Solution Area Specialists - Unified Support

at  Microsoft

The Solution Area Specialist for Support Solutions role is to drive and close Microsoft Enterprise Unified Support opportunities to ensure customers are supported throughout all stages of the product lifecycle, improving their health, and enabling customer outcomes and consumption. The Support Specialist leverages Microsoft’s unique expertise, including direct access to product teams, to help customers use their Microsoft investments as productively as possible.
We are always learning. Insatiably curious. We lean into uncertainty, take risks, and learn quickly from our mistakes. We build on each other’s ideas because we are better together. We stand in awe of what humans dare to achieve and are motivated every day to empower others to do more and achieve more through our technology and innovation. Together we make a difference.
Microsoft is on a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. You can help us to achieve our mission

REQUIRED/MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• 7+ years technology-related sales or account management experience
• OR Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or related field AND 6+ years technology-related sales or account management experience.

Additional or Preferred Qualifications

• 6+ years solution or services sales experience.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations

• Engages in conversations with customers aligned to their industry to introduce how Microsoft Unified Support solutions could enable digital transformation areas on Microsoft platform that is aligned with the customer’s industry and turns opportunities into deals. Initiates conversations with customers on Enterprise Support in one or more solution areas, in collaboration with Support delivery teams and partners. Creates guiding examples of support transformation through direct engagement, workshops, and events etc.
• Collaborates with team members (e.g., the account team unit (ATU), Specialist Team Unit (STU), and/or Customer Succes Unit (CSU)) to discover new opportunities and generate new leads. Drives incremental revenue growth through personal campaigns (e.g., customer portfolio analysis and profiling) or internal sources (e.g., solution area co-selling). Leads conversations with strategic/high-potential customers (e.g., high budget, global account, highly competitive) along with account teams or support delivery teams. Interfaces with customers and builds relationships via value selling. Applies Microsoft’s sales process (MSP) to determine the quality of the opportunity and whether to proceed.
• Identifies opportunities to drive cloud and Support consumption, and grow business with existing customers by initiating conversations, providing demos or quotes, and collaborating with partners or internal teams (e.g., Customer Succes Architects, Technical Sales Professionals, Global Black Belts). For project scoping and engagement, ensures rapid and robust deployment plan at point of sale that is validated by support delivery teams or partners.Drives advanced Unified Support workloads and usage.
• Explores and assesses the business needs and technology readiness of customers. Articulates business value and long-term implications of proposed Support solutions for customer business. Collaborates with internal teams and Support delivery teams to lead the proposal or development of solutions that align with customer and Microsoft priorities.
• Develops strategies for driving and closing strategic and/or prioritized opportunities. Collaborates with account teams to ensure alignment with the account strategy and plan. Leads deal execution with the deal teams across the organization. Executes the implementation of deal close plans (e.g., how to map timeline, engage the customer, get customer buy-in and commitment) to de-risk and drive predictable deal closure.
• Sales Excellence –Manages the end-to-end sales and delivery success of the assigned territory; conducts forecasting for accounts and develops a portfolio and territory plan to drive intentional selling aligned with strategic priorities aimed at maintaining levels of client satisfaction
• Leads conversations within Microsoft. Mentors others and develops strategies for best practice sharing across subsidiaries. Contributes ideas that can be instituted across Microsoft.
• Initiates conversations with prospective customers at events to expand external network. Acts as a subject matter expert in your area.
• Collaborates with the global black belts (GBB) to analyze competitor products, solutions, and/or services and implements strategies to position Microsoft against competitors in customer communication. Proactively provides analysis of the competitive landscape in supported solution area. Evaluates opportunities and makes recommendations on pursuit or withdrawal. Holistic value of MSFT platform versus single-point solution that positions MSFT favorably against competitors.
• Collaborates with extended sales team, partners and resources and leverages customer insights or industry knowledge. Contributes to exploring business and emerging opportunities to optimize the portfolio and support customer innovation.
• Reviews feedback report and sets long-term strategies aimed at maintaining levels of client satisfaction. Coaches others on ensuring customer satisfaction and decreasing dissatisfaction by establishing recovery action plans to improve clients’ overall experience. Manages and/or orchestrates sales and delivery success through the account team and pursuit team.
• Leads forecasting for accounts and develops a portfolio and territory plan to drive value selling with on-strategy engagements in high propensity accounts. Engages with internal and external stakeholders on business planning, Rhythm of Business (ROB) meetings to review and plan for accounts in the assigned territory.