Forecastable Blog

Forecastable's Education Center -- The best advice on building partner programs that produce forecastable revenue.

Latest Post

Latest Post

Two colleagues analyze a project on a large desktop monitor in a modern office.

HubSpot Deal Stages Co-Sell: How to Set Them Up

What is a HubSpot deal stages co-sell setup? Short answer: A HubSpot deal stages co-sell setup is the way you configure your pipeline so a deal worked with a partner is tracked as one, from the stage where the partner enters to the credit captured at close. It uses your existing pipeline plus a few […]

Read Article

Editor's Picks

Channel Marketing: What It Is and How It Works

What is channel marketing? Short answer: Channel marketing is the practice of generating demand through your partners rather than only through your own direct team. It equips resellers, agencies, and technology partners to market your product to their audiences, and it measures the pipeline that motion produces. Done right, it turns partners into a demand […]

Partner Marketing: What It Is and How to Run It

What is partner marketing? Short answer: Partner marketing is marketing done with and through your partners to reach audiences you could not reach alone. It spans co-branded campaigns, joint content, referral and affiliate motions, and technology-partner integrations, all aimed at borrowing a partner’s trust and reach. The goal is pipeline that comes recommended, not cold. […]

What Is Channel Marketing? A Clear Definition

What is channel marketing? Short answer: Channel marketing is marketing that generates demand through your partners rather than only through your own direct team. It equips resellers, agencies, and technology partners to promote your product to their audiences, and it measures the pipeline that motion returns. In short, it is marketing that reaches buyers through […]

A partner manager and an account executive at a desk comparing a joint partner deal plan with a customer expansion account plan on two monitors, deep navy and warm amber palette

Co-Sell vs Cross-Sell: A Clear Distinction

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. […]

Read Article
Two partnerships leaders at a whiteboard mapping an AWS Marketplace co-sell motion, ACE opportunity card and private offer sheet pinned beside them, deep navy and amber palette

AWS Marketplace Co-Sell: The Motion Most ISVs Skip

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 […]

Read Article
Partnerships and revenue leaders reviewing an AWS Marketplace strategy whiteboard with listing model options and CPPO channel diagrams, deep navy and amber palette

AWS Marketplace Strategy: Billing Rail, Co-Sell, or Both?

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 […]

Read Article
Partnerships team and partner counterparts seated at a long table running a joint kickoff with a printed 8-week activation cadence visible, deep navy and amber palette

Co-Sell Activation: 8-Week Cadence That Builds Pipeline

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. […]

Read Article
Co-sell advisor seated next to a partnerships leader at a whiteboard sketching a partner operating model with named roles, deep navy and amber palette

Co-Sell Advisor: When to Hire One and What They Actually Do

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 […]

Read Article
Vendor partner manager and co-sell agency operator reviewing a shared pipeline dashboard with a printed scope-of-work document on the table, deep navy and amber palette

Co-Sell Agency: What to Outsource and What to Keep In-House

What is a co-sell agency? Short answer: A co-sell agency is an external firm that runs co-sell programs on behalf of a vendor. It is different from an advisor (who coaches) or a consultant (who designs). The agency executes the mechanics: account mapping, partner cadences, deal reviews, attribution reporting, and partner-program operations. The agency model […]

Read Article
Partner manager reviewing color-coded partner segment lists on a tablet in a calm modern office, soft amber light from the right.

Partner Newsletter: What It Is and How to Run One

What is a partner newsletter? Short answer: a partner newsletter is a recurring communication sent to a company’s partners to keep them informed, enabled, and active. In 2026, the ones that work are not announcements; they are activation tools that drive a specific partner action in every send. A monthly roundup of company news is […]

Read Article
Two colleagues in a modern office review a blue laptop together at a conference table, smiling.

Partner Account Planning and Always-On Partner Comms

Short answer: Always-on partner communications keep partners aware of you. On their own, they do not generate pipeline. The pipeline comes from partner account planning: dedicated, recurring account-planning sessions built on completed account mapping. Always-on comms are the wiring between those sessions, not a substitute for them. Crossbeam network data puts the average win-rate lift […]

Read Article
A partner manager and a cloud-alliance lead reviewing an AWS co-sell pipeline.

AWS ACE: How the APN Customer Engagement Program Actually Works

AWS ACE (the APN Customer Engagement program) is the operating mechanism that lets AWS partners track and co-sell deals with AWS field sellers. Partners that run ACE well produce co-sell revenue that compounds; partners that treat ACE as a back-office reporting task produce ACE pipelines that look full and don’t close. The thing that separates […]

Read Article
A senior alliance manager in conversation with a strategic partner.

Alliance Manager: Role, Scope, and How to Hire One That Closes

An alliance manager is the person who owns the operating relationship with a strategic partner: the joint motion, the joint pipeline, the executive cadence, and the deal-by-deal field execution. The role is not a single role; it’s a spectrum from co-sell ops to strategic alliance lead. Most alliance manager hires fail in the first 18 […]

Read Article
1 4 5 6 7 8 9