8 best practices for elevating your Microsoft co-sell game

Having helped a multitude of partners navigate the Microsoft co-sell process and take winning joint offers to market, we’ve gained invaluable insights into what sets successful co-sell motions apart. From aligning with Microsoft priorities to crafting compelling value propositions, the right strategies can fast-track results and open the door to more opportunities.

Whether you're exploring co-sell for the first time or looking to level-up your current efforts, these eight effective tips will help you to strengthen your co-sell position, deepen collaboration with the Microsoft field, and ultimately accelerate pipeline growth. So, let’s dive in!

1. Make your solution irresistible to the Microsoft field: Perhaps the most critical factor in driving co-sell success lies in ensuring your solution aligns with the things the Microsoft field really cares about. Simply put, they look for solutions that map directly to Microsoft’s priorities for the current fiscal year, and more specifically those that drive Azure Consumption Revenue (ACR) and/or seats sold (which most of the solution priorities are measured on). One clever way to do this is by actually incorporating the Microsoft priority solution area (e.g., Data & AI, Security, Migration, etc.) into your solution or offer name. While we recognize this isn’t always possible, it’s a great way to grab the attention of Microsoft sellers and tell them at first glance what priority scenario you’re aligned with. Adding some “better together” messaging in your materials can also help strengthen your co-sell potential, helping both the field and customers to understand why your solution combined with Microsoft’s technologies is better than the sum of its parts – ultimately helping sellers to see the value in selling them together.

2. Fine-tune your value proposition and targeting: Make sure you clearly define and fine-tune your value proposition to showcase what differentiates your solution from competitors, including other partners. You want to make sure you’re set apart from the pack as the clear choice when the Microsoft field looks to engage a partner to help address a particular customer need. You should also have a clearly defined target audience and ideal customer profile (industry, company size, etc.) for your solution, keeping in mind that you aren’t trying to attract everyone – just those who are most likely to benefit from and purchase your solution. So don’t go too broad.

3. Keep your materials and contacts up to date: Make sure to keep your customer-facing materials and contact information in Partner Center updated and relevant to reflect any new solution enhancements, evolutions, or relevant personnel changes.

4. Demonstrate solution success: Let your existing customer successes do the talking! Demonstrating proven results and outcomes from successful implementations of your solution through case studies and testimonials can often speak louder than anything you can say about your own solution. So make sure to put some effort into capturing some impactful success stories and including them in your co-sell bill of materials – customers and sellers will listen!

5. Take swift action on referrals: Establish a rhythm of business (ROB) to enable your teams to take quick, repeatable action when you receive referrals from Microsoft, so no opportunity slips through the cracks and customers are never left waiting.

6. Get assistance from the Partner Center AI: Leverage the new Partner Center AI Assistant to get the help you need right when you need it. The AI assistant can provide quick answers to queries across your Partner Center workspaces (including tracking and managing co-sell opportunities and referrals), deliver tailored insights, intelligent suggestions, and can help you accelerate and optimize workflows.

7. Maximize your go-to-market benefits: Make the most of the Microsoft Partner Network, ensuring you’re leveraging all three co-selling motions to maximize success – not just engaging Microsoft field sales, but also direct-to-customer tactics as well as channel/partner tactics.

8. Promote your co-sell wins: Share your co-sell success stories internally and externally to build credibility and help deepen relationships with Microsoft account teams. You can also submit your success story to be featured by Microsoft and increase your visibility.

Strengthening your co-sell posture with Microsoft is about more than just checking boxes—it’s about creating alignment, building trust, and showing up ready to win together. By embracing these best practices, you can not only increase your visibility within Microsoft but also unlock greater sales momentum and deeper engagement across the ecosystem.

Want help taking your co-sell efforts to the next level?  Learn about our Microsoft Co-sell Workshop or get in touch to connect with our experienced co-sell strategists today!