Inside the 22% club: What top marketplace performers do differently

Cloud marketplaces are no longer a side experiment. For many SaaS companies, they’ve become a serious channel for revenue generation, offering faster procurement cycles, better access to enterprise budgets, and tighter partnerships with hyperscalers. Marketplace listings are growing, co-sell motions are gaining traction, and the belief in this route-to-market has never been stronger.

But belief alone doesn’t drive outcomes.

While nearly 9 in 10 companies are now listed on one or more marketplaces, the actual revenue impact tells a different story. The data from the 2025 State of Cloud Marketplace & Co-Sell Report reveals a striking divide: most teams are still early in their maturity curve — figuring out how to engage the field, align internally, and operationalize at scale.

And then there’s the outlier group: the top 22% of companies who are already generating significant revenue (20%+ of their total revenue) through cloud marketplaces. They’re not experimenting — they’re executing. They’ve cracked the code on automation, co-sell, data, and field engagement in ways that deliver real, repeatable results.

This article is a deep dive into what that high-performing cohort — the 22% Club — is doing differently. If you’re looking to move from “we’re listed” to “we’re scaling,” their blueprint is worth studying.

1. They automate what everyone else does manually

Let’s start with what separates the pros from the pack: automation.

While most teams still rely on spreadsheets and manual uploads to hyperscaler portals, the top-performing 22% are building repeatable, integrated systems to scale their marketplace motion. According to the report, 63% of them have already automated core workflows — more than double the rest of the market.

What does that actually mean in practice?

• Co-sell deal submission: Instead of jumping between CRM and cloud partner portals, top teams are syncing deals directly into AWS ACE — pre-populated with seller details, opportunity data, and account context.
  
  
• Usage and consumption tracking: For teams involved in usage-based pricing or cloud commit utilization, real-time data syncing helps map consumption to marketplace revenue — which is crucial for program eligibility, co-sell alignment, and partner visibility.
  
  
• Revenue attribution: Automating how deals are sourced, influenced, and closed across channels allows GTM and RevOps teams to confidently report on what’s driving results — and unlock comp models, SPIFFs, and dashboards that reflect actual impact.
  
  
• Offer lifecycle management: From new listings to private offers and renewals, leading teams are connecting offer creation directly to deal stages in the CRM — reducing turnaround time, compliance risk, and manual coordination.
  
  
• Stakeholder-specific reporting: Whether it’s a RevOps leader tracking pipeline influence or a partner manager preparing a QBR with AWS, high performers are building tailored reporting that aligns marketplace insights to internal priorities.
  
  

Many of these workflows are made easier with purpose-built tooling that integrates across CRM, cloud marketplaces, and co-sell platforms. Solutions like Clazar help teams connect the dots — but the mindset shift comes first: automation isn’t just about efficiency. It’s what unlocks scale.

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2. They build deep, consistent relationships with hyperscaler field teams

Most companies connect with cloud provider field teams at some point. But the top performers turn that connection into a structured, high-leverage partnership.

According to the report, 94% of the 22% Club engage with hyperscaler sellers consistently, compared to just 77% of the broader market. What sets them apart isn’t just that they show up. It’s how they show up.

These teams treat hyperscaler reps like extensions of their own GTM engine — with defined cadences, clear value props, and shared accountability. Some of the most common patterns we’ve seen include:

• Weekly or biweekly pipeline reviews with AWS, Azure, or GCP field sellers — focused not just on active deals, but also joint opportunity planning and identifying co-sell-ready accounts
  
  
• Account mapping sessions to align named reps, surface mutual customers, and identify strategic entry points where cloud budget or usage commitments can accelerate deal cycles
  
  
• Battlecard-style field enablement — not just on product features, but on why the deal matters to the rep: how it drives consumption, helps them hit quota, or supports cloud service adoption
  
  

But here’s the unlock: these motions don’t scale unless the operations behind them do. High performers invest early in co-sell workflows that reduce friction and increase visibility, both internally and with their cloud partners.

For example, some automate the process of identifying and surfacing co-sellable deals directly from their CRM, enabling bulk opportunity submission without manual lift. As submission volume increases, these companies gain broader access to rep data across deals, which allows AEs to:

• Prioritize accounts tied to cloud reps they already know
• Build connections with reps supporting the highest volume of active opportunities
• Increase the odds of field support by being top-of-mind — and top-of-pipeline

This isn’t about pushing more deals for the sake of it. It’s about creating more surface area for collaboration — and doing it in a way that’s efficient, trackable, and scalable.

Teams using platforms like Clazar have been able to automate these workflows, helping them move from a few hundred co-sell submissions a year to that same volume in just a month, without needing to grow headcount. But regardless of the tool, the common thread is clear: the best teams make co-sell orchestration repeatable.

3. They sell with the marketplace in mind from day one

Most sellers treat the marketplace as a procurement shortcut — something to bring up once the deal is nearing the finish line. Top-performing teams approach it differently. They introduce the marketplace early in the sales process, often in the very first conversation.

They know that for many buyers, especially those with large cloud commitments, routing a deal through AWS, Azure, or GCP isn’t just acceptable. It’s preferred. Marketplace procurement often unlocks faster contracting, simpler vendor onboarding, and budget that’s already been pre-approved through the cloud provider.

By qualifying for marketplace fit upfront — asking the right questions about procurement constraints and cloud preferences — these teams are able to move faster and with more confidence.

The impact speaks for itself:

• 75% of the 22% Club report higher win rates on marketplace deals vs. just 47% of the rest
  
  
• 75% see higher deal values, often tied to multi-year or bundle agreements vs. just 42% of the rest
  
  
• 63% report stronger new logo acquisition, thanks to smoother entry into enterprise accounts, vs. only 44% of the rest
  
  

To support this behavior, high performers ensure sellers are equipped with the context they need to bring up marketplace confidently and early. That includes enablement around deal scenarios where marketplace adds value, talking points for common buyer objections, and collaboration with partner teams to identify co-sell-friendly accounts. Some also adopt tools that make it easier to spot marketplace-ready deals and manage offer workflows in parallel with sales activity, so reps can keep moving without added friction.

Ultimately, the shift is cultural: these teams don’t treat the marketplace as a workaround. They treat it as a strategic advantage. And they bake that thinking into every stage of the sales motion. The 22% Club isn’t winning because they have more resources or bigger brand names. They’re winning because they’re deliberate. Every aspect of their marketplace motion, from automation to field engagement to early qualification, is designed to remove friction, increase visibility, and create repeatable outcomes. For everyone else, the opportunity is still wide open. But it won’t be for long. As hyperscalers double down on co-sell programs, and as enterprise buyers increasingly prefer marketplace procurement, the teams that operate with intent and scale with precision  will continue to pull ahead.

Want the complete benchmarks and co-sell insights?
Download the 2025 State of Cloud Marketplace & Co-Sell Report — built from survey data and firsthand conversations with GTM leaders shaping the future of cloud sales.

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