Ultimate Partner®

A Shiny Quarter in a Bucket of Shiny Quarters

A Shiny Quarter in a bucket of shiny quarters. I have used this term to describe how partners need to get above the noise working with technology giants like Microsoft. Microsoft has a massive partner ecosystem. In a world where technology is rapidly evolving and more and more organizations are becoming technology organizations, being relevant and "standing out" are increasingly important. This episode focuses on a leader's passionate focus, helping technology companies make more noise.

How One Leader and Organization Helps Microsoft Partners Stand Out!

This guest is no stranger to the challenge these organizations face. Gail Mercer Mackay, the Founder, and CEO of Mercer Mackay Digital Storytelling built an enviable reputation and an outstanding business helping technology companies make more noise on their quest to stand out as Microsoft Partners.

Mercer-MacKay Digital Solutions is a digital storytelling company and a known quality leader in the Microsoft ecosystem. They have been helping technology companies tell their stories since 2008.

Gail Mercer Mackay is a successful entrepreneur who combined her passion for story-telling with over twenty-five years of sales & marketing experience gained at emerging technology and start-up organizations to found Mercer-MacKay. Her enthusiasm for life, learning, and curiosity about how to marry the benefits of technology with the business value it is capable of creating has been at the foundation of her success.

Why Listen?

We address the dilemma of standing out. Gail offers partners sage advice on the importance of investing in marketing and why brand and storytelling are fundamental and critical to success. She lays out a step-by-step process. In addition, she shares her success as a woman entrepreneur building and scaling a successful enterprise and the platform she has launched to help more organizations at scale

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed welcoming Gail Mercer Mackay to Ultimate Guide to Partnering.

Recent Outstanding Episodes on Brand and Storytelling

120 – WHY TECHNOLOGY ORGANIZATIONS STRUGGLE TO INVEST IN SUCCESSFUL BRAND MARKETING

86 – OPTIMIZE FOR SUCCESS 2021 – PUT STORYTELLING AT THE CORE OF YOUR MARKETING FOCUS

Links & Resources

* Link to DaXai Platform* Gail's Spotify List * See All Episodes

* Rate & Review – please, this helps more listeners find us!* Learn more how Ultimate Partnerships helps technology organizations optimize partner results.* Ultimate Guide to Partnering Linked In – Stay tuned as I’ll share details around our new offering for you.* Subscribe to Ultimate Guide to Partnering on Apple,

Hyper-Focus on High-Performance

High-performance partnering, what does it look like, how do you benchmark it, and how can you apply it with Hyper Focus to achieve your most outstanding results? It is a question I often ask in this podcast and my work. My focus is on how leaders can lead differently during this time and what the best in the business do differently to achieve their greatest results through successful partnering. In this episode, I focus on hyper-focus as a growth imperative to high-performance partnering.

How One Leader Applied Principles to Grow to $1 Billion in Bookings.

My guest for this episode of the podcast is Tony Safoian, the CEO of SADA. Tony has been a frequent visitor to this podcast. In addition, Tony was instrumental in me starting this podcast five years ago. As CEO of SADA, Tony has grown his company from a small Managed Service Provider (MSP) to over $1B in bookings and consecutive Partner of the Year status with Google. Tony and his company epitomize hyper-focus as a growth imperative to high-performance partnering.

Last month, Tony and I recorded this interview at the Channel Reseller News NexGen Conference, my first in-person event in about two years. It was great to see some familiar faces and friends. I also enjoyed spending time with someone I know and have partnered with for many years.

Why Listen?

Learn from this award-winning business leader's fascinating journey to over $1B in bookings. Tony has built an incredible business; partnering has been a key accelerant to their success. SADA has done an exemplary job adhering to a set of principles for "High-Performance Partnering." In this interview, we discuss how Tony and the organization applied these success principles, including hyper-focus. We also discuss a key pivot he made that led to exponential results. 

I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I enjoyed spending time with this leader and dear personal friend, Tony Safoian.

Other Recent Episodes Featuring Google or SADA

107 – ONE LEADER’S FOCUS, TAKING PARTNERSHIPS TO THE NEXT LEVEL AT GOOGLE.

97 – FOCUSED GROWTH INVESTMENTS, GOOGLE PREMIER PARTNER SADA’S PIONEERING ALLIANCE PROGRAM

64 – TWENTY YEARS, LEADERSHIP IN BIG AND MEANINGFUL WAYS, WITH TONY SAFOIAN

Links & Resources

* See All Episodes* Tony on LinkedIn

* Rate & Review – please, this helps more listeners find us!* Learn more how Ultimate Partnerships helps technology organizations optimize partner results.* Ultimate Guide to Partnering Linked In – Stay tuned as I’ll share details around our new offering for you.* Subscribe to Ultimate Guide to Partnering on Apple,

I hope you join me here in celebrating another milestone.

One Hundred and Twenty Five Episodes with exceptional leaders - I have been so fortunate and hope you'll join me in celebrating this special edition of Ultimate Guide to Partnering.

I started Ultimate Guide to Partnering when I left Microsoft. I began with a conviction that technology organizations often struggle to understand the complexities and best engage with the technology giant. I had a great run of 60 episodes. Regrettably, I put it on the shelf for two years.

During Covid and last summer, the world was on fire. I brought the podcast back with a renewed conviction that we in the tech sector have both an opportunity and an obligation to lead at this time.

I was reminded of my belief and conviction that "partnering" during this time will ultimately be the key accelerant to success and ultimately survival. I renewed my mission to help technology organizations achieve their greatest results through high-performance partnering through the podcast and my work.

The podcast has become the place for the best in the business to lift their incredible voices to this community.

One Hundred and Twenty-Five Episodes. I feel blessed to have so many amazing friendships and guests - leaders from all walks of life come to Ultimate Guide to Partnering to tell their story - to share their mission to help us be and achieve more.

Women Leaders Lift Their Voices

This season, we featured several fantastic woman entrepreneurs, leaders in their field, and my valued friends joined us.

Brea Starmer

Brea Starmer - whom I've known for many years and a leader on a mission to shape future work joined us to share how one leader inspires others to achieve what we all thought was just potential.

Melissa Mulholland

Melissa Mulholland an early guest while still at Microsoft and a friend rejoined the podcast this summer. Melissa has had a meteoric rise and now as CEO of Crayon - a global technology leader joined to discuss her passion for technology, partners, and future-focused leadership.

Merrie Williamson

Merrie Williamson, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, whom I met on a Women in the Cloud panel discussion, joined for a candid and wide-ranging conversation on pushing through boundaries and why empathy unlocks potential.

Jennifer Didier

Jennifer Didier joined to discuss her mission and passion to act as a catalyst for Women in Technology, empowering more women to join the technology sector.

Erin Figer

My amazing business partner Erin Figer, the most expert person I know on partnering with Microsoft, joined us to help partners optimize for success and discuss her incredible journey to woman CEO.

Better Connecting with the Tech Giant

Partner Marketing is such a critical function within tech giants like Microsoft. I often find that technology organizations don’t understand how to best engage with this function, so critical to success. My next guest has recently taken the helm at Microsoft's US Partner Go To Market Organization and I was so excited that she agreed to join us on Ultimate Guide to Partnering. Heather Deggans joins Ultimate Guide to Partnering to discuss her organization's mission to get targeted and to accelerate partner growth, capture market share, and increase revenue.

Heather Deggans is the Vice President of Microsoft US, Partner Go-to-market. She leads a diverse team of marketers focused on enabling partner success by creating market differentiated intelligent cloud and edge solutions that transform customer outcomes. She is accountable for accelerating partner growth to capture market share and increase revenue. This work enables Microsoft's mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

Heather was previously the Chief of Staff for the President of Microsoft, US, a $45 billion subsidiary driving Microsoft's strategic alignment across enterprise sales, public sector, marketing, services, commercial partner, and operations.

It was so critical to finally have Heather visit this platform to share her organization’s important work and help partner listeners best understand how to best align and engage with her organization.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* The role and misison of the Partner Go To Market Organization at Microsoft. * Her rich career and how she is taking her 22 years of experience and partner empathy into this important role.* Her renewed focus on enabling both depth and breadth partners and the important role of IAMCP and SMB Insiders.* What she sees from the best partners and why tranparency and clarity are critical on both sides of the table. * How to best engage and align for success in 2022 with her mission and organization.

Listen to other recent episodes featuring Microsoft US Partner Leaders.

* 115 – CREATING VALUE TO INNOVATIVE ROUTES-TO-MARKET WITH PRECISE INDUSTRY AND CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS – US Scale Solution Partners with Oguo Atuanya.* 65 – AN AUTHENTIC CONVERSATION, FROM CO-SELLING TO THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE – Enterprise Partner Sales with Lani Phillips.* 94 – WHERE CAN I HELP? A SERVANT LEADER’S MINDSET FOR PARTNER GROWTH – Global Independant Software Vendors (ISV) with Carlos DeTorres.

Links & Resources

* Connect with Heather Deggans https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherdeggans/* Heather's Spotify Playlist

* Rate & Review – please, this helps more listeners find us!* Learn more how Ultimate Partnerships helps technology organizations optimize partner results.* Ultimate Guide to Partnering Linked In – Stay tuned as I’ll share details around our new offering for you.* Subscribe to Ultimate Guide to Partnering on 

Many Technology Organizations struggle to navigate Microsoft's complexity to achieve their most significant results. It is why I first started this podcast to help organizations navigate to achieve their highest performance results with Microsoft. I also believe that we in the tech sector have an opportunity and perhaps an obligation to lead during this time like no other. I discuss both areas in this far-reaching conversation, Merrie Williamson, Microsoft CVP of Azure Infrastructure, Azure IOT, and Digital & Application Innovation. Merrie is a future-pacing leader who describes for our listeners how she and her organization push through boundaries as a growth mindset and empathy unlock potential.

Merrie Williamson is the Corporate Vice President of Azure Infrastructure, Azure IoT, and the newly launched Digital and Application Innovation solution area in the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions business group. She is responsible for Microsoft's global commercial sales, strategy, and execution for the core multi-billion dollar Azure business. As Microsoft and their customers continue to transform with digital solutions, the requirements for ever more agile sales models with deeper investments in technical breath and customer compassion are required. Merrie joined Microsoft in 2019 as an executive leader with deep roots in building cloud technologies and driving global cultural transformation.

It was critical to finally have Merrie visit this platform to share her organization's important work and her rich experiences with our listeners. This interview was just so rich and far-reaching, we split it into two segments for your listening.

I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming Merrie Williamson as a guest on Ultimate Guide to Partnering®.

What you'll learn in this episode:

* Her view on the Microsoft organization and mission.* What it was like to join Microsoft just before the start of the pandemic.* Her team's work to align engineering, marketing, and sales for Microsoft's most complex offers.* Her view on Microsoft, Satya, Growth Mindset and how Empathy Unlock's Potential.* How this leader learned to blend in, while pushing through boundaries to achieve incredible business success.

Listen to other recent episodes featuring Microsoft Leaders.

* 115 – CREATING VALUE TO INNOVATIVE ROUTES-TO-MARKET WITH PRECISE INDUSTRY AND CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS – US Scale Solution Partners with Oguo Atuanya.* 65 – AN AUTHENTIC CONVERSATION, FROM CO-SELLING TO THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE – Enterprise Partner Sales with Lani Phillips.* 94 – WHERE CAN I HELP? A SERVANT LEADER’S MINDSET FOR PARTNER GROWTH – Global Independant Software Vendors (ISV) with Carlos DeTorres.

Links & Resources

* Connect with Merrie Williamson https://www.linkedin.com/in/merriewilliamson/

* Rate & Review – please, this helps more listeners find us!* Learn more how Ultimate Partnerships helps technology organizations optimize partner results.* Ultimate Guide to Partnering Linked In – Stay tuned as I’ll ...

Many Technology Organizations struggle to navigate Microsoft's complexity to achieve their most significant results. It is why I first started this podcast to help organizations navigate to achieve their highest performance results with Microsoft. I also believe that we in the tech sector have an opportunity and perhaps an obligation to lead during this time like no other. I discuss both areas in this far-reaching conversation, Merrie Williamson, Microsoft CVP of Azure Infrastructure, Azure IOT, and Digital & Application Innovation. Merrie is a future-pacing leader who describes for our listeners how she and her organization push through boundaries as a growth mindset and empathy unlock potential.

Merrie Williamson is the Corporate Vice President of Azure Infrastructure, Azure IoT, and the newly launched Digital and Application Innovation solution area in the Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions business group. She is responsible for Microsoft's global commercial sales, strategy, and execution for the core multi-billion dollar Azure business. As Microsoft and their customers continue to transform with digital solutions, the requirements for ever more agile sales models with deeper investments in technical breath and customer compassion are required. Merrie joined Microsoft in 2019 as an executive leader with deep roots in building cloud technologies and driving global cultural transformation.

It was critical to finally have Merrie visit this platform to share her organization's important work and her rich experiences with our listeners. This interview was just so rich and far-reaching, we split it into two segments for your listening.

I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming Merrie Williamson as a guest on Ultimate Guide to Partnering®.

What you'll learn in this episode:

* Her view on the Microsoft organization and mission.* What it was like to join Microsoft just before the start of the pandemic.* Her team's work to align engineering, marketing, and sales for Microsoft's most complex offers.* Her view on Microsoft, Satya, Growth Mindset and how Empathy Unlock's Potential.* How this leader learned to blend in, while pushing through boundaries to achieve incredible business success.

Listen to other recent episodes featuring Microsoft Leaders.

* 115 – CREATING VALUE TO INNOVATIVE ROUTES-TO-MARKET WITH PRECISE INDUSTRY AND CUSTOMER SOLUTIONS – US Scale Solution Partners with Oguo Atuanya.* 65 – AN AUTHENTIC CONVERSATION, FROM CO-SELLING TO THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL INJUSTICE – Enterprise Partner Sales with Lani Phillips.* 94 – WHERE CAN I HELP? A SERVANT LEADER’S MINDSET FOR PARTNER GROWTH – Global Independant Software Vendors (ISV) with Carlos DeTorres.

Links & Resources

* Connect with Merrie Williamson https://www.linkedin.com/in/merriewilliamson/

* Rate & Review – please, this helps more listeners find us!* Learn more how Ultimate Partnerships helps technology organizations optimize partner results.* Ultimate Guide to Partnering Linked In – Stay tuned as I’ll ...

Our world is grappling with profound security threats from bad actors, terrorists, and nation-states threatening organizations, economies, and national security. At the same time, Technology Organizations are breaking through old channel models as this transformation redefines what it means to be a partner. Hold onto your seats! In this episode of Ultimate Guide to Partnering, Frank Rauch, Head of Check Point's Worldwide Channels, joins to tell us how one leader solves ominous cyber security threats and the new world order of channel ecosystems.

Frank Rauch has over 30 years of hardware, software, security, and cloud experience. As Check Point's Head of Worldwide Channels, he is responsible for strategy, execution for Check Point Channel Partners around the globe. Frank has a rich history in technology and channels, having led VMware's Americas Partner Organization and HPE's Americas Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Channels. Frank has also been personally recognized with 16 CRN Channel Chiefs awards, Lifetime Achievement Award and has been ranked consistently in the 50 Most Influential Executives.

It was great to finally have Frank visit this platform to share his rich expertise with our listeners, especially those channel leaders looking to drive more extraordinary results and organizations looking to solve their cyber security needs.

I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming Frank Rauch as a guest on Ultimate Guide to Partnering®.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* How Check Point addresses the incredible rise in security threats the world has been facing.

* Check Point's unique pedegree and value proposition.

* How this technology sector is evolving with the cloud.

* What organizations like Check Point are doing to evolve their Channel Ecosystems.

* Leadership lessons from Frank's rich career.

Listen to other episodes featuring Partner Ecosystem Leaders and Industry Experts.

* 118 - How Technology Ecosystems Think and Organize Differently During These Exciting Times - with Jay McBain

* 116 – Helping ISVs Accelerate Meaningful Revenue with the Cloud Providers through Marketplaces – with Sanjay Mehta of Tackle.io.

* 115 – Creating Value to Innovative Routes-to-Market with Precise Industry and Customer Solutions – with Oguo Atuanya, Microsoft GM for Scale Partners.

* 114 – Cloud Wars Ranks the Most Influential Cloud Vendors During This Rapid Transformation – with Bob Evans, creator of Cloud Wars

Links & Resources

* About Check Point https://www.checkpoint.com/

* Connect with Frank Rauch  https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankrauch/

* Franks Spotify Playlist

I find that technology organizations often struggle to invest in successful brand marketing. They are not crisp on their value, brand, and delivering it effectively. It is why I've invited one of the best in the business, to help by showing us how it is done right. My guest for this episode of the podcast is Dux Raymond Sy, the Chief Brand Officer at AvePoint. In this episode, Dux and I discuss why technology organizations struggle to invest in successful brand marketing and the steps that technology organizations can take to drive an effective brand story.

I was delighted to welcome Dux back to the podcast, he is a dear friend and now a three-time guest on Ultimate Guide to Partnering. Quite a bit has happened since we last spoke, AvePoint became a public company and launched its own Partner Strategy with Jason Beal, who was a guest earlier this year. See link below.

This episode is exclusively for technology organizations looking to drive greater results through effective brand, marketing, and brand storytelling.

It was great to have Dux come to visit this platform again. I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming back Dux Raymond Sy as a guest on Ultimate Guide to Partnering®.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* Why Brand and Brand Storytelling are critical to his success. * Why Technology Organizations struggle to invest in successful Brand Marketing* What Technology Partners need to do better or differently.* Where Technology Organizations need to align for success. year.  

Listen to other episodes featuring AvePoint Leaders.

* 105 – CHANNEL FOCUSED STEPS FOR AVEPOINT TO BECOME A PARTNER-LED COMPANY* 76 – OPTIMISM FOR UNPARALLELED OPPORTUNITY FOCUSED ON A BETTER WORLD.* 48 – ONE PARTNER OF THE YEAR’S PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL TRANSFORMATION.* #15: @MEETDUX DISCUSSES SOCIAL MEDIA BRANDING, WITH DUX RAYMOND SY.

Links & Resources

* About AvePoint: https://www.avepoint.com/about* Connect with Dux http://linktr.ee/meetdux* Dux' Shifthappens Podcast: https://www.avepoint.com/blog/shifthappens/* Dux Spotify Playlist* Link to the Transcription of the Podcast.* Rate & Review – please, this helps more listeners find us!* Learn more how Ultimate Partnerships helps technology organizations optimize partner results.* Ultimate Guide to Partnering Linked In – Stay tuned as I’ll share details around our new offering for you.* Subscribe to Ultimate Guide to Partnering on 

Getting great sales results is where the rubber meets the road successfully partnering. I find it's also where many technology organizations fall short in the quest for high-performance partnerships. If you are a technology sales leader searching for high performance, you won't want to miss this episode. My guest for this episode of the podcast is Sam McKenna, the CEO of SamSales Consulting. In this episode, we spotlight one sales leader's focus to empower organizations through effective selling skills. That exceptional leader and women entrepreneur is Sam McKenna.

"Getting results" through sales performance is a crucial principle and pillar of high-performance partnerships. It's one of the critical pillars of my Ultimate Partnership Framework. Samantha McKenna is an award-winning sales leader, brand ambassador for LinkedIn, and highly sought-after speaker. She has spent her career doing two things – breaking records for herself, her employers, and now her clients, and putting others first to ensure every client engagement she has delivers an exceptional client experience.

She is the creator of #samsales, which has a significant following on LinkedIn for her tangible sales tips and actionable advice for sales executives and teams. In addition, #samsales has led to Sam being the highest-attended speaker at dozens of conferences, including Outreach's "Unleash 2020," which netted over 8,000 registrants. She has been named a Top 50 Woman in Revenue, consistently ranks as the most read author for countless publications, is proud to be one of the faces of LinkedIn Sales Navigator's marketing campaigns, and was named a Top Ten LinkedIn Sales Star 2020

Sam has built a fantastic career and organization, raising the bar and enabling countless organizations and leaders on their quest to high performance. It's why this one sales leader focuses on empowering organizations through effective selling skills.

Since 2008, Sam has worked for some of the most notable names in the Bay Area, including ON24 and LinkedIn, and spent years as an individual contributor in net new Enterprise sales before moving to scale teams and revenue in executive leadership. She has also double-majored in law firm sales and has worked with 86 of the AmLaw 100 firms.

This episode is exclusively for technology organizations looking to drive results through effective selling skills.

It was great to have Sam come to visit this platform. I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming Sam McKenna as a guest on Ultimate Guide to Partnering®.

What you'll learn in this episode:

* Sam's meteoric Rise as a woman entrepreneur and sales leader.* Challenges organizations face during this rapid transformation.* Why many SaaS organizations still struggle effectively Co-selling.* How she empowers organizations through effective selling skills.

Listen to other episodes featuring Sales Leaders and Experts.

* 104 - Acumatica Enables Partners and Customers as its "First Team." – with Sanket Akerkar of Acumatica.* 89 - Spotlight on Transformation, RingCentral Capabilities, and Partners - Phil Sorgen. * 117 - Partner Co-selling, Positioning Your Company for Success, with Brent Combest* 65 - An Authentic Conversation, From Co-selling to the Impact of Social Injustice with Lani Philips.

Links & Resources

These are exciting times. We have seen seven years of transformation in this last year. What will continue to propel this continued transformation? Many believe the critical accelerant to continued transformation will be ecosystems. If you are a channel leader looking to predict where you need to invest in future growth, you won't want to miss this episode. My guest Jay Mc Bain -Principal Analyst – Channels, Partnerships & Ecosystems at Forrester. Jay joins Ultimate Guide to Partnering to share How Technology Ecosystems Think and Organize Differently During These Exciting Times.

It was great to welcome back Jay McBain, as the evolution in our technology partner ecosystem is happening at breakneck speed, driven in large part by the rapid speed of digital transformation in our society and our world. Jay always has a unique and well-shaped view of the channel based on his engagement with vendors, organizations, and partners, and his command of the numbers driving the channel is like no other.

This episode is exclusively for those who care about partner ecosystems, the evolution of selling and systems to drive this next phase of economic growth, the growing importance and relevance of marketplaces, and how this "Decade of Ecosystems" looks to take shape. In this podcast interview, you will learn how organizations need to think and move differently during this rapidly changing digital economy landscape.

It's always great to have Jay come to visit this platform. I hope you enjoy this discussion as much as I enjoyed welcoming back Jay McBain as a guest on Ultimate Guide to Partnering®.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

* What the Recent Results from the Top Cloud Providers Tell Us About Where the Industry is Headed.* What Trends Jay is Seeing from the Ecosystem Leaders.* How Technology Ecosystems Think and Organize Differently During These Exciting Times

Listen to other episodes featuring Partner Ecosystem Leaders and Experts.

* 116 - Helping ISVs Accelerate Meaningful Revenue with the Cloud Providers through Marketplaces – with Sanjay Mehta of Tackle.io.* 115 - Creating Value to Innovative Routes-to-Market with Precise Industry and Customer Solutions – with Oguo Atuanya, Microsoft GM for Scale Partners. * 114 - Cloud Wars Ranks the Most Influential Cloud Vendors During This Rapid Transformation – with Bob Evans, creator of Cloud Wars.

Links & Resources

* Find Jay McBain on LinkedIn and Twitter* Jay’s Personal Blog* Follow Jay’s Forrester Blog* Link to the Transcription of the Podcast.* Rate & Review – please, this helps more listeners find us!* Learn more how Ultimate Partnerships helps technology organizations optimize partner results.* Ultimate Guide to Partnering Linked In – Sta...