No, no. That wasn’t a question. 

In one of my all-time favorite movies, 2006’s The Devil Wears Prada, the no-nonsense magazine editor Miranda Priestly (played by the legendary Meryl Streep) is ambushed by her publisher.

They’re trying to push her out of her job so they can hire someone younger and less expensive for the role. Then, Miranda has an ambush of her own.

(Mild spoilers for the movie ahead. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it. I’ll be here when you get back!)

During her long tenure at the fictional magazine Runway, Priestly’s built a vast network of collaborators. Writers, designers, photographers, models—these connections are compiled into what she calls ‘The List.’

When the publisher of Runway tries to get rid of Priestly, she brings out ‘The List,’ and reminds him that all these connections in the business are loyal to her, and will follow her anywhere. If they get rid of her, they’re getting rid of all of that talent, too. And, without these talented people, if Runway hires someone else, they will fail.

Recently, I was thinking about this moment in the context of my own work with Microsoft partners. Over the last five years or so, my team has been focused on establishing Partner SuperPowers, those unique talents offered by each business that make them shine and set them apart.

I like to frame it this way: Sure, you can offer the full Microsoft stack, but you can’t be an expert at everything! So, your SuperPower is your specialty. Miranda Priestly’s SuperPower is her ability to build loyalty with the best in the business and anticipate what’s next in the fashion magazine business.

But, how do you determine your SuperPower?

By looking at successful client service engagements, the ones where you were able to solve a customer’s problem in a unique way through your deep industry knowledge, training, technology specializations, or time to implementation.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you specialize within a certain industry or solution play?

• What are you hired to do time and time again?

• Do you have any special training or certifications with Microsoft solutions like Copilot or Power Platform?

• Why do your clients hire you?  Why do they stay with you?

Determining your SuperPower means getting specific. A more generic IT practice that claims to do a little bit of everything isn’t as appealing to potential customers as a Microsoft partner who knows what they do well, and when to collaborate with another expert.

Bolstering your expertise with a recent client case study can go a long way, too. It’s a concrete, third-party example of your ability to solve for a specific type of engagement.

In fact, according to research by Nielsen,¹ 92 percent of customers trust recommendations from other people above all other forms of advertising.

That’s an undeniable number. It means that a Microsoft partner’s biggest selling point, beyond their specific technology skills (or Miranda Priestly’s skills in running a high-end fashion magazine), is their reputation. It’s not enough that you’re an expert in cybersecurity, it’s that you’re known as the go-to organization for security projects by clients, other Microsoft partners, and Microsoft.

A key part of your SuperPower is establishing not only your specialty, but also building a network (a ‘List’ of your own, if you will) of other, different SuperPowers.

You might live and breathe cybersecurity, but one day your client might need a comprehensive data solution. If you build connections within the Microsoft partner network, you can offer a resource that gets your client precisely what they need, while maintaining your status as their first call.

It makes you the single point of contact for everything. And, like Miranda Priestly, you’re indispensable.

That’s all.

Join the conversation

Want to explore this and other topics you care about with Microsoft and other US partners? Head over to the Microsoft Americas Partner Community on LinkedIn.

¹ Newswire | Consumer Trust in Online, Social and Mobile Advertising Grows | Nielsen