Tackle helps you streamline your Microsoft commercial marketplace co-sell process, all in one place. You can create, track, edit, and close referrals as your deals make progress. Whether you’re engaging new prospects or managing ongoing opportunities, Tackle keeps your Microsoft co-sell lifecycle organized and up-to-date.
With Tackle Co-Sell for Microsoft, you can:
Before you get started
Before you can start co-selling, complete the Co-Sell onboarding steps in Tackle > Account settings > Co-Sell. After you're done, go to the left menu and click Co-Sell to access your Microsoft referrals.
Note
Syncing your full history of co-sells into Tackle can take up to an hour, depending on the volume. You can browse your referrals as they load. You’ll notice some entries may appear incomplete until the process finishes.
View Microsoft referrals in Tackle
Tackle Co-Sell gives you one view of all your Microsoft commercial marketplace inbound and outbound referrals in one place. Additionally, you can search for specific referrals and view full details for each.
In Tackle, go to the left menu and click Co-Sell.
Click the cloud marketplace dropdown menu and select Microsoft Partner Center.
Note: You will only see marketplace options for the marketplaces you’re connected to in Tackle.
The Microsoft Partner Center co-sell option opens.
Click the Outbounds or Inbounds tab or search for the referral you want to view. Once you search, you see a list of referrals based on your entry, including information to easily track each referral:
Deal name –– Includes the deal title, Microsoft referral ID, CRM ID, and co-sell type.
Customer –– Displays the customer name and MACC eligibility if applicable.
Status🔗 –– Shows the current stage of the referral, such as New, Active, or Closed.
Substatus🔗 –– Displays the Microsoft-specific stage like Accepted, Pending, Declined, Error, Expired, Won, or Lost.
Date created –– Date when the referral was initiated.
Updated –– Last activity date on the referral.
Tip: Click the column headers in the list view to sort information.
To view full details for a specific referral, find and click the referral you want. The referral details page opens.
At this point, you can take action on your referral, depending on which stage it’s on in the co-sell process.
Create Microsoft co-sell referrals in Tackle
In Tackle, go to the left menu and click Co-Sell.
Click Create co-sell and select Microsoft. A create co-sell form opens.
Enter information for all the sections and fields. Some fields are optional.
When you’re done, click Submit to cloud.
Tip
After Microsoft reviews your referral, you can track the status in Tackle and make any necessary changes or updates, ensuring your co-sell opportunity is approved and updated with Microsoft.
How to use the Microsoft co-sell referral form
Each section in the form requires you to enter details specific to the referral you're creating. See each section to know the information you need and what you can skip for a later time:
Customer details
Enter details for your customer. You must provide information to look up and select the customer details from Microsoft’s internal database.
Click Add customer.
Enter information as needed, including the customer location and company name or Microsoft account ID.
Click Search. Search results appear when available for Microsoft manage and Microsoft unmanaged.
Click Add to add the customer information that aligns with your co-sell opportunity. The customer details selected will populate in the form.
Click Review customer matches to review the results and select the right match. Tackle will try to align the best matches based on referral details.
To go back to customer details or begin a new search, click Back or Search again.
Solutions
Add the product(s) that will solve the customer's needs. At least one solution is required to create a referral. You can also edit or remove solutions from the referral.
Note: Microsoft limits referrals to one IP-co-sell eligible solution per referral.
To add a solution:
Click Add solution. A list of solutions opens.
Click Add to add the solution(s) to the referral, and then click Review solutions.This section operates like a shopping cart. You may add multiple solutions and review them before adding them to the co-sell referral form.
Note
In some cases, adding or editing the quantity and price of solution is required. The Edit option will display if applicable. If it displays:
Click Edit next to the solution and update the fields. When you’re done, click Save.
Your solution is updated. You can click Edit again if you need to update before adding your solution.
Once you’re ready to add, click Save solutions. Your referral form will show your quantity and pricing.
Type of help
Click the dropdown menu to select the type of help you’ll need from Microsoft for this referral.
For Notes, manually click the button to generate notes. These are based on customer and solution information you selected. Make sure to review them and make any necessary edits. This is required if you select Help needed from Microsoft.
Partners
Add partner information for your referral.
Note: This feature is coming soon.
Team members
Add up to five (5) team members to receive notifications from Tackle and Microsoft about this co-sell referral. To add:
Click Add team member and a side panel will appear to manually enter this information:
First name
Last name
Email
Phone number
Once your team member(s) are added, click Add.
Edit Microsoft co-sell referrals in Tackle
You can edit certain details on Microsoft commercial marketplace co-sell referrals.
Note: Fields that can’t be changed will be locked and grayed out. Only those in Approved status can be edited.
In Tackle, go to the left menu and click Co-Sell.
Find the Microsoft referral you want to edit and click the referral to view details.
Tip: Use the search bar or filter icon to narrow down your search results.Click the referral to open the details.
In the details view, click Edit co-sell. Update the available fields, including edit solutions added to referrals, as needed. Locked fields can’t be edited.
When you're done, click Submit to cloud.
Edit solutions in Microsoft co-sell referrals
You can edit or remove previously added solutions when creating or editing referral details.
Click Edit solutions.
The Edit solutions menu opens. You’ll see a list of the solutions that are currently added and available solutions.
Click Remove to remove a solution already added. You can do this for one or more.
Search for new solutions to add and then click Add next to a solution. The solution is added. You can click Remove to remove the solution.
When you’re done, click Review solutions. The Review solutions menu opens.
Once you review your solutions, click Save solutions. After the changes are saved, you’ll see the updated solutions list on your referral.
Note: If a solution is considered invalid, Tackle will show a warning. Click the trash icon to remove the solution or click Edit solutions to update your solutions.
Clone Microsoft co-sell referrals
Take existing Microsoft co-sells and clone them to create brand new co-sells referrals without having to manually enter details. Edit the form as needed before submitting your new co-sell.
Before you get started
Cloning co-sells is currently available for Microsoft commercial marketplace only and applies to any inbound or outbound co-sell referral in Active or Accepted, Closed Won, Closed Lost, or Closed Error.
Note: Inbound co-sells in View and Pending will not have the clone option until you have accepted the co-sell referral.
Clone a Microsoft co-sell referral
In Tackle > Co-Sell, select the marketplace you want. Then find the co-sell you want to clone and click to open deal details.
Note: Ensure the co–sell selected meets availability guidelines.Click Clone co-sell.
A new Clone co-sell form opens. All the details from the original you cloned will be auto-filled in the cloned version. You can edit the existing details as needed.
Note: Microsoft creates new values for Solution area and Solution play every year. If you have cloned a referral with old values, they will not carry over to the newly cloned referral and the form will prompt you to select from the new values.
When you’re done, click Submit cloned co-sell. The submission process follows the same workflow as when you create a co-sell. Once the process is complete, the newly cloned co-sell opens to the details page.
Tip: You can track activity for this co-sell in the details Activity feed. If you go back to the Co-Sell list view, you can track all your cloned and other co-sells.
Close Microsoft co-sell referrals in Tackle
You can close a co-sell referral as Won, Lost, or Error.
In Tackle, go to the left menu and click Co-Sell.
Search and select the referral you want to close.
Select the type of close you want for your for referral:
Close as Won
Confirms the deal was successful.
To close, click Close Won and confirm your action in the pop-up.
Close as Lost
Use this for deals that didn’t work out.
To close, click Close Lost, select the reason (required), add notes (optional), and then confirm.
Close as Error
Use if the referral needs to be closed due to an error.
To close, click Close Error, select the reason (required), add notes (optional), then confirm
Next steps
Based on your closed selection, the referral status updates to Closed and the substatus becomes Won, Lost, or Error. You cannot modify or re-open the referral after you close it.
Inbound referral management
Manage your inbound Microsoft co-sell referrals in Tackle from the Co-sell tab
To review and take action:
In Tackle, go to the left menu and click Co-Sell.
Click the Microsoft Inbounds tab to view all your inbound referrals.
Click the inbound referral to open the inbound referral details page.
Options for managing your inbound referral:
Accept and Link –– If you want to immediately link this referral to a Salesforce Opportunity, click Accept & Link and add in your Opportunity ID. This ensures the Microsoft referral and your Salesforce opportunity stay in sync from the start.
Accept without linking –– You may accept the referral now and link an opportunity ID later if you don’t have one handy
Decline –– Declined referrals remain visible in your list but are inactive and cannot be edited.
After accepting, your co-sell is sent to Microsoft for review and approval. Once approved, additional referral details become available in Tackle.