[updated to remove some inaccuracies about Susanne's microspeak - sorry Susanne] 

There are always special offers of some form or another from most companies and Microsoft is no exception (well, except in August when we are still in post financial year clean up :-)).  Anyway, the UK SMB Girl aka Susanne Dansey at Westcoast has listed a couple of these.:

N-3 Open Value Subscription Offer

Promotion ends: 31 December 2007
Programme: OV Subscription

Up-to-Date Discount (UTD) is a 50 per cent discount in OV Subscription for the first year invoice for any licence for the current (N) or previous (N-1) version of the selected Small Business or Professional Desktop platform products. For the OVS N-3 promo eligibility for receiving the 50 per cent discount is granted to N-3 versions of Office licences (back to Office 2000). Promtional SKUs are identified on the price list by the word ‘Promo’.

Future proofing Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2

Here’s a heads up to all Microsoft Partners thinking about licensing SBS 2003 so that you can save 15% on Windows SBS 2003 R2 (standard edition) for you and your clients (should you wish!).

Offer: Save 15% on Windows SBS 2003 R2 Standard Edition

License types: L only, L+SA

Offer descriptions: Partners get an additional 15% off the regular Partner price for the Standard Edition of Windows SBS 2003 R2 (license only and license + Software Assurance). Partners are eligible to pass savings onto their customers. Offer good only when bought in a VL License (L or L+SA). SA will allow customer to upgrade to the next version of Windows SBS for free.

Offer fulfillment: Partner discounts are available directly from official Microsoft distributors (such as me)

Duration and timing: September 2007 through December 31, 2007

Considerations: The Windows Small Business Server CALs are not included in this discount

How to hold a conversation with your customer regarding this offer AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, how to talk about SBS 2003:

1. “Can I ask you, if you got hit by a virus, are you 100% confident that your network will stay up and running and help you recover any lost data?”
2. “How would it impact you if your server went down and you were unable to access your e-mail for a couple of days?”
3. “On a positive note, how would it benefit your company if your team could access e-mail and company data while working from home or on the road? How would it help you personally?”
4. “I want to tell you about an opportunity to upgrade the technology in your office and save a lot of money in the process. As a (state level) Partner, we’re teaming up with Microsoft to offer Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 - a high-value, low cost network server that you can depend on to address the security and productivity issues we’ve been talking about.”
5. “You can also save up to 15 percent off the regular price using volume licensing if you buy before December 31st. Additionally you can have more peace of mind because you will be able to upgrade to future releases for free if you choose to buy the license with Software Assurance.”
6. “We’d like to meet with you for 30 minutes to discuss your needs further and see if Windows SBS 2003 R2 is the right technology for your business….” (book appointment)

Obviously there is more at each site, but this should be a starter for ten.

ttfn

David