About the author: Reis Barrie is the Founder and CEO of Carve Partners, a growth advisory firm that helps software companies build and scale their Microsoft partnerships. Reis and his team have deep expertise in co-sell, Marketplace, Partner Center, and incentive programs helping software development companies handle both the strategy and the operational work underneath it, end to end. Carve works with some of the fastest-growing partners in the Microsoft ecosystem, and Reis is a regular voice in the broader partner community.
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Software companies are under pressure to reach more customers, accelerate sales cycles, and grow recurring revenue. Leading partners respond by creating repeatable buying experiences that help customers discover, purchase, and deploy solutions more efficiently through Microsoft Marketplace.
Becoming transactable is an important milestone, but it is only the beginning. The next step is building Marketplace into the company’s go-to-market motion so sellers can connect customer needs with an efficient path to purchase.
Microsoft Marketplace supports this motion by connecting customer interest, commerce, and opportunities to co-sell with Microsoft and its partner ecosystem. When sellers understand how to position Marketplace, qualify opportunities, and use available incentives, a live offer can become a foundation for repeatable growth.
This post explores:
- Why the sales momentum is the actual work, not the listing itself
- The four things leading partners train their sellers to do
- Key indicators to evaluate and strengthen Marketplace performance across your pipeline
- What the partners who get there fastest do differently
By the end, you should have a clearer view of where your sales motion is working and where it can be strengthened.
Who this is for
This advice is for you if you're already transactable and Azure IP co-sell eligible. If you're not there yet, go get that first; nothing below substitutes for it. If you're close, the fastest first transaction is usually a customer you already have moved onto Marketplace at their next renewal. The moment it lands, Microsoft sellers can see you.
The opportunity
Once an offer is established, the goal is to build sales momentum, improve forecasting, and give customers a buying experience aligned with how they prefer to purchase technology.
Leading partners treat Marketplace as part of their go-to-market strategy, not simply as a publishing milestone. They prepare sellers to introduce Marketplace naturally in customer conversations and explain how an eligible purchase may apply toward a customer’s Azure commitment.
That fluency can help customers move from interest to purchase more efficiently while creating opportunities for co-sell engagement and business growth.
What leading partners train their sellers to do
1. Build Marketplace into the sales process
Marketplace should be incorporated into discovery and qualification rather than treated as a separate sales motion.
Two useful conversation starters are:
- Discovery: “Does your organization have a Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment?”
- Positioning: “An eligible purchase through Microsoft Marketplace may count toward your Azure commitment, helping you maximize an investment you have already made.”
Sellers do not need to manage every transaction detail. Establish a clear handoff so the seller identifies the opportunity, introduces the customer value, and connects the appropriate partnerships or operations team to support the transaction.
Before publishing detailed eligibility or transaction guidance, confirm it against current Microsoft documentation.
2. Make account insights accessible to sellers
Give sellers relevant Marketplace and account insights before customer conversations. Depending on the benefits and data available to your organization, useful CRM fields may include:
- Marketplace purchase indicators
- Azure commitment information
- Microsoft account alignment
- Relevant propensity or engagement signals
These indicators should guide prioritization rather than serve as absolute qualification rules. Account context, customer needs, purchase readiness, and an active sales opportunity should remain part of the assessment.
3. Help sellers identify strong co-sell opportunities
Train sellers to evaluate whether an opportunity has a clear customer need, an active buying motion, and a specific reason for Microsoft engagement.
Useful considerations may include:
- Whether the customer has an Azure commitment
- Whether Microsoft is actively engaged with the account
- Whether the customer has experience purchasing through Marketplace
- Whether the opportunity aligns with shared customer and business outcomes
These indicators can help sellers prioritize opportunities, but they should not be presented as a definitive co-sell eligibility test.
When engaging a Microsoft seller, lead with customer context, demonstrated progress, and a specific request. Use partner-led visibility when no direct seller action is needed and request active engagement when there is a clear role for Microsoft.
4. Build repeatable programs around customer incentives
Customer incentives can support qualified opportunities when they address a defined deployment, migration, or adoption need. They should complement the customer value proposition rather than replace it.
Create a consistent program with:
- An owner: One person or team responsible for available funding and program guidance
- Clear criteria: Published guidance describing suitable use cases and approval requirements
- Tracked outcomes: Visibility into which opportunities received support and how that support contributed to the result
Confirm current availability, eligibility, and terms before referring to specific funding or sponsorship programs.
Indicators that can strengthen Marketplace performance
Common opportunities for improvement include:
- Treating an offer as a source of demand without connecting it to a broader go-to-market motion
- Limiting Marketplace expertise to operations teams
- Requesting active co-sell engagement without a clear role for Microsoft
- Failing to incorporate available account insights into seller preparation
- Applying incentives before an opportunity is qualified
- Allowing outdated opportunities to remain in the pipeline
- Waiting for inbound interest rather than building momentum through existing customer relationships
What leading partners do differently
Fluency, account insights, qualification, and incentives work best as a connected system. Seller fluency makes account insights actionable. Better insights support stronger qualification. Strong qualification helps teams apply incentives more effectively.
Leading partners tend to:
- Treat Marketplace as part of the sales process
- Give sellers useful account context before customer conversations
- Align co-sell requests to customer and Microsoft priorities
- Manage incentives through clear ownership and criteria
- Build early momentum through active customer relationships
At Carve Partners, we help software companies makes these practices repeatable by improving seller readiness, integrating account insights into sales workflows, strengthening qualification, and establishing practical incentive programs.
Join our How leading partners drive co-sell success with Marketplace session on September 10th at 8:30 AM PT. We will explore how these practices work in real scenarios and share practical considerations for strengthening your Marketplace sales motion.
Resources
- Azure Consumption Commitment benefit: how Marketplace purchases count toward a customer’s commitment
