Microsoft Marketplace is probably the one topic that can give 'AI' a run for its money in terms of the number of mentions on LinkedIn, on cloud hyperscaler blogs, and in Partner Ecosystem presentations. But ask the average SaaS seller what a marketplace is, and you’ll probably get a different answer every time. That’s because marketplaces have become more than just a listing catalog, it’s now a pervasive commerce platform across the entire B2B Software purchase process. Jay McBain @ Omdia described Cloud Marketplaces as the "epicenter of partnerships, co-selling and co-innovation” and we see that play out at Microsoft.
The combination of Microsoft's co-sell model and Microsoft Marketplace has created the platform for modern procurement and modern partnerships. Today, Microsoft Marketplace:
- Impacts all personas and incentives – from customers commercial incentives, to software company program sale incentives, channel partner benefits, and hyperscaler seller compensation models
- Enhances B2B purchase processes for customers – Streamlining supplier onboarding, to internal FinOps, to governance and guardrails on purchasing
- Brings agility to the sales process for software companies and channel partners – from pricing and quoting, budget allocation, billing & payments, right through to co-selling and go-to-market.
With this level of impact, it’s not surprising that Microsoft Marketplace represents a significant growth opportunity for software companies. Customers are increasingly transacting through Marketplace as they align Azure commitments with third-party software purchases and adopt a more “marketplace-first” procurement approach. Research shows 69% of partners report larger deals and 75% close deals faster (Omdia), reinforcing the role of Marketplace as a strategic channel for enterprise software procurement.
So, if you are a seller at a Microsoft SaaS software company and you want to take advantage of this opportunity, here are my five top learnings for high performance software sellers!
This article assumes you are running your SaaS software platform on Microsoft Azure and you are already transactable in Marketplace. If you aren't, there are plenty of great resources for software companies to help get you there, and I have summarized them here: New Software Company Partner Guide.
LEARNING 1 - Understand the customer benefits of Microsoft Marketplace and weave it into your customer proposal:
This is about understanding the bigger picture of Marketplace for Microsoft customers, as the benefits go way beyond an individual transaction. The average enterprise is managing over 600 applications (Source - Zylo) and >60% of these applications being purchased outside of IT. Marketplace is a great way for customers to scale and bring efficiency across their B2B Software estate, giving them:
- Rapid access (find, try, buy) to software and AI innovation they need to run their business,
- Governance and guardrails for each purchase – so you are never compromising control and compliance.
- Streamlined procurement – onboarding suppliers in minutes using their Microsoft Agreement, invoicing and payment terms,
- Improved cloud economics – aligning the cloud consumption with your software company spend can unlock additional P&L impacting benefits,
If you need to get up to speed on these aspects, check out: Microsoft Marketplace 101 - Top Customer Questions.
LEARNING 2 - Understand how Microsoft partners can help you scale and close customer opportunities:
Microsoft has always been a partner led organization. Today we have 500,000 partners globally ranging from a small start-up in a garage, to the largest Global Systems Integrator. These partners play different roles in our customers helping them transform and compete in the AI era through Microsoft Cloud & AI technologies.
The great news for you is that we have empowered Microsoft channel partners and sales partners to sell Marketplace solutions. So, think about how you can use channel partners to (i). expand your reach, (ii). drive new opportunities or (iii). accelerate deal closure. We have a range of different models to support your channel led motions in our customers, including:
- Multi-party private offers (MPO) - Partner led sales agents for individual transactions.
- Resale enabled offers (REO) - Nominated and enabled partner representative by geo.
- Cloud solution provider (CSP) resellers - to scale into SMB/Corporate Accounts via a managed service provider
For each opportunity, understand who the incumbent Microsoft partner is, and how you can use these mechanisms to accelerate your deal. Or better still, if you are looking to explore a more proactive partnership, check out the 1000s of Partners that are building Marketplace practices to support customers and software companies. Examples include Bytes, Softcat, CDW, Trustmarque, Crayon, Computacenter etc.
LEARNING 3 - Accelerate your deal closure by including Microsoft programs and incentives into your customer proposal:
Here are the most commonly used accelerators used by software company sellers to close deals:
If you are marketplace transactable:
- Marketplace Rewards - Azure Sponsorship Credits - A performance related benefit that provides up to $400k in Azure Sponsorship Credits. These credits can be used as a deal sweetener with your Marketplace transaction and passed on to the customer for consumption. Up to 40% of transactions involve these credits today.
If you are IP co-sell ready:
- Azure Benefit Eligible - This enables customers to decrement their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitments (MACC) with eligible Marketplace purchases. By aligning their cloud consumption with their software company spend, it can unlock additional P&L impacting benefits. More than 85% of MACC customers buy via Marketplace.
- Microsoft IP co-sell incentive - This enables Microsoft sellers to get paid on the license value sold via Microsoft Marketplace. It also allows eligible Marketplace transactions to contribute to retiring Microsoft seller quota, helping accelerate deal alignment between partners and Microsoft field teams.
If you have a Certified Software Designation (CSD):
- Marketplace Rewards - Azure Sponsorship Credits - If you come CSD Certified, Microsoft extends this benefit to $1M. These credits can be used as a deal sweetener with your Marketplace transaction and passed on to the customer for consumption.
- Customer Migrate & Modernize Incentive - This partner incentive is used to drive migrations to Microsoft Azure. Cash incentives vary based project size, but Microsoft will pay up to $200k per opportunity for NEW customer migrations to Microsoft Azure.
High-performing software companies and sellers will combine these incentives into their proposals to help drive customer acquisition success.
LEARNING 4 - Know your Microsoft customer
Three things I urge every software company Seller to do as part of their Marketplace and co-sell conversations:
Know your customer 1 - Understand the customer's Marketplace Propensity Score to help prioritize your opportunities
- Marketplace Propensity Scoring (combined with your co-Sell conversations) has proven a powerful tool for prioritizing pipeline and accelerating sales cycles.
- Offered as a Marketplace Rewards benefit, propensity scoring provides you with a score that ranks your pipeline prospects by their likelihood (0 to 100) to transact through Marketplace. The score is based on a number of factors including their commercials, existing spend and transaction volumes, relationship metrics etc.
- Access the benefit at: Microsoft Marketplace Rewards
Know your customer 2 - Enable more tailored offers for customers by updating your MEDDIC, MEDDPICC or BANT qualification questions with these Marketplace qualifiers:
- Are they a Microsoft customer? This means they have agreed Microsoft terms and conditions to enable Marketplace transactions.
- Are they a Managed Microsoft Customer? This opens up the possibility of selling with Microsoft.
- What Microsoft segment/industry are they in? This opens up sales play alignment, industry go-to-market etc.
- How do they buy Microsoft Azure today? This helps navigate potential commercials, incentives and programs, purchase routes and the role of channel partners.
- Does the customer have a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)? This could unlock the MACC benefit of Azure Benefit Eligible which allows customers to decrement marketplace purchases.
- What is the status of their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC)? Are they ahead or behind of their consumption commitment? Is it coming up for renewal? This is all about getting access to planned Azure budgets at the right time.
- Is there an incumbent Microsoft partner in the customer and what role do they play? It is forecasted that 60% of ALL marketplace sales will involve a channel partner, so get them involved early in the process.
Know Your Customer 3 - Use the Partner Center referral process to engage incentivized Microsoft sellers and gain customer intelligence:
Submitting your referrals via Partner Center will enable you to engage incentivized Microsoft sellers directly. For most Microsoft sellers, Microsoft Marketplace and co-sell deals are critical for how they will make their Azure quota. Help could include:
- Navigate and increase your visibility with the customer's buyers
- Gain insights on the customer's Azure commitments,
- Understand the partner landscape in the customer
- Potentially find ways to combine sales motions to drive bigger/better outcomes for all.
Build this discipline with every opportunity is a key characteristic of a high-performance software company seller.
LEARNING 5 - Celebrate and amplify Microsoft co-sell/Marketplace success
The best Microsoft Marketplace and co-sell partners treat Microsoft as a customer. They market to the Microsoft sales and go-to-market teams the success they are driving, which in turn is driving further engagement and activity.
Work with your aligned Microsoft Partner Development Manager to create a regular drumbeat of communication or use your Marketplace Rewards GTM benefits to amplify your success with the Microsoft sales teams.
Need more help?
- Speak to your Partner Development Manager or aligned engagement manager
- Check out App Advisor for a guided experience on the journey for software development companies.
Let me know your feedback or if you have any additional recommendations. Thanks
Lee Corbett - EMEA ISV Recruit & Grow Lead
Microsoft