A Best Practices Guide for Partner Executives
The Transformation of Procurement
Traditional B2B procurement is notoriously slow and friction-heavy — lengthy contract negotiations, complex approval chains, and siloed purchasing decisions. AWS Marketplace has fundamentally disrupted this model, emerging as the preferred transaction vehicle for enterprise software. Buyers can now consolidate spend under existing AWS commitments, eliminating the need for new purchase orders and accelerating procurement cycles from months to days.
Friction Eliminated
No new POs, no lengthy legal reviews — buyers transact within their existing AWS framework.
Spend Consolidation
Enterprise teams consolidate software spend under existing AWS committed spend agreements.
Accelerated Cycles
Procurement timelines that once took quarters are now completed in days or weeks.
The Power of the Flywheel
The numbers tell a compelling story. Partners who fully commit to AWS Marketplace as a core channel strategy are seeing outsized returns across every commercial metric — from deal velocity to deal size and return on investment.
ROI for Scaling Partners
Forrester TEI Study confirms transformational returns for committed Marketplace partners.
Faster Deal Closure
Marketplace-transacted deals close at twice the speed of traditional channel routes.
Increase in Deal Sizes
Private Offers unlock larger, more strategic engagements with enterprise buyers.
Chapter 1
Building the
Foundation
Organisational Alignment is Not Optional
The single most common reason partners fail to scale their AWS Marketplace revenue is not technical — it is organisational. Without executive sponsorship and deliberate cross-functional alignment, Marketplace initiatives stall at the individual contributor level. Partnerships, marketing, operations, and finance must operate as a unified unit, each with clearly defined responsibilities and shared accountability metrics.
Executive Sponsorship
A named executive sponsor creates urgency, removes blockers, and signals organisational commitment to all internal teams.
Cross-Functional Unity
Partnerships, marketing, operations, and finance must share KPIs and meet regularly to eliminate blind spots.
The Cost of Silos
Fragmented teams miss co-sell opportunities, misalign deal registration, and leave AWS programme funding on the table.
Defining Your North Star
Vague ambitions produce vague results. Partners who scale successfully commit to Marketplace revenue as a measurable percentage of total annual revenue — and cascade that commitment into compensation structures, quota plans, and operational priorities.
Revenue as a % of Total
Committing to a specific Marketplace revenue target — for example, 20% of new ARR — creates the accountability structure needed to drive consistent behaviour across sales and operations.
Aligning Compensation Plans
Sales representatives naturally prioritise the path of least resistance. When Marketplace deals carry equivalent or enhanced commission rates, adoption accelerates rapidly without mandates or enforcement overhead.
- Remove spiff penalties for Marketplace routes
- Consider Marketplace deal bonuses
- Track rep-level Marketplace attach rates
The COSS Framework
AWS identifies and codifies the Characteristics of Outstanding Successful Sellers — a six-pillar model that defines what excellence looks like for Marketplace partners. Partners who demonstrate proficiency across all six pillars achieve 31% faster sales growth, as measured by AWS internal benchmarking data.
Technical Integration
Deep, validated integration between your solution and AWS services, including well-architected review completion.
Business Strategy
A documented Marketplace GTM plan with executive ownership and quarterly business review cadence.
Pipeline Hygiene
Accurate, up-to-date co-sell pipeline with proper opportunity staging and revenue forecasting.
Customer Success
Documented customer outcomes and reference-ready case studies that support AWS Sales team conversations.
Marketing Engagement
Active participation in joint demand generation campaigns and co-branded content development.
Programme Participation
Enrolment in and active use of available AWS partner programmes, funding, and competency designations.
Chapter 2
Operational
Excellence
Data Hygiene: The Key to Visibility
AWS operates a sophisticated, AI-powered recommendation engine that surfaces partner solutions to AWS Sales teams based on the quality and accuracy of partner-submitted data. If your metadata is incomplete, stale, or incorrectly tagged, your solution will simply not appear in the right conversations — regardless of how strong your technology is.
CRM Accuracy Drives Recommendations
AWS Sales teams are directed toward partner solutions based on pipeline data quality. Inaccurate CRM records directly suppress your visibility in the recommendation engine.
Metadata Tagging Strategy
Tag every listing and opportunity by industry vertical, AWS service alignment, and primary use case. This is how the engine matches your solution to relevant customer conversations.
Regular Audits Are Non-Negotiable
Assign a dedicated Marketplace operations owner to review data quality monthly, correcting stale records before they suppress your co-sell score.
Mastering the ACE Opportunity
APN Customer Engagements (ACE) is the co-sell pipeline tool and the definitive source of truth for your partnership with AWS. Your ACE score is one of the most significant determinants of AWS Sales team engagement, programme eligibility, and investment prioritisation. Treat every ACE record as a high-stakes commercial document.
What Your Co-Sell Score Measures
- Opportunity stage accuracy and progression velocity
- Quality of next-step documentation
- Revenue accuracy and close date reliability
- Volume and consistency of pipeline submissions
Automation Is the Answer
Manual pipeline updates are the enemy of ACE hygiene. Connect your CRM directly to ACE via API or middleware tools so that opportunity updates flow automatically, keeping your signals current without relying on sales rep discipline.
Partners with automated ACE sync report significantly higher co-sell engagement rates from AWS field teams.
Linking Systems for Success
One of the most overlooked technical requirements for Marketplace success is the connection between your Partner Central solution listings and your active Marketplace listings. Without this linkage, transactional data and co-sell signals exist in separate silos — and AWS cannot recognise the cumulative commercial impact of your partnership activity.
Closing this loop ensures that every GTM activity — from co-sell referral to transacted deal — contributes to your partner score and surfaces in performance dashboards. Audit your dashboard monthly to identify and remediate gaps before they affect your programme standing.
Enablement as a Strategic Pillar
Technology alone does not drive Marketplace revenue — people do. Your sales, finance, and legal teams must be fluent in how Marketplace transactions work, what they mean for deal structures, and why they benefit the customer. Continuous, structured enablement is the difference between a team that champions Marketplace and one that avoids it.
Sales Enablement
Train sellers on Private Offer mechanics, customer committed spend retirement, and how to position Marketplace as a buyer benefit — not a procurement detour.
Finance & Legal Readiness
Ensure finance understands revenue recognition for Marketplace transactions and legal is comfortable with AWS standard contract terms to prevent late-stage deal delays.
AWS Training Academy
Leverage the AWS Marketplace Training Academy for structured onboarding paths. Embed completion requirements into all new-hire onboarding for partner-facing roles.
Chapter 3
Scaling the
Revenue Engine
The Power of Channel Partner Private Offers
Channel Partner Private Offers (CPPO) represent one of the most powerful — and underutilised — mechanisms available to consulting partners. Through CPPO, ISVs authorise consulting partners to resell their solutions at negotiated wholesale pricing, enabling partners to create custom-priced offers for end customers whilst retaining a collaborative margin. This transforms previously off-Marketplace deals into fully transacted, reportable revenue.
ISV Authorises Partner
The ISV sets wholesale pricing and authorises the consulting partner to resell through their Marketplace listing.
Partner Creates Custom Offer
The partner wraps services, support, or professional delivery around the ISV solution and presents a unified Private Offer to the customer.
Customer Transacts on Marketplace
The customer accepts the offer within the AWS Console, retiring AWS committed spend and generating Marketplace revenue for all parties.
The Demand Generation Flywheel
Marketplace availability should not be a footnote in your GTM strategy — it should be a headline. Partners who integrate Marketplace transactability into every demand generation motion, from paid campaigns to event follow-up to partner referrals, see compounding pipeline benefits over time. The flywheel accelerates as more customers discover, trial, and purchase through the channel.
Co-Marketing & Campaign Inclusion
- Access AWS co-marketing packages to amplify reach
- Participate in AWS-led demand generation campaigns
- Feature Marketplace availability prominently in all collateral
- Utilise AWS Partner Marketing Central for approved assets
Product-Led Growth via Free Trials
Marketplace-hosted free trials are one of the highest-converting lead generation tools available. Prospects can activate a trial in minutes using their existing AWS account, dramatically reducing the barrier to first value — and accelerating conversion to paid.
Customer-Centric Incentives
Marketplace purchasing is not just convenient for partners — it delivers tangible, measurable value to buyers. Understanding and communicating these customer benefits is what transforms Marketplace from an internal operational preference into a genuine competitive advantage in front of procurement committees and CFOs.
Flexible Payment Options
Customers can structure Marketplace purchases as monthly, annual, or multi-year agreements — with instalment payment options available that match budget cycles without requiring upfront capital.
Simplified Billing
Marketplace purchases appear as line items on the customer's existing AWS bill, eliminating the need for new vendor relationships, separate POs, or additional accounts payable overhead.
AWS Commitment Retirement
Marketplace spend counts toward the customer's Enterprise Discount Programme (EDP) commitments, making your solution a strategic choice for customers under spend pressure from their AWS contracts.
Navigating the Channel Journey
Building a high-performing AWS Marketplace channel practice is a phased journey, not a one-time event. Partners who try to skip phases often find themselves with listings that generate no revenue. The following three-phase model reflects how AWS structures its own partner investment and engagement over time.
Phase 1: Onboarding & Operational Proficiency
List your solutions, complete ACE training, connect systems, and process your first Private Offers. Focus on getting the mechanics right before scaling volume.
Phase 2: Differentiation (Skilled Partner Designation)
Pursue the AWS Marketplace Skilled Partner badge by demonstrating consistent pipeline, completed enablement, and documented customer outcomes. Unlock access to dedicated AWS Marketplace development funds.
Phase 3: Scaling via Incentives & Programme Funding
Leverage ISV accelerate rebates, co-sell incentives, and AWS marketing development funds to amplify demand generation and accelerate deal volume at scale.
Measuring What Matters
Revenue growth without measurement is luck. Revenue growth with measurement is strategy. AWS Partner Analytics and Insights provides partners with a rich, real-time view of their Marketplace performance — but only those who actively monitor and act on these signals achieve consistent improvement. Build a monthly performance review cadence into your executive rhythm.
Use win/loss and stall metrics to identify where deals are losing momentum — whether at the co-sell referral stage, the Private Offer acceptance stage, or post-activation. Each stall point has a specific operational remedy.
The Executive Playbook: Taking Action
Strategy without execution is aspiration. These three actions, taken in the next 30 days, will create immediate and measurable momentum for your AWS Marketplace channel practice.
Secure an Executive Sponsor Today
Identify and formally appoint a named executive — ideally at VP level or above — who will own Marketplace revenue targets, chair the cross-functional working group, and represent the practice in QBRs with AWS.
Audit Your Metadata & CRM Pipeline Accuracy
Commission an immediate audit of all Marketplace listings, ACE opportunities, and CRM records. Correct industry tags, use-case classifications, and opportunity stages before they further suppress your co-sell score.
Align Sales Compensation to Marketplace Success
Work with finance and sales leadership to review and revise commission structures so that Marketplace-transacted deals are equally or more attractive to sales representatives than traditional channel routes.
Your Path to 234% ROI Starts Now
The AWS Marketplace opportunity is not on the horizon — it is open and available today. Partners who align their organisations, operationalise their practices, and scale with intention are already capturing the outsized returns that the channel delivers. The only variable is how quickly you choose to act.
Align
Secure executive sponsorship and unite your cross-functional teams around shared Marketplace revenue targets and accountability structures.
Enable
Train your people, clean your data, connect your systems, and ensure every team member understands their role in the Marketplace motion.
Scale
Leverage Private Offers, co-marketing, free trials, and programme funding to compound your pipeline and accelerate deal velocity quarter over quarter.
Shift from traditional procurement friction to accelerated, high-value cloud commerce. Your first Marketplace transaction is the beginning of the flywheel — make it today.
Growing Channel Revenues Through AWS Marketplace