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Stop Begging Microsoft for Leads: The Proven Playbook Top MSPs Actually Use
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In this insightful episode, Vince Menzione sits down with Chuck Kiessling of Partner Development Group (PDG), Tahmid Ahmed of Lenovo, and Paul Freeman of Pulse One to decode the complexities of the Microsoft partner ecosystem. The panel explores the transition of traditional MSPs into technology integration companies, the importance of operationalizing your Microsoft practice across all internal departments, and the critical need to adapt to generative AI. They also unpack the strategic collaboration between hardware giants, partner development experts, and integration companies to unlock co-sell referrals, optimize licensing, and leverage the Microsoft Marketplace for scalable mid-market growth.
Key Takeaways
- MSPs should evolve into technology integration companies to stay relevant in the changing ecosystem.
- Success in the Microsoft channel relies on strategic behavior and engaging around the sale, not just asking for direct leads.
- A Microsoft practice should not be siloed but integrated across marketing, finance, and operations.
- Partners must focus on solving specific customer problems, such as providing automation and security, rather than just selling technology for its own sake.
- Optimizing enterprise licensing and moving customers to CSP can create stickiness and immediate ROI.
- Engaging with end users like HR and marketing provides better feedback on tools like Copilot than stopping at the IT manager level.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:50 Meet the panel: PDG, Lenovo, and Pulse One
03:12 From MSP to technology integration company
04:39 Stop asking Microsoft for leads
07:32 The old days of the Microsoft channel
09:05 How PDG, Lenovo, and Pulse One work together
12:32 The PDG playbook: structured, not scripted
15:46 Orchestrating the partnership
17:21 Partner Center is a beast: the value left on the table
19:27 Outcomes and Microsoft Marketplace strategy
21:49 Advice for MSPs
25:05 Customers buy from people they trust
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Tags
Microsoft partner, Microsoft channel, MSP, Microsoft CSP, co-sell referral, Microsoft Marketplace, Microsoft Partner Center, solution designations, generative AI, Copilot, Lenovo, Partner Development Group, Pulse One, technology integration company, EA to CSP, mid-market, hyperscalers, Ultimate Partner Podcast, Vince Menzione
Transcript
Chuck Kiessling, Tahmid Ahmed, and Paul Freeman on the Ultimate Partner Podcast
[00:00:00] Paul Freeman: You know, when, uh, generative AI came out a couple years ago, we kind of saw the writing on the wall like, this is the direction we have to get ready for.
[00:00:08] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026.
[00:00:19] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzione, your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy.
[00:00:42] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy, because being in the room changes everything. Let’s start.
[00:00:50] Vince Menzione: So we actually have, I’m gonna invite them up here and have ’em introduce themselves. We went from two to three, so there’s gonna be four of us up on stage. Uh, this is gonna be a great conversation on how to get more practical about driving your success on partnership strategy. And so Chuck and team, come on up and then we’ll have you introduce yourselves.
[00:01:10] Vince Menzione: Chuck, great to have you.
[00:01:11] Chuck Kiessling: Thank you.
[00:01:12] Vince Menzione: Partner Development Group. We have Lenovo, Pulse One. Thank you. Good to see you. Awesome. And we’re gonna, we’re gonna start and I’m gonna have everybody introduce yourself, your role and, and, uh, and your company. So, awesome.
[00:01:24] Chuck Kiessling: Alright. I guess I’ll jump in. Uh, so I’m Chuck Kiessling, uh, CEO and Founder of Partner Development Group.
[00:01:32] Chuck Kiessling: Uh, short version is, I’ve been in the Microsoft ecosystem in some way, shape, or form for the past 25 years. Uh, I am a former Microsoft employee. Like, like some of the other players that are around here today. Yeah. Couple of us. Right. And, and, uh, you know, what really brought me to build PDG was ultimately while I was at Microsoft, I found myself spending a lot of time helping partners help me.
[00:01:56] Chuck Kiessling: By helping them. And so I realized there was a bit of a gap in that space. And then over about 15 years, um, I built our operational framework that, uh, allows us to be structured but not scripted. And, um, our goal is really to enhance Microsoft partners in really any way, shape, or form that they need to. So, perfect.
[00:02:18] Tahmid Ahmed: Uh, my name’s Tahmid. I’m from Lenovo. My responsibility at Lenovo is managing our Microsoft partners around the globe. Um, we’ve kind of come into the CSP world with Microsoft over the last five years. Um, started off in APAC, in EMEA, and now we’re really looking at, you know, helping our partners and all of our partners from our distributors in that Microsoft space, really seeing how we can accelerate their journeys.
[00:02:45] Paul Freeman: Great. Uh, I love being the surprise guest. So, hi, I’m Paul Freeman. I’m, uh, Chief Marketing Officer for, uh, an integration company called Pulse One. Uh, we’re based outta California. Uh, I would’ve described us a couple years ago as an MSP, but I think with all the changes that are happening, I would describe us now more as a technology integration company.
[00:03:06] Paul Freeman: So, uh, I’m really happy to be up here, uh, able to hang out with you guys.
[00:03:09] Vince Menzione: I like the new term, technology integration company.
[00:03:12] Paul Freeman: Ooh, thank you.
[00:03:12] Vince Menzione: And I think what’s really kind of, from a grounding perspective for this conversation too, because when people hear Lenovo, uh, I automatically go to hardware.
[00:03:23] Tahmid Ahmed: I think it’s really important, right? We are a hardware company. I think most people have used the laptop with the little red dot in the middle. You know, there’s loads of memes flying around saying if you get given one of these devices, you’re gonna work for the rest of your life. Um, we do do the infrastructure, but.
[00:03:39] Tahmid Ahmed: Probably you’ve seen recently, we’ve, you know, we’re in the FIFA World Cup, we’re in Formula One. We are really starting to change that shift with hybrid cloud and AI. Um, and our Microsoft partnership is much broader than just Windows Server and, you know, a platform. We want to help our customers really.
[00:03:58] Tahmid Ahmed: Find solutions, not just with AI, but with all forms of technology. The goal is how can we help that customer with our partners, really find technology that fits around their business? You know, I’ve had lots of conversations this week around AI. How does AI actually fit into a business, not just buying technology for the sake of buying it, but lots of CTOs that you speak to.
[00:04:20] Tahmid Ahmed: They want an ROI, and I really like what Vince went through yesterday about having five or six partners to actually work through. We’re a very channel-focused company, so we’re never gonna go to a customer directly and start spinning up solutions, and that’s where Pulse One and PDG come in. So we can really create that environment.
[00:04:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Chuck, you’ve been around the Microsoft ecosystem, as I have, for a number of years. Um, it’s complex, right? What, um, so we miss a lot, but partners often miss, what do they often miss working with Microsoft and the Microsoft ecosystem? What do you see?
[00:04:53] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah, I think a majority of the partners that we work with, um, and I’ll say like probably one of the first things that we hear is how do we get referrals and leads from Microsoft?
[00:05:02] Chuck Kiessling: Right? Exactly. And, and the reality is, it’s about behavior, right? So this is one of those key items that gets missed. A lot of times, you know, historically, if you’ve been a Microsoft partner more than three to five years, it, it used to be more about, let me get certified, I’m gonna get my gold or silver competency.
[00:05:18] Chuck Kiessling: But Microsoft spent a lot of time, um, trying to make sure that they could really determine who were true partners and who were just strictly vendors. So, um, that’s where the solution designations came in. So that is algorithm driven, it’s behavior driven. It’s, it’s about focusing on things like, um, everything that is around the sale.
[00:05:39] Chuck Kiessling: Right. Because I think everybody in this room that, that is, um, ISV, SI, MSP, they know how to sell what they do. It’s about engaging Microsoft the right way. So it’s everything around that sale, right? Submitting the co-sell referral, making sure that you’re attaching the services, making sure that you’re utilizing the marketplace, reaching out to Microsoft and making sure that you are easy to present in essentially one, one line.
[00:06:03] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah. And, and so being easy to work with and everything around the sale, I think is the most critical component. Anything to add to that?
[00:06:11] Tahmid Ahmed: I think, you know, going back, I think every partner always asks Lenovo, where can I get leads from? Um, and then they want us to go back to Microsoft and say, you know, give us leads.
[00:06:20] Tahmid Ahmed: And I like the comment someone made earlier: leads just don’t fall out of the air. You know, customers aren’t coming to us and saying, I want to buy this from you, or I want to buy this, but it’s about having that conversation around solutions and what they’re actually really trying to achieve. And reading in between the lines, you know.
[00:06:35] Tahmid Ahmed: Every company wants AI at the moment. It’s the new buzzword. It’s shiny, or agentic AI, but when you actually start breaking it down with a lot of these CTOs, they’re actually just looking for a bit of automation. And then it’s about feeding into their security. And I think for partners, it’s really defining what do you do as a partner.
[00:06:52] Tahmid Ahmed: Um, you know, are you going down a route of Copilot? Are you a security partner? What is your main business? And really understanding that, and that allows us to help you the most. Right. The more support we can give you is when we really can understand what your business does, you know, what’s the primary focus?
[00:07:10] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah, I, I think the key in that, right, and this is a conversation that Paul and I have had quite a bit, is it’s about strategic versus tactical, right? So being able to sell a product, a solution, an offering is, is a tactical approach. But when you’re doing it strategically, you’re involving the right people at the right time.
[00:07:28] Chuck Kiessling: You are, you’re operationally efficient at doing it and, and you continue to execute the right way.
[00:07:32] Vince Menzione: I, I’d love to get Paul’s perspective, ’cause I got to be at Right of Boom earlier this year and I was hearing things I hadn’t heard in a long time from MSPs. Hmm. Like, I don’t have a PDM, I don’t have this, I don’t get enough margin.
[00:07:47] Vince Menzione: There was a lot of talk in the room that felt like the old days of Microsoft to me.
[00:07:51] Paul Freeman: Interesting.
[00:07:52] Vince Menzione: What is your perspective?
[00:07:53] Paul Freeman: Well, the old days, I’ve been around long enough to remember the old days of Microsoft. Okay. Um, you know, in the nineties and then in and around the two thousands, uh, we had a partner development manager that would come do lunch and learns for us in our office.
[00:08:04] Paul Freeman: Sure. We had access to the field organization. If we—
[00:08:06] Vince Menzione: We called them PAMs back in the day.
[00:08:07] Paul Freeman: Yeah. Oh yeah. Right. That’s right. Uh, and they, we had access to the field sales organization. Yeah. So if we had a deal, we had somebody we could call who was in the area, we could go have lunch, we could do a joint call together.
[00:08:19] Paul Freeman: And of course it’s gotten a lot bigger and a lot more complex, uh, since then. And I think, um, you know, I also was around when we transitioned from resellers to integrators and then integrators to MSPs and then, you know, MSPs into whatever we’re gonna become now. And I think, you know, to, um, to get your hands around that whole environment.
[00:08:39] Paul Freeman: The whole ecosystem idea, to learn how to execute in the mid-market space, which is where we play, um, has become very challenging. And, um, in talking to, uh, Monica and some of the Microsoft folks, it’s, it’s complicated for them too. Right? And so it’s, we are absolutely reliant on relationships and partnerships to figure out how to work our way into the system.
[00:09:00] Paul Freeman: And, uh, these two guys here have been super helpful for us over the last, uh, year in doing that.
[00:09:05] Vince Menzione: I love that. And Chuck, this is, you know, this is where I think that your organization comes in. I know that your organization comes in in a big way. You become, you become that lighthouse.
[00:09:13] Chuck Kiessling: Yep.
[00:09:14] Vince Menzione: Right. As PDG. Take us through the, because you, you have an interaction here again, across the three organizations in driving outcomes.
[00:09:23] Vince Menzione: I hope you were gonna share, share some of that with everyone today.
[00:09:26] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah, I mean, um, I think, uh, a relationship like this across the board, and, and I’ll, I’ll kind of define it as I see it, and feel free to interrupt me and tell me I’m wrong. Um, but, uh, you know, PDG brings the playbook, right? So we, we have developed our, our, uh, our platform across.
[00:09:43] Chuck Kiessling: 15 years. So, um, we know how to touch every one of those areas of the Microsoft ecosystem end to end as a partner. And so when we sit down with various partners, that’s the first thing we’re trying to understand, is where they are, what they’re trying to do and, and what does success really look like? I think, um, for Lenovo, it’s, it’s a lot of scale and execution, right?
[00:10:04] Chuck Kiessling: So there’s, there’s the components that are inside the, the Lenovo organization, the hardware, the software, the resell. And then for Pulse One, it, it becomes the proof, right? So it shows what happens when that strategy, enablement and execution really come together with, with a real customer. And that allows us to really define those pieces for the partner, which is ultimately.
[00:10:28] Chuck Kiessling: Who we want to succeed.
[00:10:30] Tahmid Ahmed: Yeah, no, I think it’s, you know, for a company like Lenovo, it’s very difficult to always get with every single partner and provide them that support. And that’s where PDG come in, because they’re able to work with our partners to really go and give them that PDM feel or that PAM feel, someone they can call and really define their go-to-market.
[00:10:48] Tahmid Ahmed: And that’s when we can come in and help with that execution. Whether that’s funding, whether that’s go-to-market, whether that’s just bringing Microsoft in the room or our solution areas.
[00:10:57] Vince Menzione: And Paul, one of the things I’ve been hearing quite a bit in the field is like, it’s really, it, uh, there’s a lot of complexity for partners in your world.
[00:11:04] Vince Menzione: To understand the CSP motions, and I think you’ve all solved for that here, and that’s what I was hoping we were gonna uncover here.
[00:11:12] Paul Freeman: Yeah, it’s, it’s even more complicated than that because, you know, part of my job is to try to see ahead a couple of years. You know, when, uh, generative AI came out a couple years ago, we kind of.
[00:11:21] Paul Freeman: Saw the writing on the wall, like this is the direction we have to get ready for, and where do you start? You know, like how do you, how do you get going on it? And clearly Microsoft is gonna be a key player in that, and we’re aligned on the Microsoft stack. So from our point of view, it makes sense. It’s like, oh, we have to figure this out with Microsoft, but we don’t have anyone to call really anymore.
[00:11:40] Paul Freeman: And so, um, so first of all, we got introduced to Lenovo and, and first of all, who knew Lenovo had a licensing division? Okay. I had no idea. Cool. You know. Didn’t know that at all. And, and look, our install base and our existing license revenue is very valuable to companies that maybe wanted us to transition.
[00:11:58] Paul Freeman: You know, we’re with this distributor and then this distributor wants to help us, so they wanna earn our business. That’s right. But they don’t really know how to put the backing behind that. Right. The idea that like, well, bring your install base over and then we’ll, uh, you know, we’ll help you. And then they are kind of vague when they get to the “we’ll help you” part of it.
[00:12:15] Paul Freeman: And I felt like Lenovo really was the first to say like, this is what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna introduce you to PDG, we’re gonna get you on a program and over the course of time we’re gonna help you figure out actually how to do what you wanna do. And I really, that was a new experience for us relative to this space.
[00:12:32] Vince Menzione: Um, licensing space. Take us through the program. It sounds like a playbook.
[00:12:37] Chuck Kiessling: Uh, yeah. So, so our program is, uh, again, it’s, it’s structured but not scripted. So we, we do follow a process, but ultimately our, our entire program is immersive. Um, we don’t have like, uh, a scripted program where it’s just, you know.
[00:12:53] Chuck Kiessling: Come do this, and we guarantee this. It is about learning everything that we can about the partners and understanding where they are in their overall journey. Um, so we wanna understand like what their, their goals are when it comes to Microsoft, because every partner is different, and what their portfolio is.
[00:13:09] Chuck Kiessling: We can’t make any type of recommendations if we don’t understand what that partner actually does. Um, we do our own research to understand where those partners are, and then from there it’s about developing that customized roadmap for every partner that we work with. And we emphasize the fact that it’s customized and immersive just simply because no partner is the same.
[00:13:30] Chuck Kiessling: No partner is gonna come to us and say, I want exactly what you did with that partner. I heard that you guys do it. It, it is about us understanding and driving that. And that’s where that 25 years in this space really comes into play.
[00:13:43] Vince Menzione: It, it strikes me, ’cause we talk about enablement. Enablement feels like I’m reading from a book or I’m getting some training that’s already prescripted.
[00:13:50] Vince Menzione: It’s already, mm-hmm. It sounds like what you’re doing is you’re working directly with the organization almost in a one-to-one fashion. Is that how you’d—
[00:13:58] Chuck Kiessling: Yes.
[00:13:58] Vince Menzione: —describe it?
[00:13:59] Chuck Kiessling: A hundred percent. And, and it’s not just, so, like Paul isn’t the only person in Pulse One that we work with. We work with the marketing team, their delivery team, um, because all of that also comes in.
[00:14:09] Chuck Kiessling: So each one of those teams, um, has a specific ownership of the program that we’re going through. Uh, we, we meet with Paul regularly to give updates across all of those meetings, but those individual meetings are about marketplace enablement, making sure they’re doing the co-sell referrals the right way, uh, making sure that the training plan is following where they truly want to go, and actually future-proofing that training plan to say, like, this is where you are now, but this is where you wanna be in a year, so this is what you have to do to really get there.
[00:14:36] Chuck Kiessling: So yeah, it, it’s about really meeting with them, but, but most of the time it, it’s not just one person, it’s multiple people within the organization, depending on how they’re defined operationally.
[00:14:46] Vince Menzione: And what is Lenovo’s role in this?
[00:14:49] Tahmid Ahmed: I think for us, when we brought in PDG and we had that initial conversation, for us it was, you know, every time I talk to a partner, it’s.
[00:14:56] Tahmid Ahmed: I really wanna understand what they actually need help with, because it’s very easy providing funding, you know? Yeah. You can just say, hey, here’s a bucket of money, let’s go get some customers. But that doesn’t actually mean anything.
[00:15:07] Chuck Kiessling: Right?
[00:15:07] Tahmid Ahmed: It’s about, you know, when we sat down with Paul, it was even yesterday, we had this conversation briefly.
[00:15:11] Tahmid Ahmed: It’s, what help do you need next? You know, is it a new salesperson you need in your organization? Is it more marketing? You know, what have you found with Chuck that your business needs to really move that needle? Because once you start understanding those little levers, then you can actually start pushing that needle and finding out, okay, this is where I’m gonna take the business next.
[00:15:30] Tahmid Ahmed: And then you can start taking advantage of the Microsoft programs, the Lenovo programs, and start fitting into that ecosystem. I kind of like what you said yesterday. Those five or six partners that you work with, if you know what you’re doing, then all those partners will be able to drive your business forward with you.
[00:15:46] Vince Menzione: What does that orchestration look like between the, the organizations? How are you driving that?
[00:15:50] Chuck Kiessling: I, I almost wanna throw that question to Paul, right? Being the person that kind of experiences the—
[00:15:54] Vince Menzione: Of all.
[00:15:55] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah. I mean, well, the, the person that kind of experiences that relationship, like, how do you, how do you feel like that really goes? Like, where do you see each piece fitting?
[00:16:05] Paul Freeman: Yeah, I think it changes over time. So I think, um, in that, look, Lenovo’s a global brand. Microsoft’s a global brand. We’re not a global brand, you know? Um, so for us it’s like, how can we leverage and utilize the resources that are available in the organization? And one of the things, really early on in the conversations, that I was impressed by was that.
[00:16:24] Paul Freeman: Um, Lenovo’s willingness to say, open the door to their marketing organization and get telemarketing support, or to open the door to their engineering team and get engineering support. And even though it has nothing to do directly with licensing, it’s this sort of willingness to, um, utilize the resources that are available across the whole organization to help us with whatever the next thing we need to go forward is.
[00:16:47] Paul Freeman: And then to give us somebody who could assess where we’re at today, which was the first step of what we did with Chuck and his team. And then, and so that was sort of phase one. And then to come up with an action plan and then to be able to work with them, leading our teams through the process of that, knowing that if we, you know, if we need support at a moment, we can go back to Lenovo and say like, hey, this is an area we need help with.
[00:17:09] Paul Freeman: And not to feel so much like it’s this, um, this, you know, small partner who’s trying to deal with this behemoth, you know?
[00:17:17] Vince Menzione: Right.
[00:17:17] Paul Freeman: But to feel like we’re a team working together, and that was very cool for us.
[00:17:21] Vince Menzione: You know? What was the value you were leaving on the table before that? Like, I can—
[00:17:26] Paul Freeman: Oh man. I mean, look, we’ve been a gold partner for a long time.
[00:17:30] Paul Freeman: Uh, if you’ve been in Partner Center, it’s a beast. You know, like it’s hard to figure out what to do if you don’t know what to do, right? Yeah. And so, you know, we’ve made investments in places where the partnerships feel small and where we can leverage, um, you know, our teams, what we wanna do with companies that are maybe just emerging, or companies that have, um, a need for partners like us.
[00:17:50] Paul Freeman: So, to tackle Microsoft is a big thing. Like I would say, sort of like, uh, using the Microsoft Suite or something, you use like 5% of the capabilities of it. And I sort of felt like we were really, really underutilizing the potential of that relationship. Right. Because it was complex, and we didn’t really know.
[00:18:07] Paul Freeman: How to proceed, you know? And so this was super, um, helpful for us from that point of view.
[00:18:11] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah. And if I could throw out like one more piece to that. You know, I also think, um, you know, working with your marketing team, a part of that was also about why do we need to do these things, right? Mm-hmm. Because you, you said it, and I, I, you know, I of course heard the laughs across the room, right?
[00:18:26] Chuck Kiessling: Partner Center’s a beast. And so some of those tasks seem strictly administrative, like, well, why do I need to do this? And I think that was also a piece. Like once, once your team was able to understand the why behind doing these things, it kind of put that puzzle together.
[00:18:42] Paul Freeman: Yeah. That was the annoying part of our initial conversations, because Chuck has so much information.
[00:18:47] Paul Freeman: He is really one of the, uh, most knowledgeable people I’ve met around this particular area. And my questions weren’t just like, what do we have to do? ‘Cause it involved things like training our technicians and getting, um, that’s investment of engineering time. Yep. Uh, to get certified for solutions and all these things.
[00:19:02] Paul Freeman: It’s like, yeah, I know that Microsoft wants us to do those things, but why? What’s the return on investment for us to put all that energy into it? And he had answers for it. And a lot of it had to do with sort of unlocking the next thing that we needed to do to get into. So in order to get to this area, you have to get through this area first.
[00:19:19] Paul Freeman: And, you know, as soon as it makes sense, uh, then the investment and the ROI is now visible, where before it wasn’t visible.
[00:19:27] Vince Menzione: What were the outcomes after you’ve solved all those things?
[00:19:30] Paul Freeman: Well, to be determined to some extent. Like for us, I look at a lot of, a lot of what I’m hearing in the room and in the sessions yesterday, like, you know, the emphasis on enterprise and big deals and moving billions of dollars through the marketplaces.
[00:19:46] Paul Freeman: You know, when it hits the mid-market, I wanna be ready for it. Like for us, when it hits our zone and we get early adopters and, you know, it starts to enter more of the mainstream in our space, I wanna be positioned in a place where we don’t have to worry about figuring out the algorithm and how to get at the top of the list.
[00:20:03] Paul Freeman: Like, we are already at the top of the list. And, and then those companies, as they come in, we make sense for them. So that’s kind of, I’m trying to get us positioned into that space. Okay.
[00:20:13] Vince Menzione: Any, any—
[00:20:13] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah. Um, I, I was, I was kind of along the same lines, right? So, you know, there’s a lot of things with Pulse One that are still in motion.
[00:20:21] Chuck Kiessling: But, um, to that point, lately there’s been a, a pretty heavy focus on the marketplace, which, the marketplace itself is kind of a strategy within the strategy, right? So there’s that overall partnership strategy, but when you’re, you’re using the marketplace, you, you have to use it strategically, because there’s the options for co-sell versus in-market versus resell and transactable and, and private offers.
[00:20:43] Chuck Kiessling: So utilizing those things the right way with the right people at the right time becomes really important. I think there’s going to be, you know, I think we have a really good strategy in place for that, and it’s in progress, uh, the process being built out. I think there’s gonna be a, a lot of value there.
[00:20:58] Vince Menzione: What was the most valuable thing that Lenovo brought to the table?
[00:21:01] Vince Menzione: I’ll let you answer that.
[00:21:03] Tahmid Ahmed: I think for us it’s, you know, really understanding what customers want. We get to speak to lots and lots of customers on a day-to-day basis, you know, and a lot of them feel like they can speak to us about some of the problems that they’re actually facing on a day-to-day basis.
[00:21:17] Tahmid Ahmed: And for us it’s recommending that right partner. And kind of going back to what the guys were saying, it’s when that customer says, okay, I need this specific set of skills. Who do we go to? You know, is that the mid-market team? Is that, you know, X partner over here? And then we can start recommending those different, that ecosystem, and create that ecosystem to go, hey, Mr.
[00:21:39] Tahmid Ahmed: Customer, this is who you need to talk to next. So that’s what we’re trying to create. So when those customers come, we have a plethora of partners that they can go out to.
[00:21:49] Vince Menzione: There are still many MSPs in the room. Um, how should they think about their business differently moving forward? And what, what’s the, I wanna say the go-dos, or at least, as we say at Microsoft, the go-dos, the advice and learnings that you can bring to them today?
[00:22:08] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah, I think, um, you know, for me, don’t think of your Microsoft practice as its own kind of freestanding, siloed practice. Incorporate what you’re doing in regards to that practice as, as an operational component to the entire organization. Include multiple people. Don’t, don’t try to put everything on one person who you deem your alliance manager.
[00:22:33] Chuck Kiessling: Incorporate marketing, incorporate the finance team, your operations team, and then make sure that you have a primary stakeholder who all of that rolls up to, like Paul, to make sure that those things are on track.
[00:22:45] Vince Menzione: And how do you, how do you measure that? How do you test it as PDG when you’re working with a partner like Paul’s?
[00:22:51] Chuck Kiessling: Um, the, the initial, like when we do that initial conversation and we’re, we’re meeting with those stakeholders, um, those stakeholders really tell us everything about what we need to know on how they manage their Microsoft relationship. And that initially kind of sets off some, some light bulbs of, okay, like we need to kind of deep dive here.
[00:23:12] Chuck Kiessling: We need to deep dive here, just because some of those focal points are things that maybe they’ve just known for years but didn’t realize other pieces have been added in or have changed. So like, that initial meeting with the stakeholders to understand what they’re trying to get and who is who in the zoo.
[00:23:29] Chuck Kiessling: Uh, that really helps us out to, to get started.
[00:23:32] Vince Menzione: Any final comments from Lenovo?
[00:23:34] Tahmid Ahmed: No, I think, you know, what Chuck was just mentioning about meeting different people within the, you know, like Paul’s business. And I think for the MSPs, you guys are the closest to the end customer, but we always stop at the IT manager or we always stop at procurement managers.
[00:23:48] Tahmid Ahmed: We’re selling, and I see this globally, and when I sit down with customers, I don’t really want to speak to the IT manager. He’s just looking at the tech, but the people who are gonna use it are HR, marketing. Those are the people I think the MSPs in the room need to start talking to, because those are your actual customers who are gonna start using that product set.
[00:24:07] Tahmid Ahmed: They’re gonna provide you the real feedback, you know. Go ask marketing how Copilot’s going for them. Go ask, you know, finance how Cowork is working for them, because those are the guys who are gonna start moving the needle within your business. And then you don’t have to actually sell anything, because they’ll come to you and go, how do I do this?
[00:24:22] Tahmid Ahmed: Um, optimizing licenses is something that we see partners miss all the time. Um, especially recently, over the last few years, lots of enterprise customers who used to be on EAs are no longer on EAs. They’re moving over to CSP. You know, don’t go in with the whole wholesale pitch of, you know, I can sell you this, or I can do this for you.
[00:24:40] Tahmid Ahmed: Save them some money. You know, it’s very easy to go to a customer and say, hey, look, you’re over-licensed, or, do you even know what this license is doing? And you’ll be surprised at the amount of people who go, no, I just bought it because someone told me to buy it.
[00:24:52] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah.
[00:24:52] Tahmid Ahmed: That’s when they’re gonna start seeing the real value that you are providing as a managed service provider.
[00:24:57] Tahmid Ahmed: Then they become sticky, and once you’ve got that stickiness, incorporating new technology that Microsoft releases becomes super, super easy.
[00:25:05] Vince Menzione: Well, thrilled for this conversation. The other thing I’ll say to the MSP community is what I, one of the things I believe in, is that customers buy from people they trust.
[00:25:15] Vince Menzione: The MSP is closest to the customer. You know that.
[00:25:18] Chuck Kiessling: Yeah.
[00:25:19] Vince Menzione: And having the ability to do that, to provide that service to your customers, I think is outstanding. So, uh, yeah. Thrilled, thrilled to have you, PDG.
[00:25:28] Chuck Kiessling: Appreciate it.
[00:25:29] Vince Menzione: And Lenovo, so great to have you in the room with us today.
[00:25:31] Tahmid Ahmed: Glad to be here.
[00:25:32] Vince Menzione: Thank you for, thank you for being here. And I know you have a little booth outside, so please come, come and see everyone. Give us a chat. Yeah. But we have one more session, so I want everybody to sit there for a while. Thank you so much. Don’t go anywhere.
[00:25:45] Chuck Kiessling: Appreciate it, y’all.
[00:25:48] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. Subscribe where you listen, and head over to theultimatepartner.com for show notes, related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner LIVE event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th.
[00:26:15] Vince Menzione: Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter, because being in the room changes everything.
