Professional Services
›
Corporate Development & Strategy
›
Partnerships & Alliances
Co-Sell Partnerships
Decisions that reshape organizational direction, structure, and partnerships.
Example organizations in this space:
AWS
Microsoft Azure
Google Cloud
Salesforce
This interactive experience is the shipped product itself — the same application code customers run in production, mounted read-only in your browser over a real sample journey. Not a video, not a mockup: because the demo and the product are one codebase, it can never drift from the real thing.
Inside this journey
-
Pre-Sales
Qualify and diagnose before investing in a full evaluation cycle.
-
Fit Validation
Confirm the consumption gap, decision authority, timeline, and program intent before investing in a full discovery conversation.
Qualification Questions
Consumption gap and target outcomes
- Briefly describe the platform consumption gap you are trying to close and how you currently measure it.
- Which best matches the scale of additional platform consumption you expect a co-sell program to generate?
Program intent and pilot scope
- Which outcome describes your current intent for a co-sell program?
- If you plan a pilot, what measurable success signals would make you decide to scale (for example: incremental pipeline value, faster deal velocity, seller-initiated opportunities)?
Decision authority and stakeholders
- Who will make the final go/no-go decision for launching a co-sell program?
- Which stakeholders should join the initial discovery meeting to ensure a useful conversation?
Timeline and readiness
- What is your target timeline to decide and/or have a pilot running?
- What is the single biggest obstacle to starting a pilot in that timeframe?
-
Outcome Discovery
Align on desired platform-consumption outcomes, target accounts, stakeholder roles, and measurable success signals for a co-sell program.
Discovery Questions
Where this effort sits inside your team
- Who on your team will be the primary owner for co-sell outcomes and final decision authority for pilot scope?
- What's your current quarterly consumption target that partner-sourced deals must contribute to, expressed as a percentage or absolute value?
- How do you currently record partner-sourced pipeline events, from lead to close, and who owns that workflow in practice?
- Which systems do you use today to capture deal registration and attribution, for example your CRM, marketplace portal, or a partner portal?
- Tell me briefly about the last partner-led deal that looked promising but did not meet expectations, what happened and what you learned?
Where the pressure is coming from
- If your next quarterly consumption report shows no measurable partner-sourced lift, what immediate consequence would you and your team face?
- Who inside your leadership would drive the decision to pause or continue a co-sell pilot if early signals are weak?
- How have previous external partnerships or pilots failed to move consumption in your accounts, and was the cause operational, product-market fit, or seller engagement?
- What internal objections are most likely to surface when you propose shifting seller incentives toward partner-sourced deals?
- Describe a worst-case scenario that would make you cancel a pilot before completion.
Which outcomes would change the conversation upstairs
- Name the single consumption metric that, if achieved by the pilot, would make leadership push to scale immediately.
- Within what timeframe do you need to see measurable lift from a pilot to consider it successful for your current fiscal planning?
- Describe the minimum signal set you would accept as proof of product-market fit on the platform, for example conversion rate, time-to-first-usage, or repeat transactions.
- Which downstream business outcome would make the program feel like a clear win to your finance or platform strategy teams?
- If the pilot meets your stated metric, what internal approvals or contracts would be required to scale within 30 days?
Who, where, and why — picking the right accounts and sellers
- Which list of target accounts would you prioritize for an initial pilot and what makes those accounts suitable for platform-driven consumption?
- When you think about seller engagement, which seller segment drives the most influence over account decisions in those targets?
- Walk me through the last three accounts you would have included in a pilot and what you expected each to deliver against consumption metrics.
- What resistance do you expect from seller teams during joint account planning and how would that resistance show up in their behaviors?
- Which single selector or gate would make you pull an account from the pilot list at any point?
Operational gaps that stop pilots cold
- Which single operational gap would prevent this program from launching on your intended timeline?
- Describe who owns marketplace listings, content updates, and seller enablement inside your organization today and whether they have capacity for a pilot.
- How many full-time equivalents could you commit to pilot operations, training, and integration during the first 90 days?
- What change in seller compensation or crediting would you need to implement to ensure field teams give the pilot priority?
- If a single resource constraint could kill the pilot, which one is it and why?
The alternatives you're weighing
- Who else or what other approaches are you actively evaluating to close the same consumption gap, for example an internal push, a different partner, or a marketplace-only listing?
- What would have to be true about your current internal approach for you to prefer keeping it instead of starting a co-sell pilot?
- Has anyone proposed solving this without an external partner, and if so who proposed it and what was their recommended path?
- Describe a scenario where you would definitively choose the incumbent or an internal fix over starting this co-sell engagement.
- If a competing partner could deliver the same consumption lift faster, what factors would still make you choose your current planned route?
Readiness: integrations, data, and approvals we cannot skip
- If we had to pause tomorrow, which technical dependency would most likely be the reason, for example an API, a data feed, or a marketplace entitlement?
- List the specific systems that must integrate for the pilot to produce usable consumption telemetry, for example billing, usage metering, or CRM.
- Describe who owns each required integration and whether those owners can commit to the pilot timeline.
- Are there regulatory, procurement, or legal approvals that typically add more than four weeks to projects like this?
- What data quality or access issue would immediately block our ability to measure pilot outcomes?
Agreement on success and practical next steps
- If the pilot hits your target consumption lift, what is the single fastest path to scale that you could commit to from a governance and contracting perspective?
- Which acceptance criteria must be met before you will sign off on moving from pilot to scale, for example minimum conversion, SLA, or seller participation rate?
- When would you want a review checkpoint during the pilot to decide continue, pivot, or stop, and who must attend that review?
- What is the single question you need answered by the pilot that would push the program from experiment to a funded initiative?
- Would you be willing to commit a named set of accounts and seller leads to a pilot if we can confirm integration and attribution rules within 14 business days?
-
-
Partnership Evaluation Pilot
Run a structured pilot and mutual assessment of operational readiness, attribution rules, and seller engagement to validate partner-sourced pipeline.
- decision_readiness
- success_criteria
- gaps
- desired_state
- current_state
- stakeholders
- desired_state
- stakeholders
- success_criteria
- decision_readiness
- current_state
- gaps
- stakeholders
- gaps
- decision_readiness
- current_state
- desired_state
- success_criteria
- decision_readiness
- decision_readiness
- decision_readiness
- decision_readiness
-
Program Scope
Define program modules, responsibilities, marketplace deliverables, training, and measurable acceptance criteria for pilot and scale phases.
Scope Configuration
- Create Marketplace Transactable Listing Package
- Publish and Configure Marketplace Listing
- Localize Listing Copy into Buyer Language
- Develop Co-sell Playbook and Sales Collateral
- Deliver Field Seller Enablement Training
- Build Joint Reference Architecture and Solution Brief
- Map Joint Accounts and Territory Plans
- Align Deal Registration and Credit Flows
- Configure CRM Attribution and Shared Pipeline Views
- Run Pilot Co-sell Campaign with Strategic Partner
- Provide Partner-Led Demo and POC Kit
- Enable Consumption Tracking and Reporting
- Operationalize Co-sell Communication Cadence
Scope Questions
Create Marketplace Transactable Listing Package
- Describe the transactable package components you require, naming artifacts such as SKU list, pricing tiers, metered-unit definitions, and license terms.
- Which billing models do you plan to support for the listing?
- Name the unit-of-measure and example unit values you will report for consumption tracking (e.g., monthly active users, GB transferred, API calls).
- When must the package be finalized to meet the marketplace intake window?
- Do you require the package to include connectors or provisioning automation (e.g., entitlement API, provisioning webhook)?
Publish and Configure Marketplace Listing
- Provide the list of marketplace publication artifacts you will supply (product images, support plan text, pricing JSON, security documentation).
- Specify any platform certification or compliance metadata required on the listing (e.g., SOC 2, PCI, regional compliance flags).
- List the stakeholders who must approve publication in your organization (product manager, security lead, finance).
- Indicate the marketplace test actions you will run to confirm a purchase flow (e.g., test purchase of SKU, invoice generation, provisioning callback arrival).
- Confirm the acceptance criteria that will validate the listing is published and transactable (for example: buy-button active, test purchase succeeded, SKU appears in billing catalog).
Localize Listing Copy into Buyer Language
- Estimate the number of locales and buyer languages required for launch.
- Assign content ownership for each locale (name role or team that will review translated copy).
- Designate any regulated phrases or certification references that must appear verbatim in localized copy (e.g., data residency statements, compliance badges).
- Identify the buyer personas to target with localized messaging (cloud architects, procurement, line-of-business decision makers).
- Outline the acceptance process for localized copy (native reviewer sign-off, marketplace character limit check, legal approval).
Develop Co-sell Playbook and Sales Collateral
- Detail the core co-sell motions to be codified in the playbook (joint discovery, seller-led demos, marketplace-led opportunities).
- Explain the primary buyer use cases the sales collateral must address and the KPIs buyers care about (e.g., consumption growth, TCO reduction).
- Choose the collateral formats you need for field sellers.
- Select the approval owners required for marketing and legal sign-off on collateral.
- Attach or link to any existing collateral templates or brand guidelines we should use.
Deliver Field Seller Enablement Training
- Point to the primary seller cohorts and total headcount for enablement (e.g., 25 account executives, 10 solution engineers).
- Reference any existing learning management system (LMS) or training platforms we must publish modules into.
- Rate the desired depth of training on a 1-5 scale where 5 includes hands-on labs and certification.
- Quantify the certification pass rate or demo competency threshold you will accept from sellers after training.
- Map the enablement timeline to launch milestones (e.g., initial cohort trained 2 weeks before go-live, ongoing weekly drop-in sessions).
Build Joint Reference Architecture and Solution Brief
- Set the non-functional targets to be documented (expected throughput, uptime SLA, acceptable latency ranges).
- Declare any network or data residency constraints the reference architecture must respect.
- Supply the integration endpoint details to include in the diagram (authentication endpoint, provisioning API URL, webhook endpoints).
- Recommend which deployment templates or infrastructure-as-code artifacts to include (e.g., Terraform module, ARM template, CloudFormation).
- Specify the consumption scale the architecture must support (concurrent connections, API calls per minute).
Map Joint Accounts and Territory Plans
- Prioritize the account selection criteria for joint mapping (cloud spend, existing integrations, strategic customer).
- Rank the mapped accounts by expected partner-sourced pipeline value for the pilot.
- State the ownership model for each mapped account (jointly owned, partner-led with seller support, platform-led).
- Deliver the shared account plan template elements you want populated (contact map, buying center, target consumption metrics).
- Capture the initial baseline metrics per account we should record before pilot start (current cloud spend, active users, monthly consumption).
Align Deal Registration and Credit Flows
- Validate whether your current deal-registration process supports partner-sourced opportunities and can attach partner IDs.
- Assign the internal role that will adjudicate registration disputes and credit appeals.
- Designate the maximum time window after opportunity creation during which a registration can be claimed.
- Identify any contract clauses or channel rules that restrict crediting (reseller agreements, exclusivity clauses).
- Outline the escalation path and SLA for resolving disputed credits.
Configure CRM Attribution and Shared Pipeline Views
- Detail the specific CRM custom fields and object model changes required to tag partner-sourced deals (field names, data types, validation rules).
- Explain the required pipeline stages or status values to represent co-sell progress (e.g., registered, jointly-qualified, co-sell pipeline).
- Choose the synchronization cadence between marketplace consumption data and CRM attribution fields.
- Select who will have read and write permissions to shared pipeline dashboards.
- Attach an example opportunity record or export from your current CRM for mapping reference.
Run Pilot Co-sell Campaign with Strategic Partner
- Point to the single territory and the pilot timeline (start/end dates) for the co-sell campaign.
- Reference the campaign success metrics you will track during the pilot (incremental pipeline value, deal velocity improvement, seller engagement count).
- Rate the acceptable pilot duration and intensity (e.g., 60-day focused campaign, ongoing low-touch pilot).
- Quantify the minimum partner-sourced pipeline or opportunity count that defines pilot viability.
- Map the joint campaign activities to seller incentives and reporting points (lead share, lead follow-up SLA, credits awarded per deal).
Provide Partner-Led Demo and POC Kit
- Set the expected contents of the POC kit (demo environment URL, test data sets, deployment scripts, sample integration keys).
- Declare any security or data handling constraints for the demo environment (masked PII, ephemeral credentials, access windows).
- Supply the steps and required credentials for a partner-led demo that your field sellers can use with a buyer.
- Recommend success scenarios and sample scripts to validate in a proof of concept that indicate consumption lift.
- Highlight the metrics you will capture during the POC to measure buyer consumption behavior (daily active users, API calls per user, storage growth).
Enable Consumption Tracking and Reporting
- Prioritize the consumption metrics that matter most to your platform (billable units, monthly active consumers, transactions per month).
- Rank the telemetry sources to ingest for reporting (billing API, usage webhook, CRM opportunity updates).
- State the data retention and reporting windows needed for trend analysis (30 days, 90 days, 12 months).
- Deliver the expected reporting outputs (dashboard fields, scheduled reports, alert thresholds) you need to monitor consumption.
- Capture any existing usage export formats or sample payloads from your billing or telemetry endpoint.
-
Mutual Commit
Finalize commercial terms, governance, attribution, and operational obligations required to launch the co-sell program.
Agreement Modules
- Partnership Agreement (MOU)
- Commercial Terms Exhibit
- Attribution & Deal Registration Schedule
- Governance & Escalation Framework
- Operational Obligations & Marketplace Acceptance
- Training & Seller Enablement Commitment
- Data Processing & Sharing Addendum (DPA)
-
Deployment
Operationalize rollout with readiness checks, execution, and outcome validation.
-
Pre-Deployment Readiness
Capture concrete readiness facts — named owners, partner field contacts, target territories, and go/no-go dates before execution begins.
Pre-Deployment Questions
Environment and site access
- Primary target environment for the pilot (enter the internal environment name or tag your teams use; we copy this into the deployment plan)
- Is the target environment available now for integration and testing (so we can schedule the integration window)?
- If the environment is not available now, what is the planned date when access will be granted? (enter a calendar date so we can lock milestones)
Data and configuration
- Which buyer systems will require configuration or mapping for the pilot? (select all that apply — determines required connectors and mapping work)
- Has the field-mapping and attribution approach for co-sell been decided?
- If the mapping approach is decided, who is the named owner (person or team) responsible for field mappings and attribution? (enter name and role)
- Are there marketplace listing prerequisites, platform certifications, or compliance reviews that must be completed before deployment? (select all that apply)
- For any prerequisites selected above, provide the target completion date(s) or enter 'None' if not applicable (so we can sequence milestones)
People and ownership
- Named deployment owner who will approve go/no-go decisions and coordinate internal approvals (enter person, role, and preferred contact method)
- List partner field contacts and assigned target territories (format: territory — contact name, role, contact method). If multiple, list each on a new line; we use this for seller engagement and account mapping.
Timing and constraints
- Target go/no-go decision date for the pilot deployment (enter date so we can lock resources and milestones)
- Are there any blackout windows, major sales events, or compliance freeze periods in the next 90 days that would prevent deployment? If yes, list dates and owners; if no, enter 'None'.
-
Configuration & Integrations
Lock the configuration details the deployment team needs — marketplace listing artifacts, deal registration workflows, training plans, and integration endpoints.
Configuration Details
Environments & Endpoints (values used by the deployment connectors and runtime integrations)
- Primary production environment name (enter a single token used across logs/metrics; default: production)
- Primary integration base URL (format: https://..., the connector will call this endpoint)
Integration Authentication (non-secret identifiers only; secrets are exchanged via your secrets manager at kickoff)
- Integration authentication method (select one)
- Credential owner (role or person who will provide secrets via your secrets manager; e.g., 'platform integrations owner')
Marketplace Listing Artifacts (values the deployment pulls to publish the listing)
- Marketplace listing artifact URL for the primary package (format: https://..., deployment will download this exact file)
- Primary listing language (select one; default: English)
- Listing package filename (enter exact filename as stored at the artifact URL, e.g., listing-package-v1.zip)
Deal Registration, Attribution & Seller Enablement (controls registration flow, attribution window, and initial enablement delivery)
- Deal registration workflow variant (select one — determines how registrations are recorded and consumed)
- Attribution lookback window in days (integer — Default is 90)
- Primary seller enablement format (select one; deployment will provision materials/delivery accordingly)
-
Operational Launch
Execute onboarding, marketplace publication, seller enablement, joint account mapping, and phased rollouts with clear owners and milestones.
-
-
Success
Measure incremental pipeline, deal velocity, and partner satisfaction, and maintain a shared channel for issues and continuous improvement.
Success Reviews
- Technical Health Check (first 30 days)
- Commercial Metrics Review (day 60 to 90)
- Bilateral Obligations Audit (around day 90)
- Roadmap Alignment Review (quarterly ongoing)
Issues & Enhancements
- Document any escalation items with required evidence and the agreed escalation path for resolution.
- Document a pass or conditional pass status for each contractual obligation for the audit period.
- Agree remediation tasks and timelines for any unmet obligations so the partnership can move to full operational status.
- Create an audit record that both parties can reference in future dispute resolution.
- Publish the bilateral obligations audit record with pass/conditional-pass statuses and supporting evidence.
- List remediation tasks with target completion dates and required deliverables for each conditional pass item.
- Schedule a remediation checkpoint to verify closure of all conditional-pass items within the agreed timeframe.
- Product roadmap changes and release impacts
- Confirm whether joint pipeline generated and partner satisfaction score are tracking toward Program Scope and Mutual Commit targets and document any corrective actions.
- Agree the joint priorities and delivery timeline for product, enablement, and co-marketing initiatives for the next quarter.
- Close or escalate any outstanding operational disputes that block partner adoption or marketplace activity.
- Publish the joint pipeline and partner satisfaction score report with trendlines and variance commentary.
- Produce a prioritized roadmap backlog for the next quarter with acceptance criteria and target delivery dates.
- Integration go-live confirmation and defect triage
- Confirm integration endpoints are functioning end-to-end and record any defects requiring remediation.
- Agree a remediation plan and resolution target dates for all high-severity technical issues.
- Establish the cadence and contact points for technical escalation until stability is reached.
- Publish the defect log with reproduction steps and severity ratings within 24 hours.
- Deliver a proposed fix schedule for all high-severity defects within 3 business days.
- Provide a snapshot of connector uptime and API latency for the launch window for asynchronous review.
- Revenue-share calculation and payment timing
- Validate revenue-share calculations and agree any required payment adjustments before the next statement.
- Confirm whether incremental partner-sourced pipeline and average co-sell deal velocity are tracking toward Program Scope targets and document root causes for any gaps.
- Agree a short list of reconciliation items with deadlines to close any commercial disputes.
- Publish a transaction-level reconciliation file for the review period to support revenue-share adjustments.
- Produce a gap analysis showing variance between observed pipeline and Program Scope targets, with hypothesized root causes.
- Circulate an agreed timeline to resolve billing disputes and schedule a follow-up finance-only checkpoint if needed.
- Restate contractual and program obligations for both parties
- Pipeline and deal velocity review
- Co-marketing and joint-pipeline outcomes
- SLA adherence and performance checks
- Present evidence of fulfillment or gap per obligation
- Partner satisfaction and operational friction points
- Adoption signals from the field
- Formal acknowledgment and conditional pass/fail
- Usage against minimum commitments and billing accuracy
- Remediation plans for unmet obligations
- Open technical blockers and remediation plan
- Documented disputes and resolution steps
- Priorities and commitments for the next quarter
- Escalations and open disputes