be your best friend and your biggest advocate and really drive that message along with you to their sellers, right? Versus if you’re the alliance team saying, here’s something else you need to do and remember, and another group of people I’m gonna help you build trust with.

    [00:14:52] Leigh Ann Campbell: That’s, that’s a tough road, right? But if it starts with you and the CRO, uh, you know. You’re gonna be successful.

    [00:14:59] Vince Menzione: So how do you set expectations accordingly with the CRO? Because some of them just don’t get it.

    [00:15:05] Leigh Ann Campbell: Uh, well, you have to speak their language. Yeah. Which is sales, pipeline and revenue. Yeah. So you start with that, right?

    [00:15:10] Leigh Ann Campbell: You talk about Microsoft being, you know, in 99% of every account you’re ccro is gonna want to break into. I would start there. I would talk about Microsoft’s ability to influence. Opportunities, which I think it’s overlooked a lot, right? Yes. CROs are saying, I want net new opportunities. Net new logos and pipeline.

    [00:15:32] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yes, that’s all good, that’s all good. But Microsoft can actually help influence an opportunity for you in a couple different ways. One would be, uh, you know, one-to-one seller prep for an opportunity you could be talking about. You know, they could help you understand the procurement process and some challenges you might face and really just help you.

    [00:15:54] Leigh Ann Campbell: What other partners are in there that you should be working with, things like that, that you might not know. Right. That’s right. They have situational awareness of the whole customer.

    [00:16:00] Vince Menzione: Absolutely. From there, the seven Cs at the table we like to talk about.

    [00:16:03] Leigh Ann Campbell: Exactly. Right. So I think you mentioned setting expectations.

    [00:16:07] Leigh Ann Campbell: I think if you work with your CRO and help them understand the value that Microsoft can actually bring, which is again, its influence, it’s potentially down the road, net new opportunities, but Right. You have to crawl before you walk or run. Right.

    [00:16:22] Vince Menzione: I love that piece. And then also, um, you were talking about like some of the thing ways that they help, I mean, I’ve actually seen an account executive go into an account where the customer wanted to go in a different direction and they’ve, they’ve leaned the customer into your direction.

    [00:16:38] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. Because they felt like you were the better solution if you built these relationships. Right. You talk.

    [00:16:42] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. And it’s all about building trust. And the, the fastest way to do that with a Microsoft seller is to, a, make it easy. Right. Be a partner that’s easy to work with, um, be able to speak their language.

    [00:16:56] Leigh Ann Campbell: Again, that’s why the enablement piece is so important for the seller. Um, and execute and follow through.

    [00:17:02] Vince Menzione: You talked about scorecard and I think that’s an overlooked area as well because, uh, partners show up and they’re like, I got the best solution. I’ve got the most technologically, uh, efficient people.

    [00:17:12] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. Um, the best price. Like they come in with, especially sis do this, I remember with some of the big sis that I worked with. They just didn’t understand that scorecard component. Mm-hmm. With the, the win Right. For the Microsoft side. Right. Maybe we could spend a few moments on that with us.

    [00:17:26] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. So all this, we talked about the complexity of the Microsoft sales organization, and so each team, as you know, has a different scorecard.

    [00:17:35] Leigh Ann Campbell: They’re measured on different, different things right within the account, and so being able to understand that and align yourself. Uh, to that scorecard is ultimately gonna help be a win-win for you and the Microsoft rep. Uh, but it’s also helpful to know if you’re not aligned, right? Because then you’re not wasting your time.

    [00:17:54] Vince Menzione: So, let’s talk about some of your clients and the work that you’ve been doing at Rev Alliances. How about an example for our viewers and listeners today of how you’ve helped an organization get to that next level? I like to talk about achieving your greatest results. Yeah, because it’s, it’s, it’s measurably different for every organization to say.

    [00:18:12] Vince Menzione: Growth of 30% or we’re gonna drive X number of dollars in net new revenue and so on. Right. Give us an example of some of the work that you’ve done.

    [00:18:20] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah, so I, one that comes to mind is a very large enterprise data company. Um, and this is slightly different than what we’ve been talking about with sales, where they were, they had a co-sell rhythm with Microsoft, and, and it was going relatively well.

    [00:18:36] Leigh Ann Campbell: But what they really wanted was some deeper product integration. That’s really where they felt like that was the next step for them. Interesting. And while they had contacts, they were just struggling to get anything to move forward. Right. And so they brought me in. We kind of revisited fame with them and you know, I think we spent the most time on focus because their data platform really plugged into a lot of different areas within Microsoft.

    [00:19:01] Leigh Ann Campbell: So we said, let’s hone the focus Right on. What Microsoft really is driving right now, and let’s reach out to the team and try to drive that message together. So, so we worked on that. We did quite a bit of product integration. We also continued to show support through co-sell. There was a, obviously a ton of co-sell engagement, marketplace, all of that.

    [00:19:25] Leigh Ann Campbell: But at the end of about six months, we had this partner on stage with Microsoft at Ignite. Announcing their new product integration.

    [00:19:35] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Yeah. And you’re outta work with a different set of, uh, people or even organizations at Microsoft in this case, right? Yes. You’re not just working with the field sales organization,

    [00:19:43] Leigh Ann Campbell: right?

    [00:19:44] Vince Menzione: You’re working with the product group.

    [00:19:45] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yep.

    [00:19:45] Vince Menzione: What do you, do you find that that’s easier or harder?

    [00:19:49] Leigh Ann Campbell: Gosh, it’s just different. Yeah. I, I don’t know if it’s easier or harder, but, but what I have learned is that. Don’t assume that because you’re talking to one part of Microsoft, that the other part of Microsoft knows what’s happen happening.

    [00:20:04] Leigh Ann Campbell: Oh. Or about the goodness that you’re driving. Right.

    [00:20:06] Vince Menzione: Listen, listen here carefully to those who are watching us today, because this is something I see so often. Oh, we, uh, Microsoft loves us. Mm-hmm. They told us they wanna work with us, right. And they want us to, and then you find out that the people that you were talking to have are totally disconnected from the organization that really matters, that are facing the customer, right.

    [00:20:26] Leigh Ann Campbell: It happens. And I mean, it happens in all large organizations. It’s not unique to Microsoft. And I think, you know, everyone’s got their priorities and their focus and the product team wants to build the best product with the best integration they can. Yes. And, and that’s what they’re gonna go focus on. So, yeah.

    [00:20:42] Vince Menzione: So, you know, we’ve, I keep talking about this time of tectonic shifts. We talk about the world has changing rapidly. It’s just amazing. Right? We were living in, uh, 2025 and. I, I fa I go back to October when we did our last event and now to today. And so much has changed even since then. Right? Right. We are in a time new, new administration.

    [00:21:03] Vince Menzione: We’ve talking about acceleration of change with technology and ai, but even in the last month or two, uh, new administration, uh, Stargate, huge investments in ai. Big changes in the tech landscape. We had the, I call it the deep seek moment now. Like everybody, the world got disrupted. Nvidia lost like an incredible amount of, I think it was $600 billion of value in one day.

    [00:21:27] Vince Menzione: In one day. It was crazy. And now we’ve almost forgotten about that moment. Right. And you know, kind of anticipating where the next moment’s been. Yep. How are you helping the organizations you work with navigate through the change?

    [00:21:40] Leigh Ann Campbell: Gosh, there, there’s plenty of it. I would say. Fame. I, you know, just to go back to fame, I would say it keeps you grounded, right?

    [00:21:50] Leigh Ann Campbell: Because you can build a business plan, you can, you can really understand your path forward with Microsoft, specifically with this framework. And so it’s easy to chase the next shiny thing, right? Or, you know, whatever’s on the horizon. But you, you need to stay focused so that you can show success and then go from there.

    [00:22:12] Leigh Ann Campbell: Right? So I, I do feel like I spend a lot of time pulling my customers back, right? Keeping, reminding them, remember we agreed on this focus area, and they’re like, that’s right, that’s right. So I, I would say, you know, fame really helps me do that.

    [00:22:26] Vince Menzione: I love it. I love it. Bring it back to the point, right? Bring ’em back to where the most important matters are.

    [00:22:32] Vince Menzione: You have to drive and have, and have the framework around it. So there’s some predictability through the change, right? So you’ve been part of our community. Uh, we talked a little bit about this, like I’ve known you for several years now. When we first started up, ultimate Partner, we did the Mastermind.

    [00:22:45] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. Partnered on that, right? That was the first time I got to see you up on stage and talking about fame, which has been incredible. You’ve been part of our ultimate partner experience community. So, so excited to have you along on the journey. We’ve done some work together over the years. Uh, I know this, but I, I think for our audience, I would love for them to hear from you.

    [00:23:03] Vince Menzione: What makes Rev Alliances unique. The value you bring to them that is different, I believe, than what a lot of other organizations, consulting organizations or co-selling organizations do different.

    [00:23:15] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. Thank you. And thank you for, for including me in Ultimate Partner and this, this journey has really been fun.

    [00:23:22] Leigh Ann Campbell: We’re having fun. It’s very fun. Yeah, so I would say experience is really what’s unique about me and Rev Alliances. So unlike I would say some competitors out there. I’ve personally never worked at Microsoft, which you might think is a, is a negative. I see it as a positive because I had to figure out Microsoft from the outside.

    [00:23:45] Leigh Ann Campbell: Right. I had to figure out how to break down barriers and how to gain access to places that I couldn’t otherwise. Right? Sure. So. Five plus years of experience kind of hitting my head against the wall, right is, is now, you know, it shows up in fame and it shows up every time I work with a client, so, so my company, rev Alliances, the name Rev kind of plays on.

    [00:24:11] Leigh Ann Campbell: Uh, revenue. Right. And also kind of

    [00:24:14] Vince Menzione: important,

    [00:24:14] Leigh Ann Campbell: kind of important, but also what I think is unique about Rev is that we help customers get there faster. I help my partners get to revenue, get to pipeline faster. Right. And I do that because of that experience that I’ve had.

    [00:24:28] Vince Menzione: And that’s something that’s a term too, that the CRO.

    [00:24:31] Vince Menzione: Implicitly understands. Right, right. Because they wanna get to Rev, they wanna get to revenue faster.

    [00:24:36] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yes.

    [00:24:37] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Yes. I love that name and I love the branding.

    [00:24:39] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. Thank you.

    [00:24:40] Vince Menzione: It’s so cool. So, um, what’s, what’s on the horizon? Like, we have a lot of great things we’re gonna be doing together. You’re gonna be doing more work with us in the community, sharing some more of your knowledges with our, with our Ultimate Partner experience community.

    [00:24:54] Vince Menzione: But where do you see Rev Alliances in five years?

    [00:24:57] Leigh Ann Campbell: That’s a great question. Uh, I am. Like a lot of people, I’m thinking about AI and I’m wondering how can I use that right. To really serve more clients? Because right now, a one-to-one engagement, while it’s my favorite thing to do, it doesn’t scale. Right.

    [00:25:15] Leigh Ann Campbell: Right. To 15, 20, 50 clients at a time. And so I’m in the works right now, uh, to apply AI to my FAME framework. Very cool. So that, yeah, so that. You know, uh, with maybe a lighter touch, I can help more partners, more efficiently, um, as well as, you know, engage one-on-one as needed. So, I’m, I’m excited to roll out something soon.

    [00:25:40] Leigh Ann Campbell: Very cool. Yeah.

    [00:25:41] Vince Menzione: So we’re gonna switch to the rapid fire.

    [00:25:44] Leigh Ann Campbell: Okay.

    [00:25:44] Vince Menzione: We’re testing this new area out for us, and I, I wanna ask you a few questions that I think might be, I love it. Talk a little bit more about like the, the, the world that you live in and how you got to this point. Okay. So. What book has influenced you the most?

    [00:25:58] Vince Menzione: Liam,

    [00:26:00] Leigh Ann Campbell: I most recently read Atomic Habits and that one. Really? James Cleary? Yes. That one. You know, it’s, it’s not often that I, uh, I don’t read, uh, that I would read something nonfiction cover to cover. I. I couldn’t put it down and, you know, the whole idea of habit stacking has, has really helped me kind of, uh, especially as I’ve built out Rev Alliances.

    [00:26:22] Vince Menzione: Very cool. And what did you get, like from the habit stacking? Was there anything specifically that it helped you improve on?

    [00:26:27] Leigh Ann Campbell: Absolutely. So as an entrepreneur, right, there’s a lot of things I love to do and there’s a lot of things I don’t love to do, like back office, things that, you know, you don’t really think about when you’re launching business.

    [00:26:38] Leigh Ann Campbell: And so it’s kind of taught me how to avoid. Procrastinating on those things, right? By stacking something that I love to do with something that I don’t love to do.

    [00:26:48] Vince Menzione: Yeah, so what’s one habit you can’t live without?

    [00:26:51] Leigh Ann Campbell: I would say my morning coffee outside on my patio, so rain or shine. Seriously, for the past eight to nine years, I have to have my first cup of coffee outside and I might be wearing like a down jacket or you know, it might be raining.

    [00:27:06] Leigh Ann Campbell: It doesn’t matter because it’s just that chance to breathe in the new day. Um, you know, and just start the day with, with a positive, fresh look, outlook, you know what I mean? A fresh outlook in life.

    [00:27:20] Vince Menzione: So is there a mantra that inspires you? Is there something that inspires you?

    [00:27:25] Leigh Ann Campbell: There is, and I actually recite it when I’m having my coffee every morning.

    [00:27:29] Leigh Ann Campbell: Um, and so it’s be present, take action, and have fun. Wow. Those are my. Present,

    [00:27:36] Vince Menzione: take action.

    [00:27:37] Leigh Ann Campbell: Have fun. Fun. And the have fun part is probably the most important part because, you know, we’re so wrapped up in our to-do lists and you know, overachieving and all those things. And at the end of the day, I mean, life is short.

    [00:27:48] Leigh Ann Campbell: You need to have fun,

    [00:27:50] Vince Menzione: which is hardest in the three

    [00:27:53] Leigh Ann Campbell: for me personally. Um. I would say taking action sometimes is hard. And, and I say that because, you know, we tend to overthink. Mm-hmm. Right. Or, uh, we let trying to be perfect, get in the way of actually executing. Yeah. Right. So, so that’s something I’m working on this year.

    [00:28:13] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah.

    [00:28:14] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Yeah. So what does mastery mean to you? You know, we’ve had Michael Dravet on the podcast finding Mastery, and what does mastery mean to you?

    [00:28:24] Leigh Ann Campbell: Mastery to me means simplification. Okay. Right. There’s a saying, you know, if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

    [00:28:34] Leigh Ann Campbell: Very cool. Right. And I think that’s what I bring to the table for my clients, for my experiences. Right. There’s so much you could do with Microsoft, literally. I mean, there’s new programs every day. I mean, they do so much for their partners. Yeah. Um. If you simplify things right, and if you stay true to your focus, focus,

    [00:28:57] Vince Menzione: yes.

    [00:28:58] Leigh Ann Campbell: Uh, you can really simplify and streamline and get to that revenue target, get to your pipeline, get to your 15 minutes of fame on stage with Satya, you can get there so much faster. But you have to, you have to be clear and keep it simple. And I think if you can do that, then you can master

    [00:29:17] Vince Menzione: anything. So good.

    [00:29:18] Vince Menzione: So good. So I have a favorite question, can I to ask almost every guest. You’re hosting a dinner party and, um, you can host this dinner party anywhere in the world. We could talk about locations. In fact, maybe Boca may be a good location, but you can invite any three guests from the present or the past to this amazing dinner party.

    [00:29:37] Vince Menzione: Whom would you invite, Leanne and why?

    [00:29:40] Leigh Ann Campbell: Gosh, only three.

    [00:29:42] Vince Menzione: Well, yeah. Well we can, we can talk about changing the rules.

    [00:29:45] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. Okay. We’ll stick with’s, focus on this. We Okay. Fair. I’ll pick three. Um, okay. This is gonna be a crazy donor party. Okay. Right. So first of all, it needs to be in Hawaii. You like party, like just who knows?

    [00:29:59] Leigh Ann Campbell: Who knows. But Hawaii for sure. Okay. Right. My favorite place

    [00:30:02] Vince Menzione: in the world. You spent some time there. I

    [00:30:03] Leigh Ann Campbell: have. Um, so, okay, so number one, it’s Tommy Lasorda. Oh wow. Tommy Lasorda was the general manager for the Dodgers, and I am a huge Dodger fan and I have been my whole life. Yep. So I’ve heard he’s quite a character.

    [00:30:17] Leigh Ann Campbell: I did get a chance to meet him once. Did you? Yep. Very cool. Yep. And love him and would just love to talk to him about his management style, and I’m sure he has some crazy stories as well. Yeah, and

    [00:30:27] Vince Menzione: he’s a,

    [00:30:28] Leigh Ann Campbell: yeah. Yep. So he is number one. Number two. I am, I’m leaning toward Princess Diane. Okay. I just, you know, she’s so full of grace.

    [00:30:36] Leigh Ann Campbell: She was a wonderful, uh, mother human, you know, did so much for people. Would love, love to hear from her. And then the last one, you’re gonna laugh, uh, I’m gonna say Eddie Van Halen. Eddie Van. Yeah. Eddie Van Halen. Wow. Yes, yes. I’m a, I’m a huge eighties rock fan. Okay. And, um, hair and everything. Yeah, sure.

    [00:30:57] Leigh Ann Campbell: Absolutely. And, and he, you know, obviously he’s, he’s amazing tourist, amazing. And I would, you know, he could be the. The musical entertainment for the night. Oh my goodness.

    [00:31:08] Vince Menzione: What a great group. Yeah. I’m gonna have to come along and bring dessert, a beverage. Please, please. So Tommy Lasorda, I got to see the Yankees and the Dodgers play.

    [00:31:16] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. When I was young growing up. Yeah. In the New York area and got to see Tommy Lasorda. Yeah. From a distance. Mm-hmm. In the dugout. But, uh, wow. Wasn’t a grit. He always bled Dodger blue. I’m remember read that was his famous saying. Yes. Yes. A passionate human being. Yes. Lady die, of course. Uh, just, you know what an incredible human and Eddie Van Halen like.

    [00:31:37] Vince Menzione: Yeah. I’m rocking it out. I love that music.

    [00:31:40] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah, me too.

    [00:31:41] Vince Menzione: Very cool. Yep. It has been such a pleasure studying time with you today. I’m so glad. Thank you, Boca. Me too. All the way from San Francisco. It’s, yep. A long trip and we do appreciate you doing that. And for our listeners and viewers, maybe some. Advice for them on how they can optimize for success as we really dive in to 2025.

    [00:32:01] Leigh Ann Campbell: Well, if you’re not working with Microsoft, uh. I definitely would, would recommend looking into that, especially if your product supports any of the Microsoft platforms. Uh, and then going forward, I have to go back to fame. Obviously, stay focused on your strength. Right. Don’t chase too many shiny objects.

    [00:32:19] Leigh Ann Campbell: Yeah. Uh, and you will be successful. And I will say if your, if your viewers out there, uh, would like to contact me, rev alliances.com or uh, on LinkedIn is, is a great way to connect with me and I would. I’d love to help. And you’re Leon Leanne Campbell on

    [00:32:34] Vince Menzione: LinkedIn as well? Yes. Are you the only Leanne Campbell?

    [00:32:38] Vince Menzione: Uh, of course. Okay. Congrats. Wonderful. So I wanna thank you. I wanna thank Leanne, I wanna thank you for joining us today. Thanks for wanting. I wanna thank all our viewers and listeners for following along on our path and our journey to help you achieve more. And if you haven’t done so, are ready, please subscribe to our podcast.

    [00:32:54] Vince Menzione: If you’re following on Apple or Spotify, you can hit the subscribe button. And we could also follow us on our new YouTube channel. And getting more subscribers to YouTube also helps us get more views and helps us get more amazing guests like Leanne to join us. I want to thank you for following and listening to this episode of The Ultimate Guide to Partnering, and you could also follow along by joining us on our website.

    [00:33:16] Vince Menzione: There you’ll find information about our events, every episode of the podcast, and you can subscribe to our free newsletter. So join us by coming to the ultimate partner.com. I.

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    Ultimate Guide to Partnering®By Vince Menzione - Technology Industry Sales and Partner Executive

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