Marketplace deals need rules too

Many partner programs were written before customers bought software through cloud marketplaces. The guide covers deals a reseller quotes and invoices. It says nothing about a deal that closes as a marketplace private offer.

Partners notice. Their customers increasingly want to buy through a marketplace to use committed cloud spend, and the partner wants to know what happens to their registration, their tier revenue and their rebate when that happens.

The questions partners ask

If your guide is silent, your partner team is answering these one at a time:

• Does deal registration protect a deal that closes in a marketplace? If a partner registered it and the customer buys through a private offer, who gets credit?
• Does marketplace revenue count toward tier requirements? All of it, some of it, or none?
• Are rebates paid on marketplace deals? At what rate, and on which amount: the list price, the offer price, or the amount after the marketplace’s fee?
• Who can create the private offer? The partner, you, or both?

Say something, even if it’s “no”

The worst answer is silence, because silence gets read differently by every partner. A plain “Marketplace purchases are not part of this program” is better than nothing: partners can plan around it.

A better answer is a short section that takes each question in turn. It doesn’t need to be long. Four rules, each with a number, a unit and a start where one applies, will settle most of the disputes before they reach your partner team.

Where to start

Look at last quarter’s marketplace deals and ask which partners touched them. Then read your guide as one of those partners would. Every question you can’t answer from the guide is a rule to write.