Cracking the co-sell code: Trends, gaps, and how top teams are closing them

The idea of cloud co-sell sounds great in theory — align with AWS, Azure, or GCP sellers, unlock new pipeline, and accelerate deals through shared execution. And that promise has driven adoption across the board. 

But execution is where most teams stall out. According to our State of Cloud Marketplace & Co-Sell Report, while 71% of companies are engaged in co-sell, more than half report friction that limits their ability to scale. 

The problem isn’t just buy-in. It’s gaps in structure, tooling, and ownership.

TL;DR

Co-sell is no longer optional—but most teams are still running it like an ad hoc motion. While 71% of companies are co-selling, friction across execution prevents it from scaling. 

Teams struggle due to manual, error-prone systems, unclear criteria and processes, and limited visibility into partner engagement and outcomes. The top teams that are using co-sell for real growth have figured out how to:

• Have consistent partner conversations and alignment
• Automate submissions and reduce manual lift
• Define and enforce co-sell qualification criteria
• Create feedback loops with shared data and visibility

Trend 1: Co-Sell is now a default expectation

Hyperscalers are leaning in hard. AWS, Azure, and GCP have built robust partner programs, and their sellers are now encouraged (even compensated) to co-sell with ISVs that help drive cloud consumption. For ISVs, this opens doors to new logos, committed spend, and faster procurement cycles.

The Gap:
While 71% of ISVs say they’re co-selling, only 32% have proactive, structured cadences in place with hyperscaler reps. That means most engagements are ad hoc — driven by urgent deals rather than coordinated strategy. Without a predictable rhythm, field engagement becomes luck, not leverage.

The Fix:
Top performers treat co-sell with the same rigor as pipeline management. They follow practices like:

• Weekly or biweekly check-ins with hyperscaler sellers to align around co-sell–ready accounts
• Tracking progress through shared plans or joint trackers 
• Structured engagement via scheduled Slack syncs or deal review cadences

This turns field engagement into a repeatable, scalable motion that drives real pipeline.

Also Read: The definitive guide to cloud GTM

Trend 2: Partner portals offer a real possibility for growth

By automating visibility and routing, cloud marketplace partner portals like AWS ACE turn co-selling from a manual process into a high-impact growth engine.

The Gap:
Most teams are still submitting deals manually. It’s time-consuming, inconsistent, and error-prone — especially when data has to be copied from CRM and pasted into multiple portals. This slows the entire motion and limits the scale.

The Fix:
High-performing teams reduce manual lift by automating submission workflows. For example, platforms like Clazar allow teams to:

• Bulk-create opportunities based on CRM triggers or metadata
• Review them centrally
• Push them to cloud partner systems

This not only increases submission volume but improves accuracy — and with it, field engagement.

See how Supabase drives co-sell growth with Clazar

Trend 3: Co-Sell helps teams hit their KPIs

One of the clearest signals in the State of Cloud Marketplace & Co-Sell Report is this: co-sell drives real outcomes. We found that among companies reporting higher win rates, 77% are actively co-selling with hyperscaler partners. 

And it’s not just win rates. 69% of those seeing higher deal values and acquiring new logos are also running co-sell motions. 

The pattern is consistent: when co-sell is working, it’s working across the funnel. It helps teams close faster, close bigger, and break into accounts that might otherwise be out of reach.

The Gap:
Despite the upside, most teams still don’t have a clear framework for identifying which deals should go through co-sell. Reps are left to guess:

• Will a hyperscaler seller care about this opportunity?
  
• Is it worth the effort to submit?
  
• Will the process slow me down or accelerate the deal?
  

This ambiguity leads to two suboptimal behaviors:

1. Co-sell avoidance: Reps default to traditional sales motions to avoid perceived complexity.
   
2. Over-submission: Teams push everything through the portal “just in case,” creating noise for partner teams and hyperscaler sellers alike.

Both approaches degrade trust and reduce impact.

The Fix:
High-performing teams take the guesswork out of co-sell by defining — and operationalizing — a "co-sell ready" profile. They give sellers clear criteria to assess a co-sell opportunity. 

Typical indicators include:

• Cloud budget influence: The buyer has a committed spend with AWS, Azure, or GCP, and your deal can help them burn it down.
  
• Named hyperscaler coverage: The account has a mapped cloud rep with whom you’ve engaged (or can engage).
  
• Procurement advantage: Transacting via the marketplace could accelerate onboarding, legal review, or budget approval.
  
• Strategic account fit: The deal size, vertical, or product line fits hyperscaler sales goals or solution areas.
  
  

Some top teams use internal “co-sell scorecards” to prioritize which deals move forward. Others create short intake forms that partner managers can triage efficiently. The key is removing ambiguity and making qualification a shared responsibility between sales, partnerships, and RevOps.

This structured approach has two powerful effects:

1. It increases seller confidence and adoption:  Reps know when and how to use co-sell without second-guessing.
   
2. It improves the quality of field engagement: Cloud reps get more relevant, higher-potential opportunities, making them more likely to lean in.
   

In short: better inputs create better outcomes. 

Also Read: 3 things that top marketplace performers do differently

Trend 4: Everyone wants visibility into what works

Executives want to know which deals were influenced by cloud reps. AEs want to know if their submission is being worked on. Cloud partners want a follow-up. Data-driven co-sell is a rising priority.

The Gap:
The current state is quite opaque. Submissions go into portals, but neither side sees real-time updates.  There’s limited reporting on outcomes, and therefore no learning loop. As a result, AEs lose trust, cloud reps disengage, and internal support weakens.

The Fix:
Leading teams build feedback loops into their co-sell system by: 

• Tracking engagement: Monitoring when deals are claimed and how reps contribute
• Centralizing data: Syncing partner notes to the CRM or using dashboards to track cloud responses
• Prioritizing visibility: They give importance to accessible data. The system doesn’t need to be complex, just transparent

Pro Tip: Build the visibility your sales, finance, revenue operations, and customer success teams need, with Clazar Analytics

Build Co-sell Like the Top Performers

The teams that gain the most from co-sell start with structure, learn fast, and scale what works.

Co-sell isn’t optional anymore. It’s fast becoming table stakes for SaaS teams who want to sell bigger, faster, and deeper into enterprise accounts. 

However, to create impact with co-sell, you need clear processes, automated systems, and focus. The good news? That playbook is already in motion. And it’s working.

Want the complete benchmarks and co-sell insights?
Download the State of Cloud Marketplace & Co-Sell Report — built from survey data and firsthand conversations with GTM leaders shaping the future of cloud sales.
‍Download the Report

To see how Clazar can help your team build and maintain an impactful co-sell program, reach out today. 

Top FAQ's

1. Co-sell sounds great—but why should I, as an AE, actually care?

Because when it works, co-sell directly boosts your quota outcomes:

• Higher win rates
• Bigger deal sizes
• Faster procurement cycles
• Access to accounts you otherwise wouldn’t reach

77% of companies with higher win rates are actively co-selling. This isn’t theoretical—it's measurable pipeline impact.

2.  How do I know if a deal is “co-sell ready”?

This is one of the biggest gaps in most organizations.
High performers operationalize a co-sell profile with criteria such as:

Good Co-Sell Candidates:

• The customer has unused committed cloud spend
• The account has a mapped cloud rep
• Marketplace procurement will speed up approval
• The deal aligns with AWS/Azure/GCP priorities or solution areas

This removes guesswork and helps you decide quickly.

3. How do you build a consistent co-sell motion across teams?

By introducing:

• Defined cadences with cloud sellers
• Shared account plans
• Standardized qualification frameworks
• Clear ownership across sales, partnerships, and RevOps

4. What’s the fastest way to improve co-sell performance?

Start with:

• A clear co-sell qualification framework
• Weekly partner cadences
• Basic automation for submissions
• Simple visibility dashboards
  

5. How do top teams improve co-sell visibility?

They build feedback loops, such as:

• CRM-synced cloud engagement notes
• Dashboards showing submission → acceptance → influence
• Auto-notifications when cloud reps pick up or update a deal

It doesn’t need to be complicated—it just has to be visible.