Get co-sell ready with enablement, executive alignment, and cross-functional collaboration

Is your Organization Co-Sell Ready?

So many of us have heard about the value that a strong co-sell GTM motion can have as part of your scaling strategy. After all, the opportunity – represented by many dollar signs - to tap into the hyperscaler ecosystem is hard to ignore. Numerous experts have published great, data-infused content quantifying this opportunity, and because these folks have already done this hard work - I don’t have much to add there.

But is your organization truly ready to execute and realize any of this value? That’s where I can help - having built one very successful co-sell program with Microsoft (and one that was not so successful).

Standing up a co-sell program will likely require challenging existing norms within your business. It's not just about having a great product or being listed on Azure Marketplace; it's about activating every part of the business in coordination. This may be entirely new and unfamiliar for your finance team, deal desk, sellers and even your customers.

For simplicity's sake, I am closely associating co-sell with the ability to sell through Marketplace. Over the past few years, Marketplace has grown in importance for Microsoft, much like it has for many of the fastest scaling companies in the world - just look at Wiz.

These questions - while not exhaustive - will help you think ahead, identify potential gaps, and assess your organizational readiness to build your best-fit co-sell strategy:

• Overall Strategy
  • Is high growth or ensuring profitability the larger goal?
  • Are you going after sales-led Enterprise customers or a PLG (product-led growth) motion?
  • Do you have a clearly defined partnership strategy and line of reporting?
  • How much of the business value is cemented by services vs SaaS?
• Product & Technology
  • Is your product built on Microsoft’s technology stack and if so, what solutions?
  • What is the sign-up & implementation workflow for new customers?
  • What runs on Azure, and is this running on your tenants, the customer’s tenant, or a hybrid set up?
  • How open is your product organization to sharing the product roadmap?
• Legal & Privacy & Compliance
  • What does your contracting process look like?
  • Are you open to using Microsoft’s standard marketplace terms and conditions?
  • What does an ordinary infosec / privacy review look like for your customers?
  • What legal requirements are critical for your product’s functionality- and does this align with what is contained in a standard marketplace T&C?
• Finance
  • What are your booking rules and requirements?
  • What is the margin on your product?
  • How and when are your sales reps compensated – (e.g., are you comp neutral)?
  • What is your stance and capability to offer spiffs to your sellers?
• Operations (Sales and otherwise)
  • How are you operationalizing lead sharing, and who owns this?
  • What does your CRM hygiene and sales cycle look like?
  • What does the process from quote-to-proposal look like?
  • How and where would Marketplace purchases fit into your existing sales process?
• Sales / Revenue / Customer Success
  • What are you selling, and to whom?
  • How comfortable are your customers with Marketplace?
  • Are your sellers experienced in co-selling with other partners and do your sellers have clear expectations for what they can gain through co-sell?
  • What about the channel - how do reseller motions and referrals fit in?
• Marketing
  • Do you already have great materials packaged for partners and customers?
  • Are you verticalized in your marketing & messaging approach?
  • Do you have a dedicated partner marketing function?
  • Are you delivering thought leadership on key verticals and solution areas - and if so, how does this align to Microsoft’s highest priority topics?

A couple of closing thoughts:

1. You’ll need to align and collaborate with more teams than you might think - because this may represent a significant change. Change is even harder when people don’t understand how it impacts them, and the people needed to make it happen.
2. Gain support by building a clear strategy and setting clear expectations of what to expect from month-1, month-12, month-18 and beyond. You need to establish what "good looks like" and be prepared to back this up with data.

It takes a village to raise a GTM strategy. Thinking ahead will help you prevent something that is unfamiliar from becoming something that is uncomfortable.

Learn more

If you're interested in learning strategies for building your co-sell approach, I invite you to join me on June 18 to hear tips and insights from our experience creating a successful co-sell program—including common pitfalls to avoid. You can register here.

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Mike Marzano leads global cloud, data, and platform alliances for the Experience Intelligence Platform, Contentsquare. Over the past three years, he has built and scaled Contentsquare’s Microsoft co-sell and marketplace motion from the ground up—driving over $40 million in billed revenue through Marketplace and high-impact field alignment. A member of the Microsoft Retail Partner Advisory Council, Mike brings two decades of enterprise SaaS experience to his work, combining sharp execution with a deep understanding of how to unlock customer value through co-sell and Marketplace programs. He lives in New York City with his wife and 2yr old son.

Contentsquare is a leader in digital analytics, empowering businesses of all sizes with the insights they need to understand customers and deliver seamless experiences at scale. Its all-in-one experience intelligence platform provides rich and contextual insight into customer behaviors, sentiment, and intent, across all channels, helping businesses continuously deliver the right experience on web, mobile, and apps. More than 1.3M websites worldwide rely on Contentsquare’s AI-powered platform to grow their business, drive customer loyalty, and operate with greater efficiency in a constantly changing world. To learn more, visit www.contentsquare.com