The power of

partnership
How to grow
and thrive through
successful partnerships

Coming together is a
beginning; keeping
together is progress;
working together is
success.
- Henry Ford
Ready. About this playbook:
We believe partners make more possible. Emerging technologies are rapidly
changing the world and what it will take for our partners and their customers

Connect. to succeed. In the Microsoft Partner Network, we are enabling partners to

collaborate with each other to deliver integrated solutions that address unique
customer needs. We are committed to providing you with guidance, resources,

Grow. and tools to make connections with qualified and innovative partners and
uncover new growth opportunities through partnerships.
The object of this playbook is to help you learn how to develop successful
partnerships with others in the Microsoft partner ecosystem to drive efficiency,
revenue, and profits. This motion is frequently referred to as “Partner to
Partner." We’ll give you insider knowledge, best practices, and tools from
Microsoft and thought leaders such as Harald Horgen of The York Group, and
Per Werngren, who made the International Association of Microsoft Channel
Partners (IAMCP) what it is today. In this playbook, you will find the business
cases, the guidance, the strategic approach, and the tools to:

Understand the Assess your Forge successful Build on

value of business and profitable and industry best
partnerships and gaps, and get sustainable practices from
why to invest to next steps partnerships the experts

Partner success is our goal. We are committed to help your business to

accelerate digital transformation for itself and your customers, and grow
profitability.

Already growing?
This playbook begins with the basics under the assumption that your business
is just getting started with partnering. If your expertise in accelerating business
through partnerships is more advanced, you can jump to the success formula
to see steps and links to resources.

Contributing Harald Horgen, The York Group Contact

partners Per Werngren, Accelerator AB [email protected]
Diana Kreklow, The Kreklow Group to connect with
Shann McGrail, Devreve these partners
 THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP PAGE 3

The partner-to-partner success formula:

Ready, connect, grow.

READY CONNECT GROW

Assess your readiness, discover and Win strategic partners who can help Drive deeper penetration in existing
refine your value proposition, identify you get cloud and digital customer base and expand customer
solution gaps, and make a plan for transformation market share, go to base with joint offerings and
connecting with partners. market together, and manage your investments.
partnerships effectively.

Partnership is a journey that starts with you.

Partnering together successfully starts with defining your value as a business and your goals. That means answering
questions such as: What’s your mission statement regarding partnerships? How will your partners benefit from and
monetize the solutions you provide? What gaps do you have in your offerings that could be filled by strategic partners?
What steps do you need to take to engage with partners in a structured way?
This guide and framework will take you through the success formula to answer these questions and take the required
steps to thrive in partnerships, accelerate business opportunities, and grow profitability.
Table of Contents
The power of partnership ............................................... 5 Manage: Managing your partnership ............................... 31
Transforming together: Why the partner-to-partner Grow: Expand and penetrate ............................................... 32
relationship matters ................................................................... 6
Grow: Joint marketing ............................................................. 33
The bottom line: The partner-to-partner motion drives
Grow: Joint selling .................................................................... 34
revenue ........................................................................................... 7
Grow: Joint solutions ............................................................... 35
The partner opportunity: Microsoft’s partner
ecosystem ...................................................................................... 8 Recap: The success formula .................................................. 36
Going beyond transactional: Why partnerships fail, Resources ........................................................................ 37
and how you can succeed. ...................................................... 9 Resources: Microsoft ............................................................... 38
The partner-to-partner success formula: Ready, Resources: Third-party ............................................................ 39
connect, grow. ............................................................................10
Resources: Business model assessment worksheet .... 40
Formula to develop successful partnerships ............. 11
Resources: IAMCP P2P maturity model framework .... 41
Quick guide: Partnering success formula ........................12
Resources: Partner profile score card ............................... 42
Prepare: Getting Ready ...........................................................13
Resources: Cloud spider template ..................................... 43
Prepare: Getting started .........................................................14
Resources: Customer target market templates ............ 44
Prepare: Defining a partner strategy .................................17
Resources: Value chain model template ......................... 45
Assess and plan: Identifying gaps ......................................20
Resources: Microsoft partner ecosystem and Microsoft
Assess and plan: Leveraging partners ...............................23 areas ............................................................................................... 46
Connect: Building quality partnerships ............................24 Resources: Take your app to market with Microsoft .. 47
Connect: Identify and connect .............................................25 Resources: Access to resources and services by
Engage: Agreement and laying the foundation ...........29 Microsoft Partner Network membership level .............. 48
 Microsoft
Partner
Network

Section 1:

The power of
partnership

Why you should prioritize partner-to-partner relationships, what’s

holding you back, and our step-by-step success formula.
 THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP PAGE 6

Transforming together:
Why the partner-to-partner relationship matters
Successful digital transformation for In 2016 and beyond, it’s more
important than ever to specialize as an
your customers necessitates your own IT solution provider. [..] And that means
transformation. finding complementary business
partners to go to market with to
Digital transformation is the number-one priority for the majority of business provide complete solutions to your
executives. As they seek end-to-end, cloud-based solutions for their key customers.
business challenges and differentiated capabilities that enable them to
compete more effectively, your role as their technology partner is rapidly – IDC Research
changing. Thus, helping customers digitally transform must start with your
own transformation.

By 2020, 60% of all enterprises

By 2019, all digitally
will have fully articulated an
transformed organizations will
organization-wide digital
generate at least 45% of their
platform strategy and will be
revenue from "future of
in the process of
commerce" business models
implementing that strategy

In order to serve these customers effectively and remain relevant, your approach to the marketplace must evolve as well.
This could include changing and augmenting your business model, reassessing where your products and services fit in the
end-to- end customer digital transformation journey, and determining your gaps. A key strategy to enable digital
transformation in this context is finding the right go-to-market partners.

Achieve scale through partnerships to adapt to the changing business

opportunities in a cloud environment.
The pace of change is accelerating and that impacts Helping customers digitally transform:
how you partner and how you collectively add value • Change in customer procurement preferences
to your customers. Partnering increases your capacity
• Intelligent edge is unlocking new potential
to scale and accelerates your ability to respond. With
the market moving in the direction of specialization • Need for speed
and the jack of all trades becoming obsolete, this
necessitates leveraging partners, equally specialized, Overcoming the risks of digital transformation:
to fill the gaps you’ll identify. Some of the areas of
• New digital frontiers and shedding of legacy concepts
change include:
• Changing business model • Trusted advisor(s) needed for a multi-year journey
• Subscription pricing • Increasing complexity of partner ecosystems within
customer environments
• Going to market and selling in new ways
• Follow-up services and support
• Filling operational and resourcing gaps
 THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP PAGE 7

The bottom line:

The partner-to-partner motion drives revenue
Profitability
As you align to customers’ digital transformation goals through effective partnerships, the natural outcome is more
revenue for your business. By collaborating on sales and go-to-market activities, you can also reduce the cost of selling in
to new markets and increase the efficiency of solution delivery, leading to bigger profits.

Partner-to-partner links you with the global partner ecosystem and has a
multiplier effect
Microsoft has thousands of partners specializing across the technology and industry spectrum. Linking up to this network
makes it possible for you to access a vastly greater customer ecosystem, including markets that you might not be able to
address on your own. The right partnerships open the door to unlimited opportunity.

Reach more Increase growth Joint selling Velocity + size Azure revenue

10-20% 40%
customers revenue IP joint deals

3x-5x Increase in margin $8B+ 3x faster close of Azure revenue

6x larger
Increase in Annual IP is driven by ISV
joint pipeline co-sell partner solutions1
revenue
 THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP PAGE 8

The partner opportunity: Microsoft’s partner

ecosystem
Opportunities to build partnerships in the By 2020, $4 trillion USD TAM globally.
At least $1 trillion TAM addressable
Microsoft ecosystem. market for ISVs, resellers, and channel
Microsoft will always depend on its partners—95% of our commercial revenue partners.
flows through partners and there’s a total addressable market of $4 trillion – AMI Research, 2017
globally. The resulting opportunities from this mutually beneficial relationship
are vast and our partners recognize the enormous power in this network for joint
marketing, joint selling, and joint solutioning. 95% of Microsoft’s commercial revenue
The intention of the playbook is to empower partners to work with each other flows through partners
directly to mine these opportunities. Microsoft’s internal data shows that – Gavriella Schuster, State of the
relevant and immediate opportunities with the Microsoft customer install base Channel
arise from relationships with other partners, not solely through direct
connections from Microsoft.
With this playbook, you’ll get the basics on how to identify and connect with the Partners transacting via CSP serve more
right partners. If you follow the formula and put in the work, you’ll greatly than 2M customers, a 52% increase
increase your ability to discover new leads and new opportunities. over the past 12 months.
– Gavriella Schuster, State of the
Channel

“Microsoft has always been a partner-led company, and we’ll always be a

partner-led company… What really drives us, what makes it all possible is your
passion, your commitment, and your drive to make us better.”
[CEO, – Satya Nadella MICROSOFT – WPC 2016]
 THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP PAGE 9

Going beyond transactional:

Why partnerships fail, and how you can succeed.
Partner relationships seldom last beyond a tactical engagement or two. Fewer In 2016 and beyond, it’s more
than 10% of channel relationships produce repeatable sustainable revenue and important than ever to specialize as an
most are established on a single transaction. They are marriages of IT solution provider. [...] And that
convenience, opportunistic, with little investment or commitment from either means finding complementary
party. business partners to go to market
with to provide complete solutions to
Some of the key weaknesses involve the following:
your customers.
• ISVs expect the value of their solution to speak for itself, and often don’t
– IDC Research
specialize in the relationship sales approach required to build long-lasting
partnerships.
• Channel partners and SIs have their go-to technologies already decided
upon and may be unwilling to try new things.
By focusing too narrowly on one’s own traditional business model, you miss
the larger opportunity and risk getting left behind in the environment of digital
transformation.

The case for partnering is clear:

If you’re reading this playbook, you’re either a business that has a solution or IP to sell, or a business that has a market to
sell to. When partnering is done correctly, growth and transformation happen for all. Some of the key gaps when looking
at the different partner types that will influence the type of partners you’re looking for include the following:

Selling IP Developing IP
Channel, Distributors, LSPs, MSPs, and SIs ISVs need channel partners to:
need ISVs to increase: • Increase revenue and growth
• Relevance and competitiveness • Scale sales force
• Customer renewals & stickiness • Close resource gap
• Accelerate journey to the cloud • Accelerate cloud adoption

When done right, partnering grows the pie for

everyone—for customers, yes, but also for each of
the partners.
– Satya Nadella, Hit Refresh
 THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP PAGE 10

The partner-to-partner success formula:

Ready, connect, grow.

READY CONNECT GROW

Assess your readiness, discover and Win strategic partners who can help Drive deeper penetration in existing
refine your value proposition, identify you get cloud and digital customer base and expand customer
solution gaps, and make a plan for transformation market share, go to base with joint offerings and
connecting with partners. market together, and manage your investments.
partnerships effectively.

Partnership is a journey that starts with you.

Partnering together successfully starts with defining your value as a business and your goals. That means answering
questions such as: What’s your mission statement regarding partnerships? How will your partners benefit from and
monetize the solutions you provide? What gaps do you have in your offerings that could be filled by strategic partners?
What steps do you need to take to engage with partners in a structured way?
This guide and framework will take you through the success formula to answer these questions and take the required
steps to thrive in partnerships, accelerate business opportunities, and grow profitability.
 Microsoft
Partner
Network

Section 2:

Formula to
develop successful
partnerships

Quick Guide: Partnering Success Formula

1. Prepare: Getting started
2. Assess and plan: Assess gaps and plan
3. Identify and connect: Prioritize and identify partners
4. Engage: Connect and engage
5. Manage: Manage your partnerships
6. Grow: Deepen and expand capabilities
Recap: Partnering Success formula
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 12

Quick guide: Partnering success formula

The Partner Roadmap for developing successful partnerships.
exit criteria key resources
• What’s my value chain?
• Gap assessment ✓ Microsoft Online
Prepare Assessment
• What’s the value of partnerships?
& Assess • Where do I want partners? ✓ Channel Strategy Draft • Microsoft Partner-to-Partner
Home
• Assess joint GTM, joint sell
• Online Assessment
• GTM Services
Readiness Workshop
Premium Assets
READY

• Why partner with me—what’s my 90min Consultation

pitch? Virtual Workshop
• Joint Marketing Templates
• Define partner/channel strategy
Plan • What’s my investment? ✓ Partnering Plan • Joint Sales Enablement
• GTM partnering plan Templates
• Learnings & go-do’s • Partner Prep Templates
• Re-evaluate plan & prioritize GTM Partnering Business Plan
Partnership Case Study
Partnership Value Prop Deck
• Business Model Assessment
Worksheet
• Profiling the ideal match • Partner Profile Score Card
• Identifying the preferred partnerships • Cloud Spider Template
✓ Target Partner Profile
• Who do I want to partner with? • Customer Target Market
Identify ✓ Value Proposition
Templates
• Where do I find them?
& • How will I resonate with them?
✓ Pitch Materials
• Value Chain Model template
Connect • Positioning your solution
✓ Partner / Channel GTM
Plan
CONNECT

• Identify barriers to adoption

• Identify prospect needs
• Establishing agreement
• Laying the operational foundation for
✓ Letter of Intent • Microsoft Partner-to-Partner
partnership
✓ Joint Go-to-Market Collaboration Platform
• GTM Prep • GTM Services
Engage Plan
• Joint Market Prep • Take your app to market with
✓ Joint Marketing Plan
• Joint Sell Prep Microsoft
✓ Joint Selling Plan
• Define engagement model
• ROB
• Managing your partnership
• Managing and tracking KPIs
• Using Data Wisely ✓ Joint KPIs
• Tracking and ✓ Rhythm of Business
monitoring tools Plan
Manage • Cadence ROBs ✓ Joint Scorecard
• Evaluating your partnership ✓ Partner Classification &
GROW

• Annual Reviews Actions Plan

• Level Setting through score cards
• Course Correct and classifying partners
• Grow capabilities
• Expand and penetrate: From ignition ✓ Partnership Accelerate • GTM Services
to acceleration Plan Multi-partner PDC campaigns
Grow • Joint marketing ✓ Joint Marketing Plan
Multi-partner DMC channels
• Grow: Resources Page
• Joint selling ✓ Joint Selling Plan • Microsoft AppSource
• Joint solutioning
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 13

Getting Ready
In a perfect world…

Everyone would I’d have perfect I’d have the skills

want to partner partners knocking at and time to recruit,
with me my door onboard and
execute

The most important question to ask: Can you help another business be
more successful?
Laying the groundwork for success.
In the partner-to-partner success formula, the Ready step is concerned with the preparation you need to undergo in order
to achieve partnerships that are powerful, profitable, and sustainable. If you’re like most Microsoft partners, you probably
have a few other companies that you work with from time to time. You may even have some close relationships with other
technology providers.
However, the partner-to-partner motion is something different: it is about Finding partners willing to sign an
taking an intentional, step-by-step, proven approach that helps you build your agreement is easy, as long as there's no
partner network quickly with high-quality relationships that deliver mutual commitment on their part. Finding
value. partners that will invest their own time
At the end of this phase, you should have the following items completed: and resources to drive significant
revenues takes a lot more work.
✓ A clear understanding of your value proposition to your ideal partner, and
collateral that communicates it – Harald Horgen, President and CEO,
✓ A business model that supports partner/channel strategy The York Group
✓ A reference architecture and technical overall collateral
✓ A partner scorecard you can use in evaluating potential matches
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 14

Prepare: Getting started

Partnering is a mindset.
Systematically approaching partnerships requires the right mindset. Objectives
Focusing on the top and bottom line is key, but to forge successful • Understand the importance of
partnerships, the first question to ask is whether you can make another partnerships and the value they can
business more successful than they already are. In preparing for this provide.
undertaking, you’ll need to do some serious soul searching. • Understand the investment required
to secure lasting and
Define the value of partnerships to your successful partnerships
business. • Understand what makes a good
To know the value a partner will provide to you, you have to figure out partner, what you have to offer, and
where and why you need partners. A key consideration is how the move why partners should invest in you.
to the cloud is redefining how to transform your business to stay • Define your partner / channel
profitable. For example, a successful channel program will produce strategy
higher revenues. Good business partners tend to be consistent, year in
and year out, and once you are part of their core business, you benefit
from increased revenues with little effort or support from you. A strong Key resources
channel partnership also accelerates time to market and increases an GTM P2P Business Plan Template
ISV’s margins as well.
Partnership Pitch Deck Template
Evolving business models and staying. Partnership Case Study Template
As mentioned earlier, the rates of change, adoption, and specialization
required in the era of digital transformation are accelerating. This
changes traditional business models for all partner types—ISVs, channel, Pro tip
services and so on. The business model used to be straightforward: you Automation of day-to-day business
build a product, you sell the product, and customers buy the product. In processes is a critical step for enabling
our new market reality, automation and partnerships are becoming your offerings to achieve cloud scale
critical success factors. Subscription pricing, part of the new paradigm, while maintaining your margins.
reduces margins upfront, which requires cutting costs across other
business operations including development, sales, provisioning, and
support.
This new paradigm creates the roadmap that will guide you in terms of
defining the value of partnerships to your business. If you’re selling IP or
solutions, consider how partners can help with competitive
differentiation, increase customer stickiness, and accelerate or enhance
customers’ move to the cloud. If you’re developing IP or solutions, you’ll
want to consider how to shore up your resource gaps in sales and
marketing, look at increasing your revenue and growth through the scale
that a channel partner provides, and access a readymade cloud customer
base.
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 15

Make a commitment—investing in
partnerships. Investing time, money, resources
Successful partnerships at the scale we’re talking about don’t happen by • It takes an average of 8 calls to
accident. They’re the result of work and investment. Don’t let that scare reach a prospect.
you—if done right, the payoff can be big. However, if you’re waiting for • It takes an average of 18 months to
partnerships to fall into your lap, you’re likely to be waiting a long time. go from signing an agreement to
There’s a lot of competition out there. You have to get past the blinders launching a joint partnership in
most decision makers wear in their day-to-day jobs. market.
The time and money you put into perfecting your pitch, networking, and • Building trust is critical in
other partner-to-partner activities will make you stand out from the establishing partnerships.
crowd. It shows that you are serious about the relationship and willing to
put some skin in the game right from the get-go.
Pro tip
What’s my investment? (Time, resources, Although your partner prospecting
money.) should focus on the business
Partner development requires a willingness to invest time, people, opportunity, be ready to demo your
money, and resources. Getting started with partnership development in a product at a moment's notice.
systematic way may seem overwhelming. It may require a new mindset to
move beyond transactional relationships that simply meet the need of
the moment. To make this happen, business leadership must thoughtfully
define a level of investment and commit to it. Exactly what and how
much you’ll need to invest in these areas should be revealed through the
gap assessment, but here are some ideas:
• Going the extra mile in establishing trust between organizations.
• Time, money, and travel required for in-person meetings with key
partner prospects.
• Considerations to make marketing / selling IP and solutions more
appealing: Marketing investment funds, sales incentives, and so forth.
• Assets and know-how for digital sales and marketing: Initial
prospecting via LinkedIn, email, and calls, follow-up and evaluation
and possible email lists for leads.
• Collateral design fees for professionally assets and design.
• Business transformation efforts. As discussed in the first chapter, the
cloud mandates new business models. This requires an end-to-end
evaluation including platform, distribution, support, and so on
• Role alignment and the hiring of alliance managers.
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 16

What’s my pitch? Build a business case for why others should invest in
you.
The first thing you need is your value proposition to partners, and that doesn’t mean the nuts and bolts of how your
technology works. Partners are concerned with one thing—how your solution makes them money. They want to know
how it fits into their business model and how it will increase their profits. On the flip side, if you’re a seller, the stronger
channel program you have in place, the more strategic you’ll be to them.

When are you a strategic partner? If you can help another business be
more successful.
If you can figure out how you can make another business more successful than they already are, you're on your way to
becoming strategic.
To win partners over to a level where they are willing to invest time and money in your mutual success, think of them as a
customer. They’re busy—they won’t take the time to figure it out themselves, so connect the dots for them by showing
what’s in it for them – how will they, as your partner, grow their business.
It is important to consider that you are selling yourself as a service partner, rather than just selling a product. Being
strategic, having a competitive differentiator, and being able to sell yourself will help you stand out from the crowd. How
your partners will profit depends on how you’re leveraging partnerships and the gaps they’re filling. And even more, the
type of business model and revenue source makes all the difference. You should also consider the needs of the customer
base of that prospective partner in addition to the greater market opportunity where that partner operates, for example,
industry, country, customer segment, or all of the above. In today's market, ISVs bear more of the burden to become
strategic to the channel, and sellers need to focus on how to monetize their Microsoft goals through products and
solutions.
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 17

Prepare: Defining a partner strategy

ISVs: Defining your channel strategy.
As we established in the first section of the playbook, if you’re not strategic, your
relationships will remain transactional, which does not produce the incremental Key resources
revenue that strategic partnerships result in. The onus is on the ISV to move GTM P2P Business Plan
beyond a transactional relationship with the channel. To up-level to a strategic Template
partnership, a channel strategy is highly recommended. You'll need a strategy Partnership Pitch Deck
and plan that enables joint selling, a pitch that makes the business case for why Template
partner with you, and you need to transform your business model to adapt and
be profitable as a cloud-based business, one that can respond and react to the Partnership Case Study
fast pace of digital transformation. Template

Becoming essential.
Two decades ago, sellers were always looking for new partners, they needed new
products to meet customer’s critical needs and stay relevant. Not anymore. Every
channel partner has what they need in terms of strategic accounts, key products,
ability to upsell and create revenue streams. While they might look for new
products or services that drive their competitive edge or customer stickiness,
they don’t generally need new business. ISVs need channel partners a lot more
than the other way around. To improve your partnering motion and the effort
you put into this aspect, it’s important to consider the time and resources
channel partners have invested in their business.
As the ISV, you must have a compelling solution and offer in place by the time
you contact potential channel partners. They are looking for vendors who know
how to partner well. Here are some ways to prove this and resonate:
• Articulate how your solution makes them money. They want to know how
your IP fits into their business model and how it will increase their profits.
• Margin is the first revenue source ISVs think of, but it may not be the major
source of income for your partner.
• Include services such as integration, data migration, customization, training,
and so on, to ensure there’s follow-on services and product opportunity for
the partner.
• Consider third-party software or hardware bundling. You want to become
part of the reseller’s “survival toolkit“
• Seller’s “survival toolkit“. Become part of their survival toolkit by ensuring
you’re offering differentiated IP.
• Bundled to a reseller vs. unbundled. Consider both the advantages and
disadvantages of being bundled to your reseller vs. being unbundled. As
appealing as your IP might be, if the channel partner cannot monetize your
product to achieve their Microsoft metrics, your opportunities diminish
greatly. The advantage to being bundled would arise when your IP drives
competitive differentiation with their customer base, in which case they
might not want other channel partners to sell your product. If you’re trying to
get in with a particular channel partner and you both already see the mutual
benefits, this may seal the deal.
• Marketing investment funds, sales incentives and contests can illustrate
your partnership potential to prospective partners.
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 18

Channel partners also want to see that you have a strong program in place or
are able to operationalize and support the channel relationship with them by Key resources
the time you contact them. They are looking for vendors who know how to Margins and incentives
partner well.
Success Formula
Here are additional ways in which you will boost your appeal to a channel
partner (for more details, see Identify and Connect):
• Build a strong profile and demonstrate your profitability Developing a successful
partnership
• Demonstrate shorter time to revenue through your business model—not
only will customers want your IP, but that there’s opportunity for follow- • Assess your business model
on services for pull through revenue and ability to go-to-market
• Educate the channel on your pitch so they can clearly articulate this to the • Determine your gaps (your
customer business model based on
customer and market needs
• Drive profitability by accelerating sales with incentives and margin and expectations)
programs/discounts
• Profile the type of partners
• Ensure you have correct alignment of roles between your business and based on capabilities, market
Microsoft and between your business and your partners share, customer base, etc.
needed to fill those gaps
• Mold prospective partnership
offerings to appeal to
identified prospective
partners

Define the business opportunity.

How will the partner make money?

Discount on the Services Other Products

Subscription • Implementation • Third-party
• Integration software?
• Customization • Hardware
• Training
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 19

Channel strategy considerations: what Key resources

type of ISV are you? Keys to a Successful Cloud Channel
Your channel requirements will vary based on whether you’re Program
delivering products and solutions on premises, in the cloud or born 10-Step Partner Recruitment Program
in the cloud.

On-premises ISVs: ISVs that haven't yet made the decision to move to the cloud nor are they using partners for their on-
premises solution. The biggest blocker is often the uncertainty around the impact on their business as they move into new
markets.
Hybrid ISVs: ISVs that are moving to the cloud and have an existing channel. They may also be a hybrid—keeping some
solutions still on-prem. Their questions including knowing what changes to make to their channel program. Can they use
the same partners, or do they need to recruit new ones? Do they need to change the discount program?
Born-in-the-cloud: These ISVs might not appreciate the power of a good channel. They often think that posting their
solution on a marketplace is all they need to do to sell to the enterprise market. They need an end-to-end channel
program that covers the internal processes—and they need to determine how to recruit and then manage the right
partners once onboard.

Different ISVs, different questions:

ON-PREM ISVS “Can I use partners to sell to

WITH NO PARTNERS Saas opens new markets
new markets?”

ON-PREM ISVS Adapting their channel “How will this impact my

WITH PARTNERS program current partners?

BORN-IN- “How do I recruit / manage

THE-CLOUD ISVS “What is a channel?”
channel partners?”

For more detailed channel and partner strategy, review these Channel 9 Webcasts, in particular, module 4, The Keys to a
Successful Cloud Channel Program.

Channel Partner Considerations

For those selling, to the channel partners, while your base and sales engine may be more essential to the ISVs, the ISVs
product and solution are likely more essential to your customer than it is to you. In considering how to do partner-to-
partner better, your main goal is to monetize your Microsoft goals using partner products and services. Some of your
considerations:
• Differentiating in market through a broader portfolio of technologies from ISVs
• Increasing relevance and competitiveness
• Creating customer stickiness and renewals
• Accelerating customer’s journey to the cloud
• The value of bundling an ISV in a competitive market
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 20

Assess and plan: Identifying gaps

The next steps are all about taking a hard look at your business to understand
where partnerships would be most valuable and building the resources Objectives
to approach potential partners. • Assess gaps and determine where
partnerships would be beneficial.
Assess your gaps. Figure out where your • Evaluate learnings and profile
partners fit in. perfect partners.
• Prepare for joint go-to-market
Nobody’s perfect—but when it comes to partnering, your imperfections are
planning.
your opportunities. The gaps in your business, sales, geographical, and other
capabilities are the places where partners can fit in to the equation. To
understand your ideal partner relationship, assess those gaps thoroughly and
Key resources
decide where partnerships could have the most impact on your bottom line.
Once you figure that out, you can determine your channel strategy and go-to- Microsoft Online Assessment
market plan. By the end of this chapter, you should be ready to take an early IAMCP P2P Maturity Model
pass at those items. You can expand and perfect them as you go.
Business Model Assessment Worksheet
What’s my value chain? Value Chain Model template
Your value chain is how you deliver value to your end customers. Begin by Partner Profile Score Card
asking yourself what the nature of that value is. This should not just be a
narrow technology solution. How does it enable their business? How does it Cloud Spider Template
help their people work more effectively? What are they able to do better as a Target Market Template
result of your solution? The steps in the value chain include:
• People: The human resources devoted to creating, selling, implementing,
servicing, and supporting your solution. Pro tip
• Process: The tools and IP you bring to the relationship. Three markers that you are a strategic
• Technology: The technologies that enable the customer to partner:
derive value. • There's at least one person
dedicated to your product
Assessing your gaps. • They have a concrete marketing
There are several aspects of your value chain where gaps may be present and plan
taking a broad look at them gives you the best chance of identifying fruitful
• You represent a significant portion
areas for partnership. Here are some key areas to consider.
of their revenue—10% or more
• Business model gaps
• Resource gaps
Assessing gaps
• Technology gaps
• Assess your business model and
ability to go-to-market
• Determine your gaps (your business
model based on customer and
market needs and expectations)
• Profile the type of partners based
on capabilities, market share,
customer base, etc. needed to fill
those gaps
• Mold prospective partnership
offerings to appeal to identified
prospective partners
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 21

Business model gaps. Key resources

In an environment of cloud transformation, many businesses are facing gaps in Microsoft Online Assessment
their business models as they transition from a traditional, on-premises world to
one of as-a-service technology. When choosing a partner, it can pay to find IAMCP P2P Maturity Model
someone who is already prepared to transact in the ways you are targeting. This Business Model Assessment
will save you time and money setting them up yourself. This can include: Worksheet
• Pricing: Subscription pricing is the future for most IT, but how will you support Value Chain Model template
it?
Partner Profile Score Card
• Cash flow: Cloud solutions have different cash flow than
on-prem, how will this affect you? Cloud Spider Template

• Sales and marketing: Are you prepared to shift from push marketing to a Target Market Template
buyer-centric approach?
• Target markets: Do you want to avoid cannibalizing on-prem sales, or focus
on opening new markets?
• Contracts: How will your customer contracts change—will you support
monthly or long-term? Can you deliver on an SLA?
• Customer support: Lower transaction value requires increased use of
automation in customer support, are you ready?

Resource gaps.
It’s often said that people are your greatest asset—but they’re also very expensive. If you can leverage partners to pick up
some of the slack, you’ll be doing yourself a favor. Look for gaps in the following areas:
• Technology: Do you have the technical skills in your organization to break into new markets or transition from on-
prem to cloud solutions?
• Sales and marketing: Are there experts in your company who can manage various types of sales relationships,
whether direct sales, through-partner or through-distributor sales, or marketplace sales?
• Support: How robust is your support team, and can you scale it efficiently as you grow?
• Regional expertise: Do you have the right people in the right places to meet your strategic goals?
• Industry expertise: Are there industry experts on your staff who can help you grow into new areas?
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 22

Technology gaps. Key resources

Chances are, you're excellent in your chosen area of technology—but there are Business Model
probably many more where you are not differentiated and you'd be wise to Assessment Worksheet
work with someone who can do it better. Here, consider:
Target Market Template
• Client software development
• Hardware deployment and management
• Cloud deployment and management Assessing gaps
• Virtualization • Assess your business model
and ability to go-to-market
• Software distribution
• Determine your gaps (your
• Billing and ecommerce
business model based on
• Digital marketing customer and market needs
• Data and analytics and expectations)
• Automation • Profile the type of partners
based on capabilities, market
Leveraging partners to fill the gaps. share, customer base, etc.
Now it’s time to put together your go-to-market partnering plan. Take another needed to fill those gaps
look at your pitch and value proposition in light of the gaps you’ve identified. • Mold prospective partnership
By putting these things together, the picture of your ideal partner begins to offerings to appeal to
take shape. In the next section of the playbook, we’ll get into detail about how identified prospective
to actually identify real-world counterparts to this ideal partner, but for now, partners
just keep that description handy.
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 23

Assess and plan: Leveraging partners

Prepare for a go-to-market partnering plan. Key resources
Now that you’ve considered your channel strategy, and reviewed your gaps, GTM P2P Business Plan Template
look back over everything you’ve done so far, including the goals you set in
the beginning. What types of partnerships would best serve those goals? Re- Target Market Template
evaluate your plan and prioritize your value propositions and gaps based on Partnership Pitch Deck Template
those goals. In the next section, you’re going to make this plan real by building
Partnership Case Study Template
a partner scorecard and beginning the process of contacting and evaluating
potential partners. GTM P2P Services
Check point—what you should have planned so far: • 90-minute consultation
• Sales enablement virtual
• Assess gaps and determine where partnerships would be beneficial.
workshop
• Business model that supports partner/channel strategy
• P2P readiness workshop
Going forward, you’ll want to now focus on evaluating your learnings and
profile perfect partners and early thinking on your joint Go-to-Market partner
planning.

The basics of your partner-to-partner GTM:

Some of the work you’ll go through to create a partnership and pull together a joint go-to-market. Essentially, as a
partnership, what are you selling, who are you targeting, and where/how are you selling it. Leverage the Microsoft GTM
partnering business plan template if you’re ready for this, but we’ll go into more detail in the Engage section.
• Play overview
• Market opportunity
• Goals and GTM Partnering opportunities
• Target customers (leverage the target customer worksheet)
• Target partners
• Sales scenarios
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 24

Connect: Building quality partnerships

Build a portfolio of quality partnerships. Objectives
Now it’s time to take the planning you did in the “Ready” step and make it • Identify and connect with the
real. We’re going to talk about how you build a list of potential partners, right businesses and kick-off
narrow the playing field to those who are truly likely to make a good match, your partnerships
and strategies for bringing them into the fold.
• Prepare for a joint
Go-to-Market
• Get granular to successfully sell
and close
• Understand how to establish a
business review
cadence, monitor, and course
correct

Key resources
GTM P2P Business Plan Template
Sales Enablement Kit

Pro tip
There's nothing like an in-person
meeting to show your
commitment, especially if you
travel to it. Make the time to make
the deal.
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 25

Connect: Identify and connect

Profiling the ideal match. Objectives
Your objective in this section is to identify the ideal partnership, determine • Identify the ideal partnership
where to find them, identify prospect needs and potential barriers to adoption, and determine where to find
and position solutions to secure a mutually beneficial partnership. For clarity them
on the partner profile, be sure to watch the Channel9 webcasts for Module 4:
• Identify prospect needs
The Keys to a Successful Cloud Channel Program.
• Identify potential barriers to
Identify & connect: Who do I want to partner adoption
Position solutions to secure a
with? •
mutually beneficial partnership
Assess gaps and determine where partnerships would be beneficial with a
score card.
Key resources
In the process of creating your pitch and identifying your ideal partner, you’ll
identify key criteria for your potential partners. You’ll need to evaluate your Partner scorecard template
learnings and profile preferred partners. Module 2: Selecting Target Markets
for your Cloud Solution
Capture these on a scorecard you can use to rank potential partners. Here’s an
example scorecard (use the scorecards in the appendix or create your own). Module 4: The Keys to a Successful
Cloud Channel Program
Remember, you can weight the values to reflect the relative importance of
Inspire Registration
various factors.
Microsoft Events
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Captera.com
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 26

ISVs: Defining your channel strategy.

To further identify your ideal partners, you'll need to have clarity on your
target markets. Using the "Cloud Spider Worksheet" you can identify top cloud Key resources
benefits and client requirements for your target markets. For more Partner Profile Score Card
information, review module 2: Selecting Target Markets for your Cloud Cloud Spider Template
Solution on Channel9..
Target Market Template
Module 2: Selecting Target
Markets for your Cloud
Solution
Module 4: The Keys to a
Successful Cloud Channel
Program

Positioning yourself for success.

In all your tools for connecting, remember the most important thing: You are
selling the business opportunity in addition to a technology product or
solution. Connect the dots for the partner and demonstrate exactly how they
will make money from the relationship. Demonstrate that you are willing to
put in the time and investment necessary to make it work for both of you.
Ideally, this is what sellers are looking for and if you’re positioning yourself and
your product(s) in this light, you increase your likelihood of success:
• Products that meet a clear market demand
• Attaching services to drive additional revenue and margins
• Structured territory definitions and policies to limit channel conflict
• Co-marketing activities and demand generation
• Margins that significantly exceed the customer acquisition cost
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 27

Considerations: Selling and positioning your solution.

Although selling to partners is about the business opportunity, you do need a clear idea of your solution's value to end
customers. Identify the most attractive aspects based on your target partner profile. you’ll want to think about: The best
target markets for your solution including existing clients, how to open new market segments with cloud solutions,
considerations for international locations and challenges specific to SaaS into the enterprise market. For a thorough
evaluation of these topics, review Module 2 of the Channel 9 webcast series: Selecting Target Markets for your Cloud
Solution.
Identify prospect needs New market segments
Using your gap assessment, figure out what needs you • The primary reason for adoption in small and mid-
will be targeting. In other words, what gaps will your sized companies is cash flow. Lower-priced options
likely partners have that you could fill—and therefore, help to address needs for smaller companies.
how does this influence your target market and
• The real opportunity is a larger number of
solutions? Common areas of need can include security,
transactions but much smaller sales per transaction.
reliability, UI quality, flexibility, CapEx, OpEx, and
mobility. • Smaller companies are more likely to be all-in as
they do not have their own internal infrastructure.
Identify barriers to adoption This decision is much harder for large business with
• Security internal IT and their own data centers.
• Push back from internal IT New geographies and locations
• Latency • Many countries aren't as comfortable with cloud
• Customization storage due to mistrust of the government or strict
privacy laws. US has fewer data-privacy issues
• TCO
(Patriot Act).
• Data lock-in
• Japan- slow adoption of SaaS
• Vendor viability
• Latin America fastest growing
• Patriot act and governmental privacy
• China prefers to buy not rent
How to identify target markets for your solution
• Latency is directly related to distance from a
• Leverage existing clients datacenter. Azure has more datacenters in more
• Broaden into new market segments countries around the world than any other company
• Select the right international markets
• Position your product for the enterprise market
• Identify the best segments
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 28

How will I resonate with them? Key resources

As discussed in the “Prepare” section, understanding your value and how to Creating your best LinkedIn profile
become a strategic partner is essential. So, in building out the message and Social Marketing Guide
the assets you’ll use to have these discussions is critical. Putting together your
optimal profile is key. You need to demonstrate your profitability to the Sales Battlecard template
channel and how you will help them achieve shorter time to revenue. We Partnership Pitch Deck Template
recommend taking a look around on other LinkedIn profiles to help create the
Partnership Case Study Template
optimal one for your business. Here are some links for how to build your
LinkedIn Profile and connect.

Sales materials for your initial connection. Pro tip

LinkedIn discussion groups are a
Your first direct contact with partners might be your only chance to make a
great place to find potential
good impression. Good opportunities. The way to set yourself apart is not to
partners as they feature highly
waste their time.
specialized and relevant content,
Here are some key assets to create (or have created for you) before you reach and people will be talking about
out to partners: the challenges they are trying to
solve.

To do this, create a one-page overview of the opportunity—and we really mean one page. Distill
your value proposition down to the essentials, showing them you’ve done the research and are
The one-pager
contacting them for a reason. Show them that your opportunity makes sense for their skills and
install base or target market.

Next, a short, compelling PowerPoint presentation can help you get your message across. Follow
the 10/20/30 rule—ten slides maximum, twenty minutes maximum, and a minimum of 30-point
The PowerPoint
font. By uploading it to an online slide share, you can easily share it without emailing it as an
attachment.

Finally, create a phone script based on your one-page overview that helps you stay focused on
The phone script your message as you call prospective partners. If they’re not the right fit, don’t waste their time—
or yours.

Prospecting—numbers and how to qualify.

If you’re in a big market, as a ballpark, you should begin with a list of 150 to 200 prospects you want to contact. As a
general rule of thumb, this will be enough to get you 3 to 5 qualified prospects that fit the profile and are interested in
doing business with you.
It’s always a good idea to qualify your prospects by searching online and their LinkedIn profile to ensure you are not
wasting your time, before you start trying to contact them directly. Once your contact the partner should consider doing
the following during a qualifying conservation:
• Ask for vendor references
• Ask for client references
• Request financial information to show maturity in market and success
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 29

Engage: Agreement and laying the foundation

Establishing an agreement. Objectives
Once you have found your key partners, it's time to begin the go-to-market • Establish a mutually beneficial
process with them. That means laying out clear terms for mutual success—and agreement with quantifiable
protecting yourself from unnecessary risk. Prior to signing the full contract, it is metrics
important to create a letter of intent taking the following key elements into
• Lay the operational foundation
consideration.
for a successful partnership
Getting the signed agreement—close the deal in person. To get the signed • Provide sales training, product
agreement, have an in-person meeting with the objective of producing a education, and support for
tangible outcome—an agreement to work together including targets, a both customer and seller
marketing plan, training and support.
Expedite with a letter of intent. This should be something easy to digest that
the partner can sign without an attorney present. It should include between six Key resources
and eight key business points. GTM P2P Business Plan Template
Before the meeting, you should obtain general agreement and ensure you Partnership Pitch Deck Template
have the right parties involved—financial and business decision makers, the Partnership Case Study Template
relationship/alliance role, and someone with technical expertise, who can sit
down and communicate with the partners' technical team, and request that Module 5: 10 Step Partner
the partner has similar roles in attendance. Recruitment Program

Letter of Intent—suggestions on key elements

Marketing plan Pro tip
Setting metrics in a marketing plan
• Ensure to have this be a mandatory document prior to signing contract if
will both ensure that you and your
the partner is strategic—responsible for a specific geo or territory.
partner have similar expectations
• Create a 6-month activities-based plan - based on 2 or 3 strategic and give concrete benchmarks on
products that they are currently selling well. which to measure success. The
• Communicate the steps, the timing, and expected outcome and leverage timeline is important because if
this in building your scorecard to track against plans. someone does not begin executing
• Note - if they don't start executing in the first month or two, they probably in the first month or two, they
never will. realistically never will.
Governing law for regulations
As a rule of thumb, it should be your (the ISVs) home location
Training
• Ensure this takes place the ISV partner’s office so that you have their focus
and commitment.
• This will give them better access to people in your organization and they
will be more likely to complete certification/less distracted by
interruptions.
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 30

Laying the operational foundation for Key resources

partnership. GTM P2P Business Plan Template
To create the operational foundation for success, there are several tasks you Target Market Template
must accomplish. Additionally, create a marketing plan to ensure that you and
your partner have similar expectations. It should include a 1 to 3-year metrics- Partnership Pitch Deck Template
based plan that touches on steps, timing, and expected outcomes. Partnership Case Study Template
Customer case study template
Customer one-pager template
• How to identify target markets for your solution:
• Leverage existing clients Customer presentation deck Social
marketing plan
Joint GTM • Broaden into new market segments
Sales battlecard template
plan • Select the right international markets
• Position your product for the enterprise market
• Identify the best segments

• Create customer case studies and collateral, including

Joint market presentation decks
prep • Build a social marketing plan
• Set up metrics and reviews

• Identify roles and responsibilities

Joint sell • Creating joint sales metrics and a joint sales plan
prep • Create sales training materials including battlecard
and questionnaire

Define the • Identify who is responsible for each aspect of the

engagement solution lifecycle
model • Identify revenue and cost sharing levels

• True-ups
Rhythm of • Evaluation cadence
the business
• Opportunity planning

The basics of your partner-to-partner GTM.

Here is an overview of key elements to include and jointly prepare for in developing your joint GTM. For a basic template,
see the key resources box. For more detailed information, see the success formula.
• Partner Profile • Customer Evidence
• General Information • Value Propositions
• Partner Summary • Sales Commitments
• Contacts and alignment • Goals, Strategy, Metrics
• Targeted Audience • Twelve (12) Month Strategy and Metrics
• Partner Solution Overview • Marketing
• Line of Business (LOB) Pains Addressed
 FORMULA TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIPS PAGE 31

Manage: Managing your partnership

Monitor, set targets, and evaluate.
In managing a partnership, like any relationship, it’s ideal to have parameters Objectives
and tools by which to do so—and to use your data wisely. If you set
• Manage and track metrics
parameters and metrics at the start, you’ll have a steady stream of insights to
with KPIs
monitor to show progress or the lack thereof. This keeps you in a pro-active
state vs. being reactive. • Learn about tracking and
monitoring tools
Evaluating activities and partnerships. • Classifying partnerships
Evaluating your partnership activities and successes (or lack thereof) is a critical
component for ensuring you’re making progress toward your commitments
and joint GTM plan. Not every partnership is a match made to last. Some will Pro tip
fail and as an entrepreneur, you need to know when to invest and work harder Knowing a salesperson didn't meet
and when to look at other opportunities. the numbers you agreed upon is
useful. What's really useful is
• Annual reviews. These are essential to building long-term relationships. knowing why.
They provide the foundation for your next year’s joint business plan. It’s
important to ensure you’re looking at more than whether your partner hit
their target. You need to have a holistic approach looking at customer
satisfaction, quality, and so forth.
• Level setting through scorecards. It’s important in any relationship to
hold the other party accountable. Scorecards are a key tool to manage this
dynamic, allowing you to assess and measure past performance against
current, consider the unmet potential—essentially opportunity to drive
profitability and growth—and evaluate the level of commitment you
currently have in your partnership.
• Course-correct. Determining when to make a change is critical to the
health of your business. If you don’t take advantage of unmet opportunity
for growth, you’ll have missed out on driving profitability.
If you don’t make a change when agreed-upon metrics have not been
achieved, with no viable explanation or reason, you could be exposing
your business to damage.

Classifying partners. Partner classifications

Through your monitoring activities, keep in mind the idea of classifying your
• High potential and low
partnerships according to the following categories and related actions to take performance: Recruit and
based on their activities. It’s common sense—invest in that which is productive motivate
and profitable, and downgrade or get rid of that which is not.
• High performance high
• High potential and low performance: recruit and motivate potential: Invest and support
• High performance high potential: invest and support • Low potential and low
• Low potential and low performance: downgrade and forget performance: Downgrade and
• High performance low potential: manage and maintain forget
In the end, this is the primary reason to monitor and have mutual • High performance low
accountabilities in partnerships. Otherwise, you may find yourself stuck with a potential: Manage and
relationship for a year before you realize they haven’t been hitting targets maintain
consistently.
 RESOURCES PAGE 32

Grow: Expand and penetrate

Grow capabilities—build on your success. Objectives
Once you have the basics in place, continuing to build and grow your Grow capabilities
partnerships can become a natural part of your rhythm of business. That
• Joint marketing
doesn't mean you should rest on your laurels. Maximizing the partner
opportunity means constantly pushing for better results and seeking new and • Joint selling
better partnerships. In this section, we'll talk about some strategies for • Joint solutioning
continuing to improve the ROI of partnering.

Ignite and then accelerate with service partners.

To systematically grow your business, the recommended ignition for an ISV is to develop strong channel partnerships. The
next step is to expand beyond a breadth motion into a depth motion.
A strong channel will help ISVs get their solutions out on the market repeatably and successfully—becoming part of a
reseller’s toolkit. This helps you start the ignition on the customer’s digital transformation journey - which continues to
inform your own transformation needs to stay ahead of the curve. To drive profitability, ISVs should consider the
opportunity that partnering with services partners provide.

Developing a relationship with reputable services partners with a mature market can empower ISVs to focus on joint
solutioning and joint selling. It provides an entrée into the MSPs customer ecosystems that evolves organically when that
type of partner is a customer’s trusted advisor. They are typically in need of custom business application development—
almost always with an industry focus—as well as application integration. All of the above open the door to account
penetration positioning you as a strategic partner.
To land these opportunities, you want to look at programmatically scaling through your partner ecosystem with packaged
offerings, plays and channel team enablement. This would also involve training your partners—regardless of type—to land
your plays with scalable, repeatable framework and enablement.
 RESOURCES PAGE 33

Grow: Joint marketing

Accelerate business through joint marketing, Objectives
selling and solutioning. • Create and execute joint
Partnership initiatives can benefit every area of your business from enhancing marketing strategies to
how you market and sell, to expanding the solutions and capabilities you offer expand market reach,
customers. generate leads, and increase
customer loyalty and
Joint marketing. retention.

Objective: Create and execute joint marketing strategies to expand market

reach, generate leads, and increase customer loyalty and retention. Key resources
Examples include: LinkedIn Social Selling and eBook
• Expansion into new markets: markets as a way to augment your partner Template: Social marketing guide
relationships. Review the Channel9 webcast: Selecting Target Markets for Take your app to market with
your Cloud Solution to plan how to do this. Microsoft
• Telling a compelling story—on your own and with partners: Leverage
Social + Email Syndication
the marketing & sales content through the Microsoft Partner Marketing
Center offers you customizable marketing, sales, and readiness materials Marketing & Sales Content
to create your joint story: Marketing Campaign Assets
− Create your joint value proposition and messaging and positioning
Microsoft Events
framework
− Customer pitch decks Account Based Marketing (ABM)
eBook
− Copy blocks for use on websites or social media
− Professionally developed marketing assets to utilize in campaigns Partner Incentives Joint Marketing
Assets:
• Marketing and partner investment funds: Take advantage of marketing
and partner investment dollars to fund your marketing and customer • Customer Case Study
activities. Template
• Joint event presence: Sign up for joint speaking opportunities or to • Customer One Pager
deliver joint sessions at customer-facing events. For the Microsoft event Template
calendar, http://events.microsoft.com. • Customer Value Prop Deck
• PR and thought leadership promotions: Building thought leadership Template
through social media is an essential part of standing out—by doing so,
you demonstrate third-party credibility to both customers and partners.
Becoming a thought leader isn’t easy, it takes time and investment. Start
by growing your sales leaderships presence on LinkedIn, producing
content and gaining followers.
• Social marketing + email syndication: Microsoft Digital Marketing
Content On-Demand connects with your social media accounts and email
lists and enables you to select, customize, and share content.
− Comprehensive 10-week digital campaigns that include to-customer
content (videos, emails, e-books, whitepapers, thought leadership
articles) and to-partner resources (demo videos, teleguides,
brochures, pitch decks)
− Gated content enables partners to gather leads directly from
engagement on their social media accounts
− Auto-update allows the tool to push content to your company’s social
media accounts without action from you
 RESOURCES PAGE 34

Grow: Joint selling

Joint selling. Objectives
Objective: Augment and expand your sales approaches. • Augment and expand your
Make sure to consider pre-sales activities, sales, post-sale implementation and sales approaches
utilization
Examples include: Key resources
• Social Selling (on LinkedIn) Leverage your social network to find great Partner Investment Engine
prospects, build trusted relationships, and meet sales metrics. With social Social + Email Syndication
selling, you can generate sales leads and manage the prospecting process
without any cold calling. Building trusted relationships is also easier within Marketing & Sales Content
the network that you and your contacts trust. LinkedIn Social Selling and eBook
• Microsoft sales programs: Sales incentives, contests and discounts: Microsoft AppSource
Leverage Microsoft sales programs to optimize margins for sellers and
decrease cost to customer: Whether you’re generating awareness, MTC: Microsoft Technology
increasing usage, adding new customers, or retaining customers, there’s Centers
an incentive to reward and support your growth. Microsoft is committed GTM Marketing Site
to developing incentives and investments that increase your profitability
and help you drive digital transformation. Sign in or join the Microsoft
Partner Network to explore partner incentives.
• Based on your partnership level with Microsoft, you may be eligible to
participate in some of the following. If you’re not currently a partner,
consider how you can create something similar to enhance joint selling
with your partners:
− Cosell Days: Microsoft facilitated partner-to-partner selling.
− Partner Investment Engine: Leverage Microsoft investment funds to
help drive profitability.
− Azure Sponsor Accounts: Offer customers Azure-sponsored accounts
for trial periods.
− Leverage Microsoft Venues: Leverage Microsoft venues to provide
customer immersion experiences, datacenter tours, and more.
• Offer Enablement
− Build new offers and practice areas with partners:
▪ Cloud and Enterprise Partner Portal
▪ Modern Workplace Partner Portal
▪ Microsoft AppSource: Find the partners for IP or services partners
based on your search criteria
• Lead Generation Activities
− GTM Packages: Consider joint lead-generation activities
− Partner Demand Center
• Events and Workshops to Close Deals
− Co-Sell Days
− MTC: Microsoft Technology Centers
− Customer Immersion Experience (Microsoft 365)
− Partner Investment Engine
 RESOURCES PAGE 35

Grow: Joint solutions

Joint solutions. Objectives
Objective: Expand your solutions and capabilities. • Expand your solutions and
capabilities
The traditional approach businesses have had around solving for customer pain
points in IT has been siloed and therefore inefficient. To grow capabilities and
add value to your customer, joint solutioning as a service is an attractive option.
Key resources
In essence, within your partnerships, you’re often solving for related customer
pain points and therefore trying to fix a common problem. In this situation, Partner Investment Engine
managing to achieve the expected outcomes is key. Microsoft AppSource
Some considerations when looking at joint solutioning include: MTC: Microsoft Technology
• Consider new pricing and consumption models (e.g., subscriptions). To Centers
learn about pricing considerations, view the following webcast: Pricing Cloud and Enterprise Partner
Considerations for Cloud Solutions Portal
• Offering complementary solutions. View the following webcast, Why Add IP
to Your Business Model Modern Workplace Partner Portal
• Augmenting your capabilities and moving up or down the value chain: To GTM Marketing Site
continue to add value to your customers and to potential partners, review
the webcast module: Selecting Target Markets for your Cloud Solution
• Microsoft AppSource: Find the partners for IP or services partners based on
your search criteria
• Expand and penetrate by developing relationships with new types of
partners—such as services partners to access their customer ecosystems
where they are trusted advisors
• Build New Offers/Practice Areas with Partners
− Cloud and Enterprise Partner Portal
− Modern Workplace Partner Portal
− Create joint proof of concepts
− Leverage Microsoft black-belt resources / specialists
 RESOURCES PAGE 36

Recap: The success formula

The Partner Roadmap for developing successful partnerships.
exit criteria key resources
• What’s my value chain?
• Gap assessment ✓ Microsoft Online
Prepare Assessment
• What’s the value of partnerships?
& Assess • Where do I want partners? ✓ Channel Strategy Draft • Microsoft Partner-to-Partner
Home
• Assess joint GTM, joint sell
• Online Assessment
• GTM Services
Readiness Workshop
Premium Assets
READY

• Why partner with me—what’s my 90min Consultation

pitch? Virtual Workshop
• Joint Marketing Templates
• Define partner/channel strategy
Plan • What’s my investment? ✓ Partnering Plan • Joint Sales Enablement
• GTM partnering plan Templates
• Learnings & go-do’s • Partner Prep Templates
• Re-evaluate plan & prioritize GTM Partnering Business Plan
Partnership Case Study
Partnership Value Prop Deck
• Business Model Assessment
Worksheet
• Profiling the ideal match • Partner Profile Score Card
• Identifying the preferred partnerships • Cloud Spider Template
✓ Target Partner Profile
• Who do I want to partner with? • Customer Target Market
Identify ✓ Value Proposition
Templates
• Where do I find them?
& • How will I resonate with them?
✓ Pitch Materials
• Value Chain Model template
Connect • Positioning your solution
✓ Partner / Channel GTM
Plan
CONNECT

• Identify barriers to adoption

• Identify prospect needs
• Establishing agreement
• Laying the operational foundation for
✓ Letter of Intent • Microsoft Partner-to-Partner
partnership
✓ Joint Go-to-Market Collaboration Platform
• GTM Prep • GTM Services
Engage Plan
• Joint Market Prep • Take your app to market with
✓ Joint Marketing Plan
• Joint Sell Prep Microsoft
✓ Joint Selling Plan
• Define engagement model
• ROB
• Managing your partnership
• Managing and tracking KPIs
• Using Data Wisely ✓ Joint KPIs
• Tracking and ✓ Rhythm of Business
monitoring tools Plan
Manage • Cadence ROBs ✓ Joint Scorecard
• Evaluating your partnership ✓ Partner Classification &
GROW

• Annual Reviews Actions Plan

• Level Setting through score cards
• Course Correct and classifying partners
• Grow capabilities
• Expand and penetrate: From ignition ✓ Partnership Accelerate • GTM Services
to acceleration Plan Multi-partner PDC campaigns
Grow • Joint marketing ✓ Joint Marketing Plan
Multi-partner DMC channels
• Grow: Resources Page
• Joint selling ✓ Joint Selling Plan • Microsoft AppSource
• Joint solutioning
 Microsoft
Partner
Network

Section 3:

Resources

Microsoft partner-to-partner home

Microsoft resources
Third-party resources
Templates:
Business model assessment worksheet Target market template
IAMCP: P2P maturity model framework Value chain model template
Partner profile score card Microsoft partner ecosystem and Microsoft areas
Cloud spider template Take your app to market with Microsoft
RESOURCES PAGE 38

Resources: Microsoft
Microsoft Partner-to-Partner Home Digital Transformations
Smart Partnering Build Apps
Business
GTM Services—Joint Marketing Opportunities Managed Services
READY
P2P Readiness Workshop Build a Practice
Premium BOM Assets Why Microsoft
90min Consultation
Sales Enablement Virtual Workshop
Go-To-Market Services
Technical Journeys
Customer Case Study Template Reach
Customers Scale Your Business
Customer One Pager Template
Publish Your App
Customer Value Prop Deck Template
Market Your App
Sales Enablement - Get Started
CONNECT
Sales Enablement - Sales Battlecard
Template Build Partnerships
GTM Partnering Business Plan Follow Microsoft
Partnership Case Study Template Connect Blogs
Partnership Value Prop Deck Template Case Studies
Partner Community
Sales & Marketing
GTM Services—Joint Marketing
Modern Workplace
Multi-partner PDC campaigns
Multi-partner DMC channels Apps and Infrastructure
Social + Email Syndication Solution Areas Business Applications
Marketing & Sales Content Data and AI
LinkedIn Social Selling and eBook Cloud Solution Provider
Template: Social marketing guide Licensing
Social amplification program
Marketing Campaign Assets How It Works
GTM Packages Action Pack
GROW Microsoft Events Membership Competencies
Partner Incentives Benefits & Requirements
GTM Packages Quick Start Guide
Partner Demand Center
Solutioning Overview
Microsoft AppSource Email GTM Services
Support Compare Support Offerings
MTC: Microsoft Technology Centers
Customer Immersion Experience Partner Center Help

Azure Sponsor Accounts Top Partner Questions

Cloud and Enterprise Partner Portal

Modern Workplace Partner Portal
 RESOURCES PAGE 39

Resources: Third-party
• Maturity Model Training Session Part 1
• Maturity Model Training Session Part 2
• Maturity Model Training Session Part 3
• Business Partner Plan Template
• Discussion Questions for Partnering
• Executive Briefing Template
IAMCP Resources on • Joint Account Planning Template
Partner-to-Partner • MPN Agreement
• Mutual NDA Agreement Template
• Practice Plan Template
• Sales Lead Form Template
• Skills Inventory Listing Template
• Pipeline Reporting Template
• Subcontracting Rate Sheet Template

• 1-Changing Business Operations in a Cloud Environment

• 2-Selecting Target Markets for your Cloud Solution
• 3-Pricing Considerations for Cloud Solutions
• 4-Keys to a Successful Cloud Channel Program
• 5-10-Step Partner Recruitment Program
Channel 9 Webcasts
• 6-Partner Program Key Processes and Partner Support
• 7-Legal Issues
• 8-Financial Metrics for Cloud Companies
• 9-How to Support your Offering at Scale
• 10-Why Add IP to Your Business Model

Account based marketing • Account Based Marketing (ABM) eBook

Contributing Partners
• Harald Horgen, The York Group
• Per Werngren, Accelerator AB
• Diana Kreklow, The Kreklow Group
• Shann McGrail, Devreve
Contact [email protected] to connect with these partners.
RESOURCES PAGE 40

Resources: Business model assessment worksheet

Area Questions Responses
Pricing: Subscription pricing is the future for most IT, but
how will you support it?

Cash flow: Cloud solutions have different cash flow than

Business model on-prem, how will this affect you?
Sales and marketing: Are you prepared to shift from push
evaluation marketing to a buyer-centric approach?
Review your set of protocols
Target markets: Do you want to avoid cannibalizing on-
and systems that govern how
prem sales, or focus on opening new markets?
your company generates
revenue and earns a profit. Contracts: How will your customer contracts change—will
Look for gaps in the following: you support monthly or long-term? Can you deliver on an
SLA?
Customer support: Lower transaction value requires
increased use of automation in customer support, are you
ready?
Client software development
Technology Hardware deployment and management
evaluation Cloud deployment and management
Chances are, you're excellent in
Virtualization
your chosen area of
technology—but there are Software distribution
probably many more where
Billing and ecommerce
you are not differentiated and
you'd be wise to work with Digital marketing
someone who can do it better.
Here, consider: Data and analytics
Automation
Technology: Do you have the technical skills in your
organization to break into new markets or transition from
Resources on-prem to cloud solutions?

evaluation Sales and marketing: Are there experts in your company

who can manage various types of sales relationships,
It’s often said that people are
whether direct sales, through-partner or through-
your greatest asset—but
distributor sales, or marketplace sales?
they’re also very expensive. If
you can leverage partners to Support: How robust is your support team, and can you
pick up some of the slack, scale it efficiently as you grow?
you’ll be doing yourself a
Regional expertise: Do you have the right people in the
favor. Look for gaps in the
right places to meet your strategic goals?
following areas:
Industry expertise: Are there industry experts on your staff
who can help you grow into new areas?
 RESOURCES PAGE 41

Resources: IAMCP P2P maturity model

framework
How does your company score with regards to the ability to enable successful and dynamic partnerships to accelerate
your business?

To review, visit: http://www.joiniamcp.org/2015-11-13-P2P-Maturity-Model-MOD-1.mp4

 RESOURCES PAGE 42

Resources: Partner profile score card

Partner Name Partner Name Partner Name Partner Name Partner Name

Complementary
Products

Number of
employees

Geographic
location

Revenue

Technical skills

Cloud business
model in place

Vertical markets

Number of
products sold

Additional
Criteria

Additional
Criteria

Additional
Criteria

Additional
Criteria

Total Points

Points 1-5
To review, visit: https://channel9.msdn.com/series/ProfitabilityIPServices/2-Selecting-Target-Markets-for-Your-Cloud-
Solution
 Resources Page 43

Resources: Cloud spider template

Customer Name: Security Reliability UI Quality Flexibility CapEx-OpEx Mobility

Cloud
benefits

Cloud
requirements

Customer Name: Security Reliability UI Quality Flexibility CapEx-OpEx Mobility

Cloud
benefits

Cloud
requirements

Customer Name: Security Reliability UI Quality Flexibility CapEx-OpEx Mobility

Cloud
benefits

Cloud
requirements

Points 1-5
To review, visit: https://channel9.msdn.com/series/ProfitabilityIPServices/2-Selecting-Target-Markets-for-Your-Cloud-
Solution
 RESOURCES PAGE 44

Resources:
Customer target market templates

Industry Existing IT,

Company sizes and Decision Makers,
Regions segments, business and IT
types buying centers
vertical pain points

Existing customer base vs. prospects vs. net new potential

Segment A: Segment B: Segment C:

High Potential Medium Potential Low Potential

To review, visit: https://channel9.msdn.com/series/ProfitabilityIPServices/2-Selecting-Target-Markets-for-Your-Cloud-

Solution
 RESOURCES PAGE 45

Resources: Value chain model template

Value chain model
Here is a sample customer value chain model to help define where and how to add value to your customers and your
partners:

An organization’s goals and value chain directly impact their ability to stay competitive
RESOURCES PAGE 46

Resources: Microsoft partner ecosystem and

Microsoft areas
• Independent Software Vendor (ISV): ISVs specialize in making or selling software, designed
for mass or niche markets
• Licensing Solutions Providers (LSP): LSPs provide licensing expertise to enable cost-
effective solutions
• Value Added Resellers (VAR): VARs distribute the companies’ products worldwide and
advise customers on volume licensing
• Systems Integrators (SI): SIs recommend, deploy, customize and manage Microsoft-based
Partner Ecosystem solutions for their customers
• Cloud Solution Provider (CSP):
• Managed Service Providers (MSP): MSPs deliver managed services on servers in their own
or others’ datacenters (i.e., Azure)
• Learning Partner: Partners that have taught, tested and certified more than 1 Million
people at some level of expertise on Microsoft products
• Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions Partners: Address the holistic IT needs of small
businesses

• Asia Pacific (APAC)

• Australia (AUS)
• Canada (CAN)
• Central & Eastern Europe (CEE)
• France (FR)
• Greater China (GCR)
• Germany (GER)
• India (IND)
• Japan (JPN)
Microsoft Areas
• Latin America (LATAM)
• Middle East & Africa (MEA)
• United Kingdom (UK)
• United States (US)
• Western Europe (WE)
 RESOURCES PAGE 47

Resources: Take your app to market with

Microsoft
Promote your business and take your app or service to market with help
from Microsoft

Advice and Content and Go-to-market

training customizable assets services
Peer-based research and training Ready-to-use customizable Designed to support you in
designed to support and coach marketing, sales, and readiness increasing awareness, generating
your team throughout your content to help you promote your leads, and improving lead velocity
marketing growth business, save time, and grow for your app or service
your customer base

partner.microsoft.com/reach-customers/promote-your-business
 RESOURCES PAGE 48

Resources: Access to resources and services by

Microsoft Partner Network membership level
Members with a marketplace listing
Increase awareness and accelerate the success of your app or service in the Microsoft marketplace (AppSource, Azure
Marketplace).

All members of the Members Members with a gold competency

Microsoft Partner with a silver competency Generate leads and increase your
Network Launch and grow your close rates through joint messaging and lead sharing
Optimize your marketing business through marketing opportunities
capabilities through modern assets and digital
marketing optimization
education and ready-to-go
campaign content

All members Silver competency Gold competency Gold + managed

• Education and best Member resources + Silver competency services+ Gold competency services+
practices focused on INCLUDED SERVICES INCLUDED SERVICES INCLUDED SERVICES
modern marketing • Partner Listing • Partner Listing • Microsoft Seller
Optimization* Optimization*
• Customizable marketing, Webinar
sales and readiness assets • Marketing Consultation • Marketing Consultation
with GTM Resource Desk Services with GTM Resource • Press Release Support
• Curated, customizable
marketing content provided (choice of one)* Desk* • Social Promotion
within an automated • Sales/Marketing Asset • Selection of one review • OCP Catalog Listing
syndication platform for Review offered to partners with
social, email, and blog silver competency • Co-sell BOM:
• Website Review
• Access to list of • Value Proposition Review • Customized, co-branded • Customer Presentation
recommended agencies digital marketing campaign • Customer One-Pager
• Templated digital materials, including landing
marketing campaign kits page in Microsoft PDC to • Customer Case Study

PAID SERVICES Silver Competency Paid Services Gold Competency Paid

• Social Promotion + Services+
• Mini Case Study PAID SERVICES PAID SERVICES
• Lead Generation campaign • Multi-partner and P2P
• Press Release Support in the PDC
• Customer One Pager lead generation
• Mini Commercial campaign in the
• Customer Presentation • Partner Seller Readiness Partner Demand Center
• Customer Case Study • Secret Shopper
• Additional Microsoft
• Sales Enablement Seller Webinars
• Global Expansion (ISVs
only)
• Telesales Campaign
• Workshops

ONLINE: partner.microsoft.com
GTM RESOURCE DESK SUPPORT: [email protected]