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Daniel_Langille
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Re: Transactable vs. non-Transactable marketplace offer?
Hi Antti, happy to share my experience: We're transactable in both AppSource and Azure Marketplace. We get most of our inbound leads through AppSource, but we do all our enterprise transactions (private offers) through Azure Marketplace. So for us, being in both places is essential. Also essential if you're pursuing enterprise deals is MACC eligibility. We actually use the Marketplace Rewards benefit where they will score your target account list for each org's propensity to buy through Marketplace in conjunction with Partner Center's ability to flag which customers have a MACC to prioritize our lead list. We do this because we know enterprise deals can be closed in weeks instead of months when the customer has a MACC and is willing to buy through Marketplace. And of course being MACC eligible is important for your co-sell story to Microsoft sellers. Main con to overcome - depending on who in the org is your buyer: they might have no idea what a MACC is nor which of their colleagues they need to approach about buying through Marketplace. This is another benefit of co-selling: our Microsoft friends are always able to help us connect our buyer to the person who can push the purchase buttons on our private offer. Main pro to embrace: the more you sell through Marketplace, the richer the GTM benefits you reap from the Marketplace Rewards program - far and away my favorite program (and favorite people!) Microsoft's ever made available to us partners.96Views3likes0CommentsMarketplace Rewards + Certified Software = Good Things
Transacting through Marketplace and attaining a Certified Software designation are both essential on their own . . . but now, when you can tick both boxes, good things await you! The Certified Software General Availability (CSGA) program gets you access to a team of experts who will create for you - at zero cost - a menu of assets including a solution FAQ guide, nurture emails, customer-facing solution brief (co-branded with Microsoft's logo and your Certified Software badge), and a Microsoft solution play card. That last one is particularly important because it facilitates discovery of your solution by Microsoft sellers. They create it on the Microsoft template and then they upload the approved final version to Microsoft's internal system. Pretty sweet, eh? The folks running the program / creating the assets are wonderful, they do amazing work, and they require very little time from you. So . . . lead with Marketplace, go get that Certified Software designation, and then take full advantage of yet another valuable program from Microsoft! #MarketplaceChampions #SponsoredCertified Software GA - Marketplace Rewards
Marketplace Rewards is far and away my all-time favorite Microsoft program, and it just got even better with extra benefits for partners that hold a Certified Software designation! The Certified Software program is now generally available, and it will do the heavy lifting for you in four areas: your Microsoft co-sell playcard (which gets uploaded to MSX upon completion for easy discovery by Microsoft sellers), nurture emails you can use with customers and/or to raise visibility with Microsoft sellers, a solution FAQ document, and a 2-page solution brief. Extra incentive to earn a Certified Software badge if you don't already have one + four more reasons to love your Marketplace Rewards engagement manager. 🙂 #MarketplaceChampions #Sponsored54Views4likes0CommentsDoes Microsoft buy apps through Marketplace?
Here's one for the community: Can - and, more importantly, does - Microsoft buy third-party solutions through Marketplace? Has anyone here sold software to Microsoft through a Marketplace transaction? #Sponsored #MarketplaceChampions329Views5likes1CommentTransacting a private offer with a customer that buys Azure from a CSP
Here's a scenario that's new to me, hoping someone in the community knows the answer: Can a customer that buys its Azure through a CSP transact a private offer directly with us? I ask because the customer in question is unable to see its billing account ID in its Azure portal even though our contact is the global admin and billing admin. #MarketplaceChampions #SponsoredSolved388Views0likes1CommentWhen Private Plan > Private Offer
Private offers are superior to private plans in almost every way - more flexible/customizable, faster to push out to customers, support for multi-party transactions, etc - but I found two scenarios in which a private plan succeeded where a private offer failed: license add-on purchases within a year of the customer's original Marketplace transaction and license renewals before the original transaction anniversary. Here's what happened: In the first case, we had a multi-national customer buy our software for country A in April and for country B in May. Private offer for country A went through without a hitch; but for reasons no one's been able to explain, a glitch on the back end during the transaction for country B resulted in the contract value being changed to a completely random value. In the second case, a customer bought our software eleven months ago and wanted to renew before their 'Marketplace anniversary date.' We set them up with a private offer for the renewal, but once again a glitch on the back end during the transaction resulted in the contract value being changed to a completely random value. In both cases, the fix we found through trial and error was to use private plans to true-up on the missing amounts. I hope I'm the only one here who's ever gone through this . . . but in case not - or in case it happens to you sometime in the future - I hope this post proves useful to you. #marketplacechampions #sponsored278Views2likes0CommentsRevenue recognition for selling partners in multi-party private offers
Has anyone encountered this question/objection from a selling partner: Will the selling partner be able to recognize the full value of the deal if we transact via MPO? They are concerned they will only be able to recognize their margin on the deal where Microsoft pays the two partners their respective cuts instead of the traditional model where the customer pays the selling partner then the selling partner pays the ISV. #MarketplaceChampions #SponsoredSolved723Views2likes1CommentPrivate offers: To auto-renew or not auto-renew?
One question that always gets asked when I'm guiding a customer through their process for accepting a private offer is "Should I click the box to auto-renew?" I say "No!" every time because I've seen with painful first-hand experience what happens two or three years later when the customer no longer needs the software but forgets they have it set to auto-renew: They and I both end up in the Marketplace billing support queue, them asking for a refund / me explaining why a refund should be granted. High praise for the Marketplace support team, they are hyper-responsive . . . the pain stems from the details the system requires as part of the refund process. What says the community? Auto-renew on or auto-renew off? #MarketplaceChampions #Sponsored696Views1like0CommentsRe: Difficulties in transfering the ISV Partnership to a new company we created
Hi David, have you tried using the 'account merge' function in Partner Center? Account settings --> Organization profile --> Account merge Not sure if it is appropriate to your situation, but the end result should be your SaaSili account gets merged into your Clavisi account.602Views0likes0CommentsRe: FAQ: Time zone used for private offer Accept By Date
Thanks, @kyle-callahan! Yes, the customer accepted private offer and configured the subscription to complete the purchase at the same time - we were actually with the customer in a screensharing session guiding them through the process as it was their first Marketplace transaction.484Views1like0CommentsRe: FAQ: Time zone used for private offer Accept By Date
Good to know - thanks, Justin! Related item to watch for, and one I learned the hard way just recently: Marketplace might not recognize a private offer transaction on the date it is accepted. We had a customer accept a private offer on 31 Oct, and it is time- and date-stamped as such . . . but Marketplace Insights shows it as a 1 Nov deal. Which almost certainly means we'll have to wait a whole extra month to receive our payout. Lesson learned: Make it standard practice to transact private offers on the second-last day (at the latest) on any given month. I hope this helps the community avoid some cashflow pain. 🙂 #MarketplaceChampions #Sponsored534Views2likes2CommentsQ re Marketplace transactions in Europe
If a customer in Spain transacts through Azure Marketplace, which Microsoft address appears on their invoice? Is it Microsoft Corporation (US address) or is it Microsoft Iberica / Microsoft Ireland? Customer has the latter two in their supplier system but not Microsoft Corporation. #sponsored #marketplacechampions355Views1like0CommentsRe: Having Trouble Updating Tax Profile
Igalfsg Hi yes - this happened to us at the end of September, a seemingly random order to update our tax profile. We did the update, saw the same persistent 'action needed' message afterwards . . . but then it went away after a week or so. Might be you're experiencing a similar system lag.1KViews4likes2CommentsA Short Story: Why Transact in Marketplace?
For anyone who is undecided a) if building a transactable offer is worth the effort or b) if leading with Marketplace is superior to legacy procurement processes: Last night while I slept, we closed an enterprise deal in Australia. Yesterday, I created a custom private offer for the customer and sent them the acceptance link with a link to the Microsoft Learn page with instructions on how they accept the offer. Woke up this morning to a Partner Center-generated message confirming the deal was won and done. Yes, we had given them a demo; and yes, we had to get stakeholder commitment . . . but: Zero haggling on price. Zero contract redlines. Zero delays with traditional vendor onboarding etc. Even better, we leveraged our Marketplace Rewards (bar none my favorite GTM program!) to amplify customer value by providing Azure Sponsorship credits to offset the deployment cost. Even more better, this deal hits three of the levers in the FY24 Transact & Grow Incentive Campaign - meaning sometime in the next ~60 days Microsoft is going to send us $40k in free money. 🙂 I share this story not to boast but to inspire and motivate. Nothing's special about us or what we did here - you can 100% replicate this experience simply by taking advantage of the resources Microsoft wants to give you. #MarketplaceChampions #Sponsored1.8KViews20likes3CommentsTransact solutions built on AWS through Azure Marketplace???
Here's a question that stumped me: Can solutions that are built 100% on AWS be listed on / transacted through Azure Marketplace? I was asked this by an ISV I met recently, and I always thought the answer was no . . . but I can find nothing in the documentation to confirm one way or the other. #MarketplaceChampions #SponsoredSolved1.3KViews1like2CommentsRe: Azure Marketplace Private Offer Accepted Date vs Start Date
smartbridge_brooke thanks for your question! The value of a private offer is it enables you to sell through Marketplace on custom terms you've negotiated with your customer - you're not limited only to selling what you've shared/listed in your public plan(s). Private offers give you flexibility on pricing, contract duration, etc . . . and they are becoming more flexible all the time. Either way, you are most definitely adhering to (co-sell) best practice by sharing all your qualified opportunities!2KViews1like0Comments
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