Misconceptions of Co-Selling with Microsoft
Getting listed and becoming transactable on the Azure Marketplace are big accomplishments but just the start of your journey! Co-selling with Microsoft Azure offers another path to increasing the pipeline beyond your own team’s efforts. It is a very collaborative engagement between Microsoft and its partner ecosystem, including ISVs like you. While it’s a path filled with potential, it’s also riddled with misconceptions. Let’s debunk these myths and outline a strategic approach for success.
Misconceptions of co-selling with Microsoft
- Leads will come automatically (what we lovingly call “if you build it they will come”)
- Growth is eminent, we are a managed partner
- We are on Azure MP, now we wait for customers to rush and buy our solutions
- We put a ton of outbound leads in the Partner Center. Microsoft will reciprocate with inbound leads
- We met with Microsoft sales leaders/Execs, floodgates will open for our joint sales
- We have a high ACV and we drive significant ACR, MSFT sellers will flock to our doorsteps
This would be a pretty magical world if all those were true, but you guessed it… It’s just not that easy! This co-sell motion isn’t a build-it-and-forget-it type of deal, it needs to be nurtured to succeed.
With all that being said, you might be asking yourself “is co-selling even worth it?” The answer is yes, absolutely! Even though it takes time, strategy, and team buy-in to grow a co-sell motion, there are several benefits and incentives.
Benefits of co-selling with Microsoft
- Attract enterprise customers with cloud commit budgets that can be used to purchase your solution
- Differentiate by offering a faster and easier way to buy
- Expand your brand awareness
- Join forces with Microsoft sellers to access new deals and speed up pipeline opportunities
- Tap into more opportunities for growth and sales success
Attention and access to Microsoft sellers
Now that we have gone through the misconceptions and understand the importance of co-selling – what are you actually supposed to do to see success? In short, ISVs must be the proactive party marketing their solution on the Azure Marketplace.
Building a co-selling success plan
- Build:
- Understand the ecosystem landscape like common acronyms (we covered in a previous blog here).
- Determine your better-together story: What is your unique value proposition? Why should Microsoft care? Why is it relevant?
- Create win stories & use cases – promote what’s working and share stories of success.
- Align:
- Educate your internal sales team: Make sure they understand the benefits and importance.
- Build relationships with Azure PDMs: Provide them with content, and the “why”, determine a meeting cadence, and build their trust.
- Enable:
- Enable your internal sales team: Give them campaign details, content, and resources needed to succeed. Invisory is here to help with this process so your team is ready for success.
- Engage the PDMs: build content that enables the Microsoft selling team. Think about a one pager, battlecards, demand gen activities, and campaigns you can co-market together.
- Repeat:
- Make this an easily repeatable process so reps on both sides get comfortable with it.
Interested in taking your Azure listing to the next level? Invisory is here to help – book some time with our experts today to get started.
How Invisory helps ISVs reach cloud marketplace success
The Invisory GTM cloud solution helps ISVs unlock their cloud marketplace potential across platforms like Salesforce, Azure, and AWS. Invisory’s one of a kind platform delivers actionable insights and key go-to-market deliverables to SaaS companies looking to stand out and maximize revenue in crowded marketplaces while reducing risk and accelerating results. For more information contact info@invisory.co.
FAQ
What is co-selling with Microsoft?
Co-selling with Microsoft is the opportunity for Microsoft Sales teams and Microsoft ISV partners to both sell products and solutions that meet the needs of shared customers. Microsoft Sales team can advocate for a solution on behalf of an ISV, so it's a win-win for customers, partners, and Microsoft.
What is an example of co-selling?
An example of co-selling is when a Microsoft Sales Rep sells an ISV solution that addresses an existing Azure customer's pain point.
What is the co-sell model?
Co-selling is a common practice in cloud marketplaces where 2 partners (usually one ISV and one cloud sales rep) work together to offer complementary solutions that improve the solve a pain point and improve the customer experience holistically.
