Overview
Microsoft CEMA Africa is
seeking an innovative Sales Leader in Education to lead and orchestrate a team
to work across all Education accounts to enable a customer-centric approach,
that drives simplicity, and tech intensity and delivers against educational
priority focus areas:
Teaching
& Learning – deliver tech-enabled learning with hybrid and blended teaching
and learning and personalized student experiences
Cloud
Transformation – drive digital transformation in campus, schools,
and research institutions
Skills
and Employability – Prepare students to be workplace-ready
Achieved through:
Orchestrating
a diverse education v-team of impact relationship, technical, and industry
sellers to expand strategic education customer relationships to drive larger
impact and targeted business growth and drive the jointly agreed customer
multi-year Digital Transformation business strategy, delivering agreed outcomes
Mobilizing,
orchestrating, mentoring, and leading the Microsoft Education v-team, partners,
and customer to help solidify the path to the complex yet exciting journey that
is Digital Transformation
Identifying
business needs and industry readiness of customers. Collaborates with the
account management team and internal partners to land value propositions for
solutions with customers. Helps craft prioritized services and solutions that
align with customers’ needs.
Disrupting
the mindset of customers and sales teams by bringing innovative ideas that
showcase the case for change and Microsoft’s unique value proposition for
education
Articulating
the Education Transformation Framework strategic vision, followed by the
customer maturity framework/path for customers to take to enable their digital
transformation based on their stage and objectives/capabilities they want to
achieve.
Presenting
and demonstrating key end-user solutions/capabilities and technical
architectures aligned to a customer maturity framework and looking holistically
end to end to the resources ready for deployment & adoption (usage)
assistance for smooth customer experience.
Responsibilities
Industry-specific
Serve
as a thought leader on education industry-focused sales as the Industry subject
matter expert in digital transformation account planning.
Proactively
build the external stakeholder network and leverage internal stakeholders to
engage them.
Acts
as an industry advisor to the executive-level business decision-makers at the
customer’s business. Shares best practices in stakeholder management across
industries.
Generate
demand through industry events and other activities/presentations/customer
events (e.g., large-scale, high profile). Leverages such engagements to craft
tailored industry solution opportunities, working and selling closely with
Microsoft’s partners.
Customer Engagement
Builds
and maintains relationships with executives and business and technical decision
makers at high levels of the customer’s organization through consultative
engagement to establish Rhythm of Business (RoB) with customer sponsors to
highlight the value of the Microsoft solutions and subsequent Return on
Investment (ROI). Seeks to deepen relationships with customers during
interactions by being customer-focused and consistently honoring commitments
and connecting the customer to Microsoft executives, and partners with them to
foster trust and brand growth and loyalty through multiple levels (e.g.,
managers, executives) of the customer’s organization in the assigned accounts.
Assists partners in joint-selling by establishing a joint desire to create new
go-to markets by starting to build relationships in new markets (e.g., Vice
President). Leverages digital selling methods (e.g., digital) to grow your
network and create a pipeline, consume account-based marketing outputs and
reflect in the engagement strategy in our customer plan.
Proactively
develops a comprehensive understanding of the customer’s business and
technology needs and priorities for each assigned account. Identifies
opportunities to drive optimizations and new business and technology solutions
based on customer’s strategies. Presents solutions and ideas based on customer
insights. Advocates on behalf of the customer internally, ensuring requests and
needs of assigned accounts are being addressed. If the industry is aligned,
also develops a comprehensive understanding of the customer’s industry.
Understands
customer drivers of business transformation leads new opportunities and
orchestrates internal teams to accelerate the customer’s digital
transformation. Engages with customers to lead strategic technology
direction/transformation within assigned accounts customers. Proactively
mitigate competitive risk. Mitigate competitive risk. Ensures line-of-business
wins are captured (e.g., testimonials) for referencing through insightful
listening.
Account Management
Develops
and oversees the execution of account plans utilizing common sales and delivery
methodology for the Microsoft sales organization for multiple accounts to
ensure Microsoft revenue targets and customer business needs are met. Drives
accountability to deliver on account plans among the extended virtual teams and
internal industry experts. Leads extended team and embraces partners to scale
business by understanding partner goals and creating an interest in mutual
business growth. Ensures achievement of revenue and consumption targets and
drives integrated joint account governance through customer plans on a regular
frequency. Identifies initial stakeholders, customer needs, and customer
priorities. Proposes initial Solutions/Sales Plays.
Thinks
strategically about customer planning for assigned accounts, setting standards
and priorities, outlining where to and how to invest resources of the account
management team and other stakeholders, engaging internal and external decision
makers on long-term business planning, and anticipating needs of assigned
accounts to turn enterprise accounts into strategic accounts. Influences to
scale strategic plans (inclusive of partners) and involves senior leadership
team. Ensures teams are documenting in the Account Plan.
Anticipates
moves within assigned accounts, as well as potential problems and ways to
mitigate risks. Determines prioritization of action for multiple assigned
accounts based on customer needs, sales-generating importance, growth
opportunities, and account risks, all while maintaining a high level of
commitment and accountability for assigned accounts. Consult and coordinate
with the account management team to make necessary adjustments, determine what
actions to tackle first, and re-adjust priorities to respond to pressing and
changing demands.
Expands
network of key internal (e.g., Industry Solutions [IS]) and external partners
for accounts to ensure execution of core tasks and account transactions. Grows
sales and partner impact and engages mainstream partners to develop and promote
mutually beneficial customer business and technology transformation strategies.
Where applicable, shares opportunities outbound with partners, and
reviews/accepts opportunities shared inbound. Proactively engages and works
with partners’ sellers directly to drive non-qualified opportunity momentum and
deal closure inclusive of partners.
Sales Excellence
Seeks
customer feedback (both formal and informal) of assigned accounts to identify
and understand the drivers of satisfaction and/or dissatisfaction. Leverages
internal resources to support customer needs. Orchestrates others (e.g.,
Customer Success Account Management [CSAM]) to anticipate issues/risks on
customer satisfaction, determine the root cause of problems, remove blockers,
and establish recovery action plans as needed to improve customers’ overall
experience. Proactively establishes agreement on success measures and manages
the execution of success measures to prevent the need for recovery plans.
Leads
and orchestrates extended virtual teams and key stakeholders with deep industry
expertise (e.g., customers’ sponsors) to expand relationships with
decision-makers and stakeholders of assigned accounts by leveraging
best-in-class sales and communication techniques and tools to meet customer
needs and accelerate sales. Document and create a stakeholder map in the
account plan of the key decision makers, influencers, sentiment, etc.
Educates
decision makers of assigned accounts on Microsoft’s value proposition aligned
to customers’ business objectives. Establishes the competitive advantage.
Develops plans to offer solutions that satisfy customers’ key performance
indicators (KPIs) and align the right partner solution for customer industry
needs.
Develops
value-proposition presentations (e.g., with the use of business cases) and
specialized business plans for customers that drive business outcomes to
generate business and upsells. Presents business plans to customers to generate
new non-qualified opportunities.
Implements
strategies to engage relevant stakeholders of assigned accounts and create
and/or identify upselling/cross-selling non-qualified opportunities and drive
consumption of Microsoft solutions while utilizing common sales and delivery
methodology for the Microsoft sales organization.
Qualifications
5+
years experience working in an industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail,
Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Government, Education) and/or driving
digital transformation
OR
Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Technology, or related field AND 3+ years
experience working in a relevant industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail,
Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, Government, Education) and/or driving
digital transformation
OR
Master’s Degree in Business Administration AND 2+ years experience working in
an industry (e.g., Financial Services, Retail, Manufacturing, Healthcare,
Energy, Government, Education) and/or driving digital transformation.
Solution
Sales experience
Industry Knowledge
Proactively
builds and maintains a strong knowledge of Microsoft’s product landscape,
solutions, and strategy in the industry of assigned accounts, as well as of the
business priorities and potential threats the customers face. Coordinates with
internal industry experts (e.g., industry teams, industry-specific partners) to
gather industry data of assigned accounts and improve planning. Demonstrates a
strong understanding of the customer’s business strategy and the direction of
the industry.
How To Apply
