Why co-selling stalls (and why it's usually a brand or marketing problem)
Ask ten Microsoft Partners how co-selling is going and you'll get roughly the same answer: the solution is listed, a few deals have been registered, and the pipeline is thinner than anyone would like. The reflex is to blame the mechanics - Partner Center, marketplace transactability, deal registration, MDF claims. Those things matter, but they're rarely the reason co-sell isn't working.
The real gap is almost always marketing. Microsoft's sales organisation has thousands of sellers, hundreds of partner offers to remember, and quarterly priorities that shift with the fiscal year. If your solution isn't visible, memorable and easy to talk about in a customer conversation, no amount of operational tidiness will move the needle.
This piece looks at co-selling from the marketing side of the fence - the things a partner marketing team can actually own and improve, without waiting for a PDM, a named seller relationship or a big MDF cheque to appear.
Seven marketing focus areas that make co-sell work
Pick two or three, commit for a full quarter, and measure against Microsoft-sourced pipeline - not vanity metrics.
1. Nail the seller-facing proposition, not just the customer one
Microsoft sellers - the account teams, solution specialists and technical specialists who sit in front of customers - don't buy your solution. They recommend it. That means your co-sell messaging has to answer a different question: "why would I stake my customer relationship on this partner?" Lead with the customer outcome, the solution area alignment, the reference customers you can point to, and the delivery certainty. A polished customer-facing deck won't cut it - sellers need a sharper, shorter, seller-first version.
2. Package your solution so it's easy to co-sell
Every solution that gets co-sold has the same handful of assets behind it: a one-pager Microsoft sellers can forward, a two-slide overview, a short demo video, a reference story and a clear list of ideal customer profiles. If a Microsoft seller has to hunt for any of that, you've already lost. Treat the co-sell asset pack as a product in its own right, keep it current with the fiscal year priorities, and make it obvious where to find the latest version.
3. Build visibility with Microsoft - the sellers you know and the ones you don't
Most partners don't have a PDM or a rolodex of named sellers, and that's fine. You can still get in front of Microsoft sellers: targeted LinkedIn to Microsoft seller titles in your solution area and geography, contributions to the Microsoft Partner Community, presence at Microsoft-adjacent events, and a marketplace listing that actually reads like a product. If you do have a Microsoft contact, brief them at the same time - but don't wait for one to start.
4. Align your marketing to solution area priorities
Microsoft's investment moves each fiscal year - AI Business Solutions, Cloud and AI Platforms, Security, Modern Work. Your campaigns, content and outbound should speak the same language as the priorities Microsoft is putting money behind. This isn't about parroting the marketing script; it's about making sure a Microsoft seller instantly recognises that your solution supports the outcomes they're being measured on.
5. Build a repeatable co-marketing rhythm
Co-selling gets easier when there's a steady drumbeat of joint activity: a quarterly webinar aligned to a solution area, a co-branded customer story every couple of months, a small in-person roundtable around a Microsoft event, an ABM campaign into shared target accounts. None of it has to be huge. What matters is that it's predictable, on-brand for both sides, and easy for Microsoft to point at when they need proof of a working partnership.
6. Turn every win into fuel for the next one
The single most under-used co-sell asset is the customer story. Every closed-won deal that involved Microsoft is a case study, a LinkedIn post, a video clip, a quote for the next pitch deck and a data point for your next Partner of the Year submission. Build a lightweight process to capture the story at the point of sale - permission, quote, metrics, before / after - so the marketing team can keep the flywheel turning.
7. Report against Microsoft-sourced pipeline, not activity
Impressions and downloads won't tell you if co-sell is working. Track co-sell influenced opportunities, meetings booked with Microsoft seller involvement, pipeline value, closed-won revenue, and the marketing activity that sat behind each one. Package it in a format any Microsoft reviewer could consume - it's the same evidence you'll want when the next MDF or MCI conversation comes round.
Where partners waste the most marketing effort in co-sell
Three patterns come up again and again. The first is a generic partner deck that's been retro-fitted for Microsoft. It talks about the partner, then bolts a Microsoft logo on the last slide. Sellers see through it in seconds. The second is a marketplace listing that reads like a services brochure - long paragraphs, no clear buyer, no reason to click through. The third is a campaign calendar that ignores what Microsoft is actually promoting that quarter, so the partner and Microsoft end up talking past each other in front of the same customers.
None of these problems need a bigger budget to fix. They need a sharper proposition, tighter assets and a marketing rhythm that respects how Microsoft sellers actually works.
A simple 90-day plan to sharpen your co-sell marketing
In the first 30 days, get honest about the proposition. Rewrite the seller-facing one-pager and the two-slide overview from scratch, anchored to a single solution area and a single ideal customer profile. Refresh the marketplace listing so it reads like a product, not a services page.
In the next 30 days, put it in front of Microsoft sellers. Run a targeted outreach campaign to Microsoft seller titles in your solution area, publish a joint webinar or roundtable, and get one fresh customer story shot, written and cleared for use.
In the final 30 days, measure and tell the story back. Pull the co-sell influenced pipeline, package the activity and outcomes, and use it to open the next round of conversations - internally with sales, externally with Microsoft, and with any prospect who's been sitting on the fence.