Forecastable's Education Center -- The best advice on building partner programs that produce forecastable revenue.
What are partner deal stages? Short answer: Partner deal stages is the structured set of pipeline stages a co-sell deal moves through, with exit criteria at each stage that name both the host-side and the partner-side moves required to advance. It exists because the direct-sale stage map does not capture the partner-side work that makes […]
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What is an MDF event? Short answer: An MDF event is a partner-funded or jointly funded field marketing motion where market development funds underwrite a customer-facing activity (executive dinner, regional workshop, conference booth, or industry breakfast) with a named pipeline target and a sourced and influenced reporting back to the funding partner. It is not […]
Demand generation that runs through partners by borrowing their trust, measured as pipeline.
Short answer: most MDF (Market Development Funds) programs in B2B SaaS waste 50 to 70 percent of their budget. The cause is structural, not size. MDF gets framed too narrowly as marketing money. It then goes to partners who will not run the activity that drives pipeline. The fix is a defensible MDF program that […]
What is a co-sell playbook template? Short answer: A co-sell playbook template is a reusable document structure two companies fill in to run joint deals the same way every time. It standardizes the sections of a co-sell playbook, so the fifth partner playbook is a configuration exercise rather than a blank page. A template is […]
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What is a co-sell program? Short answer: Co-sell programs are the structured systems companies use to run joint selling across many partners at once. They are the layer above an individual co-sell motion, governing partner selection, the operating model, enablement, attribution, and review, so co-sell becomes a predictable revenue source rather than a set of […]
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What is co-sell reporting? Short answer: Co-sell reporting is the practice of measuring joint selling so finance can fund and forecast it. It captures what a co-sell motion sources, influences, and closes, in the same fields and with the same rigor as direct-sales reporting, so partner pipeline becomes a number a chief financial officer trusts. […]
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What are co-sell tools? Short answer: Co-sell tools are the software two companies use to find shared accounts, work joint deals, and report on the pipeline they build together. They span three distinct layers, ecosystem data, partner program operations, and marketplace co-sell operations, and most teams need a tool from more than one layer. The […]
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What is the difference between co-sell and co-marketing? Short answer: Co-sell vs co-marketing compares two partner motions that work at different stages of the same funnel. It is not a question of which to pick: co-marketing creates joint awareness and demand, co-sell works joint deals to a close, and a mature partnership runs both with […]
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What is the difference between co-sell and cross-sell? Short answer: Co-sell vs cross-sell compares two revenue motions that sound alike and work nothing alike. It comes down to one distinction: co-sell is selling with a partner to win a deal, and cross-sell is selling more of your own products to a customer you already have. […]
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What is AWS Marketplace co-sell? Short answer: AWS Marketplace co-sell is the sales motion where an ISV transacts a deal through AWS Marketplace while simultaneously working the opportunity with an AWS field seller through the ACE (AWS Customer Engagements) system. It pairs a private offer with a registered, accepted opportunity, so the AWS rep gets […]
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What is AWS Marketplace strategy? Short answer: AWS Marketplace strategy is the set of strategic decisions an ISV makes about whether and how to use AWS Marketplace as part of their go-to-market motion. It covers strategic intent, listing model, pricing approach, channel design, and operational stack, and the answers shape everything from your pricing page […]
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What is co-sell activation? Short answer: Co-sell activation is the structured process of taking a partner from signed to actively producing co-sell pipeline. It is the difference between a paper partnership and a producing one, and it lives or dies on a recurring deal-review cadence run for the first six to eight weeks after signature. […]
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What is a co-sell advisor? Short answer: A co-sell advisor is an external advisor, fractional partnerships leader, or consultant on retainer who helps a partnerships org design and run its co-sell motion. They sit alongside the in-house team, diagnose what is actually broken, design the operating model, and coach the team through the first cycles […]
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