Sage News and Discussion

I don't expect these academies to survive the year in their present format. Simple math seems to say if your channel is stagnant or moving away from Sage products that fewer and fewer people might attend each Sage Academy. Through March 31, 2013 the pricing on these is 50% off. https://www.evernote.com/shard/s1/sh/70d93747-0808-458f-bc10-83d2882a5f68/10651b02dadc66360a7d7a1bd1eb644b

Note the disclaimer at the bottom - you'll get a one week notice if Sage cancels - so don't purchase non-refundable airline tickets...

Also says, if the channel is moving away or stagnent, maybe the stuff in the Academies is more academic than real

I have been to all except the Consulting. In each one, the content was well worth the overall cost of attendance. if you haven't gone yet, you really ought to think about squeezing it in.

The reality is most firms are selling into their established customer base. Even when you read the ""win wires"" they're often about up-selling an existing customer. I believe that is a different skill set than the days when one or two deals a month were the norm. Of course Sage would like to get back to those days so they push those skills. Disclaimer: I've not been to the sales academies but in general have heard they are meh

I am concerned with the whole gambit of partner programs with Tom's departure. Most of this was started under Taylor McDonald and then maintained by Tom. Some growth in the programs occurred under Tom but most of it started, grew, and matured under Taylor. Most of the champions who were in place at Sage for the program areas (Stephanie Kleber, Dawn Westerberg, and Rob Johnson) have left leaving only Ed on the consulting side. With Tom's departure, the components of the channel management department are being spread throughout the company which means there will no longer be a principal partner advocate within Sage. I'm not worried as I try to not spend time fretting over things I can't control or even influence. However, that doesn't preclude me from making contingency plans and preparing myself for another change.

@JerryNorman we have sent staff to every program. We've run something like 10 people through consulting, 6 through sales, 3 through marketing, 1 through firm of the future, and 4 through Sage Leadership. Every new hire goes through one of the academies depending on their job responsibilities. It's just part of our initial 180 day training program for each employee. Obviously we believe strongly in the value they provided. I just don't know how long they will last.

Shawn, you're using them as they were intended. If I had a larger firm, I'd do the same. they've already lasted longer than I'd expected.

Many people say they are good. But has anybody had a measurable ROI to prove that point. It's like people who say XYZ Sales Academy is great, yet they can't really tell if it made any meanigfull difference.

I got a lot out of Firm of the Future - it changed my business dramatically for the better.

I can say that the Consulting Academy and the Firm of the Future have both had direct and measurable impact on our business. I cannot say the same for the Sales Academy.

I can only speak to the consulting academy since I haven't attended the others. @MarkChinsky Over the 5 years since we changed our business model to Firm Of The Future, the ROI would be in the neighborhood of $300K. Meaning that all projects were more profitable and because of the change in business model we got more projects than we would have under the old model (and those new projects were the more profitable ones). For a 2-person firm, that's significant. @WayneSchulz I agree with your assessment that these academies will not continue for the long-term in their current forms. The biggest problem with the sales academy and the marketing academy is that both of them are run by non-Sage consulting companies. Those folks are desperate to put butts in seats or they don't get paid. Ed reluctantly agreed to applying the pricing promotion to the consulting academy to help out the folks doing the other academies. However, the FOTF symposia will not be discounted. In the long run, I think that getting the consulting academy and the symposia outside of the confines of the Sage community will be highly beneficial for those programs since they can be marketed to a dramatically wider audience.