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When The Math Doesn’t Work

Something’s rotten in Denmark…or Denver, in this case.

I have it on very good authority that registration for Small Business Symposium 2.0 is right around 500.

I also have it on that same very good authority that the number of people registered to attend Symposium, but not also registered to attend Worldwide Partner Conference is only about 30 people. That makes sense, what with Symposium being held the day before WPC.

Now, it doesn’t take a CPA to tell you that makes roughly 470 people who should be part of the Symposium/SBSC group on Connect, WPC’s kickass networking tool.

Take away the 53 loyal footsoldiers who are already getting their yellow on, and we’re still left with 417 Symposium folks or so who are MIA, AWOL or just plain missing the boat.

For all the whining, moaning and complaining about MS not noticing or giving a rat’s patoot about their partners focused on SMB…

The actual truth of the matter is that most people (beyond the usual suspects) in the community are proving they are unable, unwilling or just too dense to recognize a golden opportunity to demonstrate to Microsoft just how committed they are to their business and their focus on SMB, without costing themselves anything over what they’ve already decided to spend by attending WPC in the first place.

Put another way (and this is the most important point I’m gonna make)…

Math Matters to Microsoft

A gigantic corporation like Microsoft is not going to magically decide…

Hey, you know what? Jimmy Joe Bob’s Computer & Bait Shop is an intensely strategic Partner for us. Let’s make sure we get some resources their way. Send over a couple of those spare Lamborghinis we keep around for just this sort of thing.

You know why that is? Because somewhere inside MS, someone has to justify to someone else (usually their boss, or even their boss’ boss) that putting money into things like the SBSC Program, or initiatives to support SMB practitioners, or even something as simple as a postcard mailer, has some kind of demonstrable ROI for the company.

Believe it or not, MS isn’t a bottomless pit of money. No company run worth a damn is. If you have customers who never worry about budgets or cost overruns or hitting performance targets…well, you obviously niche in higher education.

But in the real world, numbers matter. Sure, they don’t always tell the whole story. But they prove a point. They are something tangible that the aforementioned someone can show to the aforementioned someone else and say “Hey, this is something worth us paying some attention, and money.”

By and large, the flagship MS conferences have not had a whole lot of SMB-specific content. Until last year, I wouldn’t have believed that WPC could offer much for the SMB provider. But the excellence of Symposium 1.0 and the Tweety Room proved it. And I’m convinced the response to Symposium is helping change other areas as well.

Until V’s field reporting this year, I wouldn’t have believed TechEd could offer much to the SMB provider. And last year, neither did V (here and here too). I truly believe these kinds of things are changing because some people in the SMB/SBSC community keep pushing themselves, and the community, ahead.

But you know what? You need to get serious and you need to get visible. You need to quit skulking around on the outskirts and step up.

I’m not the first to preach this, and I won’t be the last.

But it’s way past time for you to start doing your part.

|| posted by chris under business, clueless, community, opinion, thumbs down || comments (2) || ||