If You Say You Do Everything, They Will Call You For Nothing!

As I scroll through my LinkedIn feed this morning while drinking my energy drink, trying to focus my mind for the upcoming day, I am struck by an influx of articles around the importance of focus and the ability to prioritize daily tasks. The theme is simple, in order to be successful you must prioritize, focus and learn to say “no” in order to be the best version of yourself. I can’t help but think, shouldn’t this be true at an organizational level to maximize growth? 

In a competitive ecosystem full of SAP partners, it is easy to be enticed by the shiny penny and say “yes!” to every opportunity discovered when talking to SAP, regardless of your capabilities, competencies, customer stories, and subject matter experts. Naturally, every partner wants to be relevant and top of mind for SAP, but by overselling your organization, inevitably you will fall short of SAP and the customer’s expectations. 

For years Lauren and I struggled with this unhealthy dynamic within our ecosystem and now we work tirelessly to marry best-of-breed partners to customers via the SAP Channel. At Ascend Source, we preach the importance of bringing value to SAP and remaining steadfast and focused on the things they do exceptionally well. By staying focused and messaging with consistency, SAP learns our partner’s stories and strengths while simultaneously increasing brand awareness and ensuring adoption of proven technology. These activities put SAP in a position to leverage a partner when appropriate to help drive a software transaction thus putting the partner in a strong position for a services win that is repeatable. 

“If you say you do everything, SAP will call you for nothing.”