Turn Microsoft co-sell readiness into closed-won opportunities
Achieving co-sell-ready status is an important milestone, but it is only the beginning. Turning that readiness into revenue takes an active, repeatable co-sell motion that brings together Microsoft seller engagement, Partner Center opportunity management, joint customer engagement, and Microsoft Marketplace. In this practical playbook, learn how to strengthen partner-led co-sell opportunities and inbound referrals from Microsoft, engage Microsoft sellers with clear asks, prepare private offers earlier in the sales cycle, and keep opportunities moving toward closed-won. You’ll also find a 90-day framework and key metrics to help activate, measure, and scale your Microsoft co-sell motion. Ready to put co-sell into action? Read the full article.From co-sell ready to closed-won: A practical playbook for your Microsoft co-sell motion
Achieving co-sell ready status is an important milestone. It means the offer is on Microsoft Marketplace, Partner Center is set up, sales collateral and contacts are on file, and the solution is exposed to Microsoft sales teams for co-sell opportunities. None of that, on its own, brings deals into the pipeline or moves them to closed-won. The operational work between status activation and revenue includes: Getting a Microsoft seller's attention for a specific opportunity, or making it easier for a seller to bring one in Engaging the Microsoft seller as soon as a co-sell opportunity is created or received Running joint discovery and technical validation with the customer Structuring the private offer at the right point in the deal cycle Closing through Microsoft Marketplace where a customer's Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) is in play Two common paths into the co-sell motion Deals reach Partner Center through two common paths once the solution achieves co-sell ready status. The early operating approach is different for each. The middle and close of the deal look similar. Partner-led co-sell: The software company originates and manages the opportunity from its own pipeline, creates the co-sell opportunity in Partner Center, and makes the deal visible to Microsoft sales teams. Microsoft sellers can be invited to participate when appropriate. Inbound referrals from Microsoft: A Microsoft seller identifies a fit in one of their accounts and sends the referral to the software company through Partner Center's Inbound tab. The main differences show up early on: Stage Partner-led Inbound from Microsoft Discovery Software company has already qualified the opportunity Software company gets up to speed on Microsoft’s account context Initial priority Give the Microsoft seller a clear reason to engage Qualify the referral and respond quickly Keep momentum Bring a qualified opportunity with a specific ask Confirm fit, ownership, and next steps Keeping deals moving after co-sell ready A few operational practices help turn co-sell ready status into an active, repeatable sales motion: Activate the co-sell motion consistently: Co-sell ready creates access to the motion, but momentum comes from actively engaging sellers, keeping positioning current, and continuously creating and responding to co-sell opportunities. Keep every registered opportunity moving: Clear ownership, visible next steps, and regular follow-through help move opportunities beyond the initial seller connection. Platforms such as SaaSify can help software companies manage co-sell opportunity information, ownership, and next actions. Prepare the private offer early: Bringing marketplace offer preparation into the deal cycle earlier gives teams enough time to align pricing, approvals, terms, and customer requirements before the opportunity reaches procurement. Align ownership across the deal: Giving account executives and partner teams shared visibility into customer conversations, Partner Development Manager (PDM) engagement, and next steps helps both sides coordinate around the same opportunity and move the deal forward. Positioning co-sell opportunities with Microsoft The approach is different for the two flows. Partner-led opportunities need the software company to position a specific deal for the Microsoft seller. Inbound referrals need preparation ahead of time and disciplined handling once a referral arrives. For partner-led opportunities A few practices can make a partner-led opportunity easier for Microsoft sellers to engage with. Map the opportunity to relevant Microsoft solution areas and sales plays: Microsoft's solution areas and sales plays change. Positioning the offer against the most relevant current areas helps make the opportunity easier for the seller to understand and position. Bring warm, qualified opportunities: An opportunity handed to a Microsoft seller with a defined buying committee, a known budget, and clear technical fit invites investment. An opportunity that still needs basic discovery asks the seller to do the software company’s qualification work. Make a specific, actionable request: "Please introduce us to the account executive at [customer]" with a clear deadline is a clear request. Generic invitations to collaborate on joint pipeline typically remain unactioned. Provide collateral written for the seller, not the buyer: Seller-facing collateral should make the elevator pitch, workload alignment, Marketplace path, and relevant commercial context immediately clear. For inbound referrals from Microsoft Being effective on inbound referrals means being easy for Microsoft teams to consider in the first place and handling each referral effectively when it arrives. A complete, current business profile in Partner Center: Keep the software company’s Partner Center information complete and current including solution categorization, industry expertise, customer proof points, relevant Azure workloads and sales plays. Qualify inbound referrals quickly, before mobilizing the full team: Not every inbound referral is a fit. Some fall outside the software company’s target profile, workload, or timing. A fast qualification step, handled by a named account owner before wider team mobilization, protects response quality on the referrals that do fit and directs the team's effort where it can contribute. A transactable Marketplace presence: A transactable offer gives customers a clear procurement path through Microsoft Marketplace and can support MACC-aligned purchasing. Active relationships with PDMs and specialist teams: Being known to Microsoft's PDMs, industry teams, and technical specialists creates additional pathways for the software company to be considered when the right opportunity appears. Running the co-sell opportunity through active pipeline Once a Microsoft seller is engaged, the middle of the deal is joint sales work. The joint pieces below are the ones that most consistently move the deal forward. Joint account planning at the start: Early in active pipeline, the software company and the Microsoft seller should align on the stakeholder map, Microsoft's context on the account (existing Azure spend, MACC status, previous partner engagements), the software company’s view of the opportunity, the commercial path, and named next steps with owners and dates. Aligning at the outset helps prevent a co-sell opportunity from going quiet in its early stages. Joint technical validation: For Azure workload solutions, the software company should bring a Microsoft solution architect or specialist into the architecture conversation with the customer. Microsoft technical specialists can add Azure platform context, address architecture questions, and help the customer evaluate fit across its broader Microsoft environment. Joint customer meetings with clear role definition: In a co-sell customer meeting, the software company leads on solution, use case, and business value. The Microsoft seller leads on Azure context, commercial path, and alignment with the customer’s Microsoft environment. Roles should be agreed before the meeting. Technical and commercial workstreams in parallel: Technical objections need Microsoft's specialist teams and the software company’s engineering. Commercial objections need finance on both sides and clarity on the marketplace path. Sequencing these badly, by completing all technical work before starting commercial, is where the private offer scramble at close typically originates. Underneath the joint work, three lightweight disciplines keep the deal visible and moving: Keep the Partner Center record current. Update it after stage changes, close-date shifts, competitive events, or stakeholder changes. Share regular updates with the Microsoft seller. Keep them short and focused on what changed and what is needed next. Use the PDM deliberately for escalations. Bring them in when their role or internal network can help move the opportunity forward. Advancing and closing deals through Microsoft Marketplace For customers with an active MACC, purchases of MACC-eligible offers through Microsoft Marketplace can contribute toward fulfillment of that commitment. Azure IP co-sell eligibility is a prerequisite for MACC eligibility, and MACC eligibility is determined at the offer level. A common operational issue is being unprepared to close on Marketplace when the customer is ready to buy. Being commercially ready in time means: A Marketplace listing that is fully transactable, with billing enabled. A private offer template with pre-approved pricing tiers, term options, and standard legal language. A sales team that can generate a customer-specific private offer without escalating each one to operations or finance. Finance visibility into pending marketplace transactions ahead of quarter close. Moving the private offer conversation into the discovery phase of the deal removes the closing-week scramble and keeps the deal moving smoothly toward close. Running co-sell at scale A handful of co-sell deals can be worked well through individual attention. Once co-sell becomes a meaningful percentage of pipeline, operational consistency becomes more important as volume grows: Deal data drifts between Partner Center, the software company’s customer relationship management (CRM) system, and internal reporting. Private offer creation often remains a deal-by-deal manual workflow, increasing operational effort as co-sell volume grows. No single view exists of where each co-sell deal stands across systems, whether it started partner-led or arrived as an inbound referral. A purpose-built cloud go-to-market platform can help software companies manage the operational side of selling across cloud marketplaces. SaaSify, for instance, helps software companies manage co-sell workflows and marketplace operations across Microsoft Marketplace and other hyperscaler ecosystems. Platforms of this kind help in multiple practical ways: Supporting co-sell workflows within the CRM and helping to keep deal information aligned between Partner Center and the software company’s CRM. Automating private offer creation and management within the software company’s CRM, helping reduce the manual effort required to create and manage private offers. Providing workflow visibility across marketplace transactions, private offer approvals, and payout reconciliation. Reducing operational load on the sales and partnership teams so senior time goes to seller relationships and deal strategy. A 90-day framework to move from co-sell ready to closed-won deals Days 1–30: Audit Review the current state honestly against a short set of questions covering both flows: Are co-sell opportunities updated in Partner Center consistently across the team? What is the response time to inbound referrals from Microsoft, from receipt to named account owner to first customer conversation? Is the Partner Center business profile complete, current, and mapped to relevant Microsoft solution areas and sales plays? Is the offer fully transactable on Microsoft Marketplace, or listed but not yet transactable? Are private offer workflows documented and templated, or reinvented for each deal? The output should be a short list of specific gaps, each with a named owner. Days 31–60: Activate For partner-led opportunities: engage the Microsoft sellers who cover the accounts and industries where the solution is strongest, and standardize the activation ask so every co-sell opportunity comes with a specific next step and date. For inbound referrals: implement an internal SLA for qualification and response and refresh the Partner Center business profile against relevant Microsoft solution areas and sales plays. Identify pipeline opportunities where Microsoft Marketplace can support the co-sell and commercial motion and structure the private offers early in the deal cycle. Days 61–90: Measure Track conversion at each stage, split by partner-led versus inbound origin: co-sell ready to opportunity created or received, to active pipeline, to Marketplace transaction, to closed-won. Refine private offer workflows based on identified bottlenecks. Run a postmortem on one deal that closed cleanly and one that required several interventions. Measuring co-sell performance Five indicators provide a practical view of whether the co-sell motion is producing pipeline and converting opportunities into revenue: Inbound referral volume and value from Microsoft: Track referral volume, potential value, and progression to active pipeline and closed-won. Response time to first customer conversation: Track time from opportunity creation or receipt to the first substantive customer interaction. Co-sell opportunity-to-closed-won conversion: Measure conversion by stage and separately for partner-led and inbound opportunities. Share of enterprise deals closing through Microsoft Marketplace: Track the percentage and value of co-sell deals transacted through Marketplace when it aligns with customers’ purchasing needs. Private offer creation and approval cycle time: Track request-to-acceptance time to assess whether private offer operations are keeping pace with co-sell volume. Supporting metric: Partner Center data completeness and consistency. Bringing it together Microsoft co-sell gives software companies opportunities to expand their reach and work jointly with Microsoft sellers on relevant customer opportunities, with Microsoft Marketplace supporting the commercial path when it aligns to the customer’s purchasing needs. Making that motion work consistently comes down to practical disciplines: keeping Partner Center data current, responding promptly to inbound referrals, and preparing private offer workflows early. The value builds when those practices work together consistently across opportunities.Microsoft co-sell playbook: From co-sell ready to closed-won
Learn how leading partners align opportunities, engage the right stakeholders, and improve deal execution to increase win rates and revenue. Turning a co-sell opportunity into revenue takes more than achieving co-sell ready status. The most successful partners align their sales motions to Microsoft priorities and effectively engage the right participants in the opportunity, whether through partner-led motions, partner-to-partner collaboration, or Microsoft seller engagement. Join Kevin Flitcroft, Head of Sales for SaaSify at Spektra Systems, to learn how leading partners move opportunities from co-sell ready to closed-won with greater consistency. Find out how to position partner-led and seller-supported opportunities for co-sell success, drive action-oriented conversations, and align commercial motions to customer purchasing preferences and Azure consumption commitments, using Microsoft Marketplace as part of a broader co-sell strategy. About the Speaker: Kevin Flitcroft is Head of Sales for SaaSify at Spektra Systems, a global cloud technology company helping businesses and cloud partners grow through innovative solutions. With expertise in technology sales, cloud infrastructure, and data analytics, Kevin specializes in aligning business goals with scalable growth strategies. What you’ll learn: How to align opportunities to Microsoft priorities and determine when to lead independently, collaborate with partners, or engage with Microsoft sellers. How to position Microsoft Marketplace early in the sales cycle to support customer purchasing goals and committed cloud spend across partner-led and Microsoft supported opportunities. How to prepare opportunities for successful deal execution through strong commercial readiness across different co-sell scenarios. How to apply the Audit/Activate/Run framework to build a repeatable co-sell motion that supports partner-led growth and Microsoft collaboration. Who should attend? Alliance and partner management leaders responsible for Microsoft co-sell success. Sales and business development teams focused on growing Microsoft-influenced pipeline. Marketplace, go-to-market, and revenue operations professionals supporting partner growth. Channel leaders and executives looking to scale co-sell outcomes and increase deal value through Microsoft Marketplace. How do I participate? Registration is not required. Sign in to the Tech Community and add the event to your calendar. Select ‘Attend’ to receive reminders. Post your questions in advance, or any time during the live broadcast.How leading partners drive co-sell success with Marketplace
See how successful software companies expand their reach, strengthen co-sell relationships, and create repeatable paths to revenue through Microsoft Marketplace. Join Reis Barrie, advisor to software companies building Microsoft Marketplace growth and co-sell strategies, to learn how leading partners create momentum and generate co-sell opportunities through the Microsoft partner ecosystem. You’ll learn the practical steps toward transactable offers and Azure IP co-sell eligibility, the seller behaviors that consistently generate Marketplace opportunities, and practical strategies that help partners build momentum sooner. You’ll also discover how successful partners identify high-potential accounts, engage Microsoft sellers effectively, and use Marketplace as a repeatable growth motion. Bring your questions. The final fifteen minutes will be reserved for live Q&A. About the speaker: Reis Barrie is the CEO of Carve Partners, where he helps software development companies grow through Microsoft Marketplace and co-sell programs. With over a decade of experience in the Microsoft ecosystem, Reis specializes in turning strategic partnerships into measurable revenue growth. Attendees will gain practical insights on how to maximize Microsoft partnership opportunities, accelerate co-sell success, and drive sustainable business growth. What you’ll learn: Identify the fastest path to transactable offers and Azure co-sell eligibility. Learn the four habits Marketplace-ready sellers use to identify, create and advance co-sell opportunities. Understand how top partners engage Microsoft sellers to accelerate opportunities and strengthen co-sell motions. Discover Marketplace signals, funding opportunities, and deal strategies that help prioritize accounts and shorten sales cycles. Who should attend? Sales leaders and account executives responsible for Microsoft Marketplace growth. Partner business leaders looking to strengthen co-sell engagement with Microsoft. Marketplace, alliance, and channel managers seeking to accelerate transaction readiness. Revenue, sales operations, and go-to-market teams focused on growing Marketplace-driven opportunities. How do I participate? Registration is not required. Add this event to your calendar, then sign in to the Tech Community and select ‘Attend’ to receive reminders. Post your questions in advance, or any time during the live broadcast.
Learn how leading partners turn Microsoft Marketplace into a co-sell growth engine
A transactable Marketplace offer is just the beginning. In this expert blog, Reis Barrie, Founder and CEO of Carve Partners, shares four key practices top-performing partners use to help sellers drive co-sell success and accelerate growth through Microsoft Marketplace. Discover how to integrate Marketplace into your sales process, equip sellers with actionable account insights, identify stronger co-sell opportunities, and scale customer incentive programs. You'll also learn common pitfalls to avoid and practical ways to strengthen your Marketplace go-to-market motion. Read the blog to learn how leading partners transform Marketplace from a listing into a repeatable revenue growth strategy. Join us live on September 10 as Reis expands on these insights and answers your questions during an interactive Q&A session. Read the blog: Four things leading partners teach their sellers to turn a Marketplace listing into co-sell growth Add event to your calendar How leading partners drive co-sell success with MarketplaceFour things leading partners teach their sellers to turn a Marketplace listing into co-sell growth
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. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 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 Co-sell requirements: what it takes to reach co-sell ready and Azure IP co-sell eligible status Marketplace Rewards: the benefits that unlock as your Marketplace business grows Private offers overview: custom pricing and terms for specific customers and partnersLearn how to move co-sell opportunities from ready to closed-won with greater consistency
What separates co-sell ready opportunities from closed-won success? The answer often comes down to stakeholder alignment, commercial readiness, and a clear strategy for engaging Microsoft and partner resources at the right time. Join Kevin Flitcroft, Head of Sales for SaaSify at Spektra Systems, as he shares practical guidance for helping partners improve deal execution and revenue outcomes. Learn how to align opportunities to Microsoft priorities, determine when to engage Microsoft sellers, position Microsoft Marketplace early in the sales cycle, and support customer purchasing goals through effective commercial motions. You'll also explore the Audit/Activate/Run framework and discover how successful organizations create repeatable co-sell practices that help increase win rates, strengthen pipeline development, and drive more consistent business growth. Discover how leading partners turn co-sell opportunities into consistent business growth. Attend this live session to gain practical strategies you can apply to your next opportunity. Add to your calendar: Microsoft co-sell playbook: From co-sell ready to closed-won
Can Marketplace Become the Trusted Delivery Ecosystem for Specialized Microsoft Services?
Over the past several years, Azure Marketplace has become an increasingly important mechanism for connecting customers, partners, publishers, and Microsoft. As Marketplace adoption grows, I have been reflecting on one aspect of ecosystem collaboration. Many customer initiatives involve multiple organizations, each with different responsibilities, commercial models, onboarding requirements, and procurement processes. This raises an interesting question for the community: Can Azure Marketplace play a larger role in reducing operational friction between Marketplace participants who are already transacting through the platform? Potential outcomes could include: Faster customer project execution. Simpler cross-organizational collaboration. Greater adoption of Marketplace-transactable solutions. Reduced administrative overhead. Increased Marketplace transaction activity. From a Marketplace ecosystem perspective, reducing friction between participants may create value for customers, partners, publishers, and Microsoft alike. I would be interested in learning: Whether others have encountered similar challenges. Whether existing Marketplace capabilities already address this area. Which future improvements would have the greatest impact. Looking forward to hearing the community's perspective.How to get your cloud and AI solutions co-sell eligible on Marketplace
A transactable Microsoft Marketplace offer can play an important role in supporting your broader go-to-market strategy with Microsoft. This video walks through the essentials of Marketplace co-sell qualification. You'll also gain insight into how approved offers may participate in Microsoft customer-focused selling motions and help customers transact using committed Microsoft cloud spend.
