Referrals: Step-by-step: Setting up Referral Profile and What to do with an FPC customer referral

Views:

Overview

When your organization signs the FastTrack Partner Community Terms and Conditions, you Opt-in to receive Standard Referrals and FastTrack Ready Benefit Referrals (only for FastTrack Ready Partner Program members). The following video is a guided tour.

Get setup to receive referrals

Ensure that your company has correctly setup your Referral profile to be able receive one or both referral types.

1. Verify your opt-in status is reflected correctly by going to your Referral Profile (must be logged in) on the Community Portal. All partners should have the Referral Ready section marked “Yes” and FastTrack Ready Partners should have the FastTrack Benefit Referral section marked “Yes.”

2. Update your Referral Attributes in your Referral Profile on the FPC. The referral matching process evaluates several attributes to ensure a strong match. Update opt-in selections in the Referral Profile:

Languages served
Industries served (Education/Government/Non-profit)
Target Customer Size
Countries served (beyond the home country of the MPN ID location)

Be sure that your Referral Profile reflects the types of referrals you wish to receive.

3. Assign a referral contact. During the onboarding process, the partner organization will provide a referral contact or distribution list to receive referral notification emails. This contact must be able to respond to referrals within the 2-business day SLA. You may view the contact email listed by going to the FPC Portal and from the top navigation select My Workspace/Program Memberships. Select the correct program membership and scroll to Main Program Contacts. If changes need to be made to this contact, partners must submit a Support ticket.

4. FastTrack Ready Partners should be prepared to deliver the FastTrack Benefit.

5. Ensure one or more contacts has access to the FPX (FPX) in Partner Center:

Partner Expectations

Referral delivery expectations

Execute on FPC Referrals

Watch for the Referral Notification email which will be sent to the Referral contact. See example below for Benefit and Standard Referrals. This is a generic email notifying the partner that there is a referral requiring a response in the FPX. Click the link in the email to reach the FPX and view information on the customer contact, workloads requested and other information on the referral.
Review the referral in FPX: Under the Referrals tab, the new referral will be displayed in the list. Select the referral to view:
- Active Usage for customer workloads
- Engagement management notes to understand the customer’s intent
Accept or decline the referral. Click on the Edit button to action the referral within two business days of the referral assignment (date of email notification). See details in the Referrals tab article.
- Select Accept to take the referral. Ensure the Referral Status will automatically switch to Active. It will remain active until the referral has been fulfilled.
- Gather customer contact information to begin engagement.
- Account team contacts: Where the requestor is from Microsoft, establish initial contact prior to the first customer meeting.
- Select Decline if you do not wish to receive the referral and it will be reassigned to a new partner. You will need to select a reason for why you are declining the referral. Note: In some cases, it may be after you have already accepted the referral when you discover that you cannot fulfill the request. At that time, you may decline the referral and identify the reason why you are declining.
Contact the customer: Within the 2-business day SLA. Ensure the Microsoft Account Team aligned to the customer is included in all correspondence.
Schedule customer kick-off meeting and agree on next actions:
- For FastTrack Benefit referrals, present what is in-scope for the FastTrack Benefit using the Kick-off deck.
- For all referrals, showcase value-added services.
- Submit CPOR claim for applicable services.
Deliver Benefit or non-benefit services.
Identify additional engagement opportunities: Closely follow the usage progress in the FRP Dashboard via FPX and check for additional workload opportunities.
Close the Referral: Once your organization has completed the work outlined in the referral, you will need to return to the FPX to inform Microsoft. Note that this may be an ongoing relationship with a customer. Microsoft is only looking for a signal as to when the work outlined in the RFA is finished.
- From the Referrals tab in FPX, select the referral and click the Edit button.
- Mark Status as Engagement Complete
- Indicate whether Value-added Services were sold and the estimated value.
- Provide any helpful notes for the Microsoft team in the Notes section. These are visible in the FastTrack customer record.

Assignments and Reassignments

Existing Assignments: When making a partner-customer match, Microsoft will check to see if there are any existing partners who have claimed that customer for CPOR. If that partner is endorsed for the workloads on the referral request and meets the other referral criteria (language, seat size, industry, location), that partner will receive the referral. If the claiming partner is not endorsed or does not meet one of the other criteria, the referral will be sent to an endorsed partner.
Split Assignments: By ensuring customers are matched with partners who have workload expertise, Microsoft can increase customer satisfaction and successful delivery. If a single partner cannot be found that is endorsed for all workloads on the referral request, the referral may be split between partners.
We are no longer accepting direct assignment requests. Customers are free to work with the partner of their choice without a referral. Microsoft field may also make direct partner-customer connections.
Reassignments: Referrals are created using extensive matching criteria to avoid the need to reassign. If a partner cannot support the customer engagement, they may decline the referral by selecting Edit on the referral record in FPX and Decline. A reason for declining must be provided. The referral will then be assigned to a new partner.
Common reassignment reasons
- Customer is already working with another FRP
- Customer is unresponsive
- Customer is unable to work with FRP due to legal/political issues
- FRP does not support customer type (Gov/Edu)
- Requested Language not supported by FRP

Our response to common rejected reassignment reasons
- Reason: "Customer prefers to work with FastTrack Center."
  - Response: Partners are Microsoft FastTrack representatives.
- Reason: "Account team does not wish to work with a partner."
  - Response: The partners deliver at the same level of excellence as the FTC.
- Reason: "Partner is at capacity."
  - Response: While we would grant this on a one-time basis, partners are able to turn off referrals for a limited time to manage capacity issues.