Turning Microsoft Marketplace GTM Strategy into Business Growth

A Strong Start that Needing a Growth Strategy

CoreStack wasn't starting from scratch; they already had a proven cloud governance solution and an established Microsoft Marketplace presence. However, growth opportunities were spread across several important initiatives, including private offers, co-sell, channel partnerships, and Microsoft incentives.

They needed a way to connect these efforts and translate strategy into measurable business outcomes.

That need led them to engage The Partner Masters.

Fitting the Marketplace Pieces Together

CoreStack recognized that expanding its Microsoft partnership required more than simply participating in Marketplace programs. To accelerate growth, they went down the following paths.

Marketplace Transactability

CoreStack they needed a more deliberate approach to generating transactions and positioning for their existing products like increasing private-offer transactions. The strategy planning that spanned multiple Microsoft fiscal years then began.

In parallel, we helped create an Azure Assessments offer in the Marketplace, along with supporting materials as collateral to promote higher conversion rates.

Marketplace Incentive Eligibility and Capture

As CoreStack earned its Certified Software Designation, new Microsoft incentive opportunities became available. The challenge from eligibility to how to capture dollars. Without clear processes for identifying, prioritizing, and claiming incentives, significant funding opportunities could be left on the table.

To address this, The Partner Masters established recurring business reviews and opportunity qualification processes that helped align priorities and improve incentive capture. Through these efforts, CoreStack successfully claimed more than $1.2 million in Microsoft incentives.

Bringing the Solutions to the Partner Channel

CoreStack also wanted to expand awareness of its solutions within the Microsoft Partner ecosystem and develop stronger channel relationships. They took center stage on the SDC Partner Connect series to do just that. The single session generated 12 leads and contributed to 3 deals closing, while also establishing their presence in front of their peers within the community.

Structure to Keep Progress Moving Forward

To maintain momentum, CoreStack needed visibility into the metrics, opportunities, and priorities driving its Microsoft growth strategy. The Partner Command Center provided that structure and data visibility. This helps the CoreStack team execute their vision by giving the team a centralized view of key business metrics during pipeline and business review discussions.