Reseller & Partner playbook

Target the wrong type and you waste months. VAR, MSP, and SI partners sell differently, expect different margins, and serve different customer segments. Confirm which type fits your go-to-market before any outreach.

1. Export your current partner list and cross-reference with Microsoft CSP data via WeTransact or Partner Center, flag those already in the Microsoft ecosystem.📍WeTransact Portal→Go to Market→Partners
2. For partners you're recruiting, confirm whether they're Microsoft resellers, it fast-tracks the commercial conversation.
3. Research your own website as an analyst would, what does your deployment complexity, revenue model, and sales motion signal?
4. Apply the decision logic: implementation over 60 days or enterprise-only = SI; managed services or SLA-driven = MSP; product-led or quick deployment = VAR.
5. Note your primary and any secondary type, both shape outreach strategy.Run Partner Type Classifier

Resellers don't want another vendor, they want proof your ISV makes their Microsoft practice stronger. Without this narrative, your outreach is a pitch. With it, it's a business case. It also becomes the foundation of your one-pager for Microsoft AEs.

1. Identify the specific Microsoft platform your solution extends, not generic 'Azure' but specific services (Sentinel, Dynamics 365, Azure Data Factory, etc.).
2. Define the gap Microsoft doesn't fill natively that your ISV addresses.
3. Build all six components: Microsoft Foundation, Gap, ISV Complementary Value, Reseller Amplification, Combined Outcome, MACC Acceleration.Run Better Together prompt
4. Check four quality criteria, independently useful to a partner, based on verifiable data, relates to your actual solution, Microsoft-anchored throughout. Revise if any fail.
5. Distil the output into a one-page PDF written from the Microsoft seller's perspective, use MACC, Azure, and co-sell terminology.

Before you commit a margin number to any reseller contract, model what a deal actually costs you end-to-end. Product COGS, Microsoft agency fee, reseller margin, support cost, the numbers have to leave you with a defensible unit economic. Signing a partner on a margin you cannot afford is how ISVs end reseller programmes six months in.

1. List every cost that touches a reseller-sourced deal: product COGS, hosting, onboarding time, support hours per customer per year, any co-marketing spend, and internal partner-management time.
2. Add the Microsoft Marketplace agency fee, 3% on new transactions, 1.5% on self-attested renewals (offers created after 1 October 2024).
3. Layer in the reseller margin band you plan to offer: Value-Added Reseller 30–40% for a full channel play, 20% for distributor-tier, 10% for implementation-heavy Systems Integrator deals.
4. Compare the residual to your target gross margin. If a partner-sourced deal earns you less than a direct deal by more than your channel-multiplier assumption, the programme is not viable at that margin.
5. Lock the margin bands you are willing to sign before you reach out to a partner, not during negotiation.

The shortlist from account mapping is your first-attack list, not the CSP directory. A warm intro from an existing customer or a Microsoft AE converts an order of magnitude better than any cold sequence, and it also produces the first transacting partner faster, which is what you need to prove the motion works before you spend on volume outreach.

1. Take the shortlist you built in *Map your target account overlap*, the resellers with real overlap against your target accounts.
2. For each partner, identify the warmest path in: a shared existing customer who will make an intro, a Microsoft AE covering both sides who will co-sell it, or an executive who's public about the category. Pick the warmest available.
3. Ask the intro source for a three-line intro, you and the reseller in one thread, the overlap accounts named, and a proposed 20-minute working call.
4. Track conversions off warm intros separately from cold. If the warm list runs out before you have a transacting partner, that's a signal to widen, not to abandon the warm list.
5. Only escalate to cold outreach once the warm list is exhausted and Phase 3 has produced at least one transacting partner.

The Existential Data Point (EDP) is an internal modelling exercise. It's how you decide which reseller types are worth pursuing and what a partnership is realistically worth on their side of the P&L. It is not the dollar figure you open a cold email with.

1. Collect public data on your target reseller before calculating, Microsoft partnership tier, customer segments, capability gaps, and hiring signals.
2. Identify the applicable EDP type. Value-Added Resellers: margin erosion, benchmark 8–12% licensing vs 25–35% solution margin. Managed Service Providers: churn exposure, benchmark 8–15% annual churn. Systems Integrators: services multiplier gap, benchmark 2–4× licence value. Treat all benchmarks as estimates, not facts.
3. Run the EDP analysis using your Better Together story and reseller data to produce an internal view of what the partnership is worth on their side.Run Reseller EDP analysis
4. Label every variable as sourced (real data) or estimated (benchmark). If you can't source it, don't quote it externally.
5. Use the output to prioritise which resellers on your shortlist are worth pursuing first, not to build a cold outreach hook.

The practice lead who owns the capability gap will champion you internally. The executive sponsor approves. Win the champion first, they sell up. The CEO is three layers removed from the problem.

1. Match your ISV's capability area to the correct search priority on LinkedIn: Security, Data & AI, Modern Work, Business Applications, or Cloud Infrastructure.
2. Shortlist practice leads at each target reseller, the people who own the capability gap your product fills. These are your champions.
3. Map the champion-to-sponsor path before reaching out, know who approves the partnership before you approach the champion.
4. Sequence in that order: champion first, sponsor only after the champion has confirmed interest and identified a named customer opportunity.Run Entry Persona prompt
5. Do not approach the executive sponsor first. The CEO is three layers removed from the problem and will hand you back to the practice lead anyway.

A Permissionless Value Proposition (PVP) is business intelligence the reseller can act on even if they never reply. Personalised intelligence beats generic outreach, but only if the sequence is short. Three touches, each adding new information, each shorter than the last, plain text only.

1. Gather your inputs: ISV domain, reseller domain, partner type, champion name and role, EDP output (internal), and Better Together story.
2. Generate the three PVP variants using the prompt below, one hook, one competitive-context follow-up, one graceful exit.Run PVP variant generator
3. Review each message: independently useful, based on public data, concrete and specific, partner-centric framing, no vendor pushing.
4. Load the three variants into your sequencer as a three-touch cadence: Day 1 hook, Day 4–6 competitive context, Day 10–12 graceful exit.
5. Plain text only. Each touch adds new intelligence, never repeat the same angle. If you can't say something new, don't send.

Phase 3 succeeds when your first partner actually transacts, not when they sign. Signed partners who never move a deal are the failure mode this playbook exists to prevent. Get one to transact before you invest a day in volume outreach.

1. Appoint one internal Partner Champion, owns the programme end-to-end and must complete WeTransact Fundamentals before managing any Marketplace reseller relationship.📍WeTransact Portal→Training→Fundamentals
2. Ensure the team understands CSP private offer mechanics and Multiparty Private Offer availability for enterprise customers before any reseller conversation goes live.
3. Check co-sell ready status and IP Co-sell eligibility, co-sell status increases credibility with resellers and unlocks Microsoft seller support for joint pipeline.📍Partner Center→Co-sell opportunities→Solutions
4. Review Microsoft ISV Success programme benefits and claim all available enablement resources and incentives.
5. Convert warm-list conversations into contracts. Every warm partner you signed in Phase 2 should have a concrete first deal identified and a target close date. This is where the *first transacting partner* milestone gets hit.📍WeTransact Portal→Go to Market→Outreach Campaigns
6. Only after one partner has transacted, extend outreach beyond the warm list. Use Clay to enrich the broader CSP directory and run sequences through Lemlist. Set expectations on the volume side as ranges, not guarantees: reach out to 100+ resellers, expect a 3–5% reply rate, and expect a materially smaller fraction of replies to convert to a working call. Treat any specific meeting number as an estimate, not a benchmark.
7. When someone responds, your first meeting goal is to qualify why they responded, not to pitch. Capture their specific interest point.
8. Apply the Tier 1 signals checklist after every meeting: named customer opportunity confirmed, P&L ownership referenced, competitive pressure acknowledged. All three present, move immediately to agreement.

The double sell is different from co-sell, you recruit the reseller first then help them sell into their existing customer base. The first 90 days after signing determine whether the partnership generates revenue or stalls. Have everything ready before the conversation reaches this stage.

1. Prepare your standard reseller agreement template in Week 1, not Week 7. Do not wait until a partner says yes to start drafting.
2. Create a CSP private offer in WeTransact. Set your margin within the bands you locked in Phase 1 Economics: 30–40% for a full channel play, 20% for distributor-tier, 10% for implementation-heavy Systems Integrator deals. Send to the reseller's Partner Center.📍WeTransact Portal→Offers→New Private Offer→CSP
3. For enterprise customers on EA or MCA use a Multiparty Private Offer (MPO), the channel partner oversees the customer relationship while Microsoft bills directly. Currently available in US, UK, and Canada.📍WeTransact Portal→Offers→New Private Offer→Multiparty
4. If the deal is single-customer contact support@wetransact.io to enable the single-tenant offer toggle.
5. Re-use the overlap analysis you ran in *Map your target account overlap*, the reseller's overlap accounts are the 3–5 specific deals to pursue together in the first 90 days. No new Crossbeam step required; the data is already loaded.📍WeTransact Portal→Go to Market→Crossbeam
6. Set a monthly business review cadence, define success metrics, track deal velocity, and update joint pipeline at each review.

Most signed reseller agreements never produce a deal. That is not a scandal, it's the base rate. What kills programmes is refusing to acknowledge it and continuing to invest management time in partners who won't transact. Decide on activation cadence, define what "transacting" looks like, and set a written pruning trigger.

1. Define the transacting bar in writing before you sign the first partner: at least one closed-won Marketplace deal within a defined window (90 or 120 days is typical). Share the bar with the partner at signing, no surprises.
2. In the first 30 days after signing, run one working session per week with the champion. Focus every session on one specific overlap account from the account-mapping list. If the champion can't or won't join, that's a signal.
3. In the 60–90 day window, drop to a monthly review cadence but require a named deal in every review. Empty reviews get shortened, not extended.
4. At the pruning trigger, 90 or 120 days, no transacting deal, have a direct conversation. Either restart with a concrete deal and a fresh 30-day sprint, or wind the partnership down formally. Do not keep it "active on paper."
5. Recycle time away from non-transacting partners toward the next partner on the warm list. Programme capacity is a scarcer resource than partner pipeline.