Microsoft Online Peer Groups – Overview
Growing Your Business Through Learning, Sharing and Doing!
 

The groups will be recruited from applicants who attend one or more of eight business sessions at SMB Nation:
1. Why am I in Business?
2. Structuring Your Business for Growth
3. Creating Your Optimal Business Plan
4. Managing Your Business Using the Numbers
5. Creating Your Optimal Marketing Plan
6. Hiring an Employee and Creating an Employee Manual
7. Creating and Using a Sales Process
8. Creating and Building Vendor Relations

Structure
The eight SMB Nation topics will be organized into six Peer Group meeting topics:

1. Kick-off, Vision and Mission
2. Business Planning
3. Sales and Marketing
4. HR and Metrics
5. Budgeting and Finance
6. Vendors and Wrap-up

The online Peer Groups consist of up to 15 member partners per group. The meetings are scheduled at uniform times, typically Tuesday through Thursday. Each meeting will focus on practical, useful content and tools that help you improve your business over the upcoming month and beyond.

Homework assignments are required and will supplement the learning. Peer group sharing is also a key part of the best practice exchange and overall learning.

Application Process
Partners may submit applications online by completing the survey on www.htgpeergroups.com.  The application contains profiling questions designed to help assign partners to the optimal peer group. Completed survey is required to be a candidate for selection. 

Selection Criteria
The target audience is Microsoft partners who would highly benefit from the peer group experience to grow their businesses. There are no restrictions as to size or partner level, although only partners in North America should apply.

NOTE: Your acceptance into the Microsoft Online Peer Group program requires a commitment on your part. Please do not apply unless you will successfully complete the program and assignments.

• Complete a minimum of f5 of 6 homework assignments.
• Set, achieve and document a minimum of five of six goal assignments.
• Pay a $100 membership fee to defray expenses.
• Install and use Microsoft Groove to facilitate the exchange of files, discussions and homework.

Member “Gets”
Partners who complete the Peer Group program gain industry knowledge and peer interaction they can call on in the future. Additionally, Microsoft agrees to give each partner who successfully completes the program a copy of Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition. ($595 value)

A Peer Group “graduation celebration” will be held at the 2008 SMB Summit conference April 18-21 in Dallas, TX.

Goal Setting
Each meeting will end with members setting one goal to complete before the next meeting. Partners will provide a brief written report on their success in achieving the goal before the next meeting. Goal results will be shared with Microsoft to measure the success of the program.

Homework
Each session will have an assignment related to the course content. Homework may include topics such as sharing a great business idea, preparing a basic marketing plan, writing a vision and mission statement, submitting a portion of a business plan, preparing a list of key metrics or developing an annual forecast. Homework will be evaluated by the facilitator and/or HTS moderator and graded as Pass/Fail.

Facilitators and Content Providers
Group facilitators and meeting presenters are selected from industry-leading consultants and speakers. Each presenter will typically participate in one of the six sessions based on their expertise. Presenters are selected based on industry knowledge and are subject to change based on scheduling.

Peer Group Management
Online Peer Group meetings will be held using Microsoft Live Meeting. Homework will be submitted using Microsoft Groove. Decisions regarding membership, participation and completion are made by HTS.

Questions about the program?
Please email Arlin Sorensen at v-arlins@microsoft.com.