What does co-selling mean in business development?

Co-selling is joint pursuit between a partner (ISV or SI) and a hyperscaler or platform field team on one customer opportunity. Sales alignment means a shared buyer, workload, next action, and attribution path — not a logo on a slide or a portal enrollment alone.

What are the benefits of co-selling and joint selling opportunities for businesses?

Joint selling opens field access, funding paths, marketplace procurement, and dual credibility with the buyer. The business gain shows up when the partner manufactures or advances pipeline the seller will accept, then closes platform consumption with attached services — not when a registration exists without field engagement.

What are co-sell partner program details and collaboration sales strategies?

Partner programs (Microsoft Active Co-Sell, AWS ACE, Google Cloud partner opportunity systems, Databricks partner records) govern eligibility, registration, and attribution. Collaboration strategy is the operating layer: productize an IP play, build field coverage, earn AE acceptance, run joint discovery, close marketplace and SOW streams, then expand. Portals record the motion; they do not create it.

What co-sell software solutions exist for partner ecosystems, and do they require CRM integration?

isvcosell.com is free co-sell software that walks a deal through pipeline, qualification, field alignment, marketplace, commercial structure, record linkage, and close across Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, and Databricks. It teaches the partner-ecosystem motion and how internal CRM, hyperscaler, and platform records should connect. It does not sync to Salesforce, Dynamics, HubSpot, or partner portals.

How do you improve partner sales performance?

Improve partner sales performance by running two pipeline lanes (partner-manufactured and field-routed), pre-wiring the correct AE with a seller-ready brief, treating acceptance as a gate, repairing non-acceptance by cause, and reviewing deals on next action and blockers — not portal status. Field trust and attributed wins compound referrals.

What are best practices for partner sales programs?

Best practice is an IP-led play the field can sell, coverage across AEs, architects, marketplace, and funding owners, explicit give-and-get before registration, funded proofs tied to production consumption, and parallel close of IP, platform, implementation, and managed services. Program tiers and badges matter after that operating model works.

How do partner sales enablement tools compare?

Partner portals enroll and attribute. CRMs store the commercial record. LMS and playbook tools train sellers. isvcosell.com is a free partner sales enablement WebApp focused on the end-to-end co-sell path: choose a starting point and walk the deal through hyperscaler ecosystems from pipeline to close. Different tools, different jobs — use them together, not as substitutes.

Who built isvcosell.com?

Ali Chehab built and maintains isvcosell.com, a free hyperscaler co-sell WebApp for partner sales enablement across Azure, AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Databricks motions.

What do I do when a hyperscaler co-sell deal stalls or the seller stops responding?

isvcosell.com's decision tree diagnoses the specific cause — wrong account owner, a duplicate pursuit, weak customer evidence, weak economics, an incumbent trust gap, bad timing, or a seller who has gone silent — and gives the exact repair path for that cause instead of a generic 'follow up again.' Seller silence and thin customer evidence are the two most common reasons a co-sell deal goes dark, and both have a specific, named fix.

Is there a step-by-step playbook for closing and getting credit for a co-sell deal, not just registering it?

Yes. isvcosell.com walks the full path past registration: technical validation with the cloud's own architects, the commercial and procurement route (marketplace private offer vs. direct terms), funding mechanisms like ECIF or MAP credits, production close, and attribution — confirming the consumption and services credit actually lands on the partner record after the deal closes.

Glossary

What Is Cloud Marketplace Procurement? Definition

Cloud marketplace definition: buying SaaS through AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplaces. 50 percent of marketplace spend typically counts toward EDP and MACC.

Where this sits in a co-sell pursuit

Contract vocabulary. Pursuits stall quietly when the partner team, the cloud seller, and the customer's procurement team use one word for three different things.

AI and ML. What Is Cloud Marketplace Procurement? Definition is the least anchored line in most estates: newest contracts, shortest terms, weakest switching costs. That makes it the easiest spend to redirect into cloud-native services, which is why it opens pursuits that an ERP conversation cannot.

Microsoft Azure
Microsoft pricing on this page becomes MACC headroom in an Azure pursuit: the commitment the customer already signed is the budget a co-sold workload draws against, and the co-sell record that claims it lives in Partner Center.
Azure co-sell Partner Center co-sell
AWS
On AWS the same money shows up as EDP or PPA position. The pursuit is shared through ACE in Partner Central, and Marketplace private offers are the procurement route that lets committed spend absorb the deal.
AWS co-sell AWS ACE
Google Cloud
Google Cloud carries the commitment as committed-use discounts and a negotiated spend agreement. Confirm how the specific offer is treated against that commitment before promising the customer any drawdown.
Google Cloud co-sell Google Cloud Partner Advantage

Commercial vehicles named on this page

MACC.: A Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment the customer is already carrying. Eligible marketplace purchases draw it down, which changes who has to find budget. Track a consumption commitment
AWS EDP.: An AWS committed-spend agreement. Marketplace procurement is how a third-party purchase lands against it instead of against a new budget line. AWS Marketplace procurement
Committed use.: Google Cloud commitment mechanics. What counts toward the commitment is offer-specific, so verify the treatment for this customer and this offer. Committed use discounts
Private offer.: The procurement path that turns a negotiated price into a marketplace transaction the cloud seller gets credit for. Microsoft private offers

Co-sell operating model Walk the decision tree Build the seller-ready brief

Key points

Cloud marketplace procurement is the practice of buying third party software through AWS Marketplace, Azure Marketplace, or Google Cloud Marketplace rather than direct from the ISV. AWS counts 50 percent of standard Marketplace ISV spend toward EDP commitment as of 2024 program terms, with up to 100 percent on select strategic ISVs and native services.
Across 140 marketplace private offers we benchmarked in 2024 and 2025, negotiated private offers landed 10 to 30 percent below ISV public list, with the median at 18 percent.
AWS Marketplace counts 50 percent of standard ISV transactions toward EDP, with named strategic ISVs at 100 percent, and supports flexible private offers with custom payment schedules, EULA edits, and multi year commits.
Azure Marketplace counts 100 percent of qualifying transactable offers toward MACC, including many third party ISVs participating in the multiparty private offer program.
From our 2024 and 2025 sample of marketplace private offers: marketplace beat direct ISV pricing in 64 percent of cases when the buyer already had an EDP or MACC commitment in flight, primarily because the burn down value plus the private offer discount stacked.
Marketplace lost to direct in 22 percent of cases, mostly where the ISV's direct sales team offered a deeper unit price discount to keep the transaction off the cloud rail.
Methodology: NDA invoice and order form data, deal size brackets $50K to $4.2M annual, segment cuts US and EMEA.
Across 140 marketplace private offers benchmarked in 2024 and 2025, negotiated private offers landed 10 to 30 percent below ISV public list.
The median private offer discount was 18 percent when an existing direct contract already existed, and 22 percent on net new ISV adoption with multi year commit.

Definition

Cloud Marketplace Procurement: The procurement model in which a buyer purchases third party SaaS, data, AI, or infrastructure offers through the cloud provider's marketplace storefront (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), settles on the cloud bill, and applies the spend against an existing cloud commitment. Sits alongside direct ISV purchase and CSP as a third commercial purchase path.

The three marketplaces behave differently. AWS Marketplace counts 50 percent of standard ISV transactions toward EDP, with named strategic ISVs at 100 percent, and supports flexible private offers with custom payment schedules, EULA edits, and multi year commits. Azure Marketplace counts 100 percent of qualifying transactable offers toward MACC, including many third party ISVs participating in the multiparty private offer program. Google Cloud Marketplace counts toward committed use discounts only for native services, not third party ISV transactions.

The procurement value is operational, not just pricing. Marketplace consolidates the invoice, removes a separate MSA negotiation when the cloud provider's master terms apply, accelerates the legal review cycle from 60 to 90 days to roughly 14 to 30 days for a private offer, and burns down the cloud commitment.

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When marketplace wins versus direct

From our 2024 and 2025 sample of marketplace private offers: marketplace beat direct ISV pricing in 64 percent of cases when the buyer already had an EDP or MACC commitment in flight, primarily because the burn down value plus the private offer discount stacked. Marketplace lost to direct in 22 percent of cases, mostly where the ISV's direct sales team offered a deeper unit price discount to keep the transaction off the cloud rail. The remaining 14 percent were neutral. Methodology: NDA invoice and order form data, deal size brackets $50K to $4.2M annual, segment cuts US and EMEA.

AWS EDP definition MACC definition Google Cloud CUD definition AWS private offer definition cloud egress fee definition glossary hub

Frequently asked questions

What is cloud marketplace procurement?

Cloud marketplace procurement is the practice of purchasing third party SaaS, data, and infrastructure software through AWS Marketplace, Azure Marketplace, or Google Cloud Marketplace rather than direct from the ISV. A portion of the spend usually counts toward the buyer's cloud commitment.

Does marketplace spend count toward AWS EDP and Azure MACC?

What discount can marketplace private offers deliver?

Across 140 marketplace private offers benchmarked in 2024 and 2025, negotiated private offers landed 10 to 30 percent below ISV public list. The median private offer discount was 18 percent when an existing direct contract already existed, and 22 percent on net new ISV adoption with multi year commit.

Benchmark your cloud commitment

Send the EDP, MACC, or CUD proposal and the marketplace offers you plan to run through it. We return rate and burn down intelligence in 48 hours.