Co-sell referral quality updates
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How to submit high-quality co-sell referrals for faster seller engagement
- Announcement date: May 27, 2026
- Workspace: General
- Impacted audience: Partners submitting inbound co-sell referrals in Partner Center, including those using bulk submission or API connectors. Details
We're enhancing how inbound co-sell referrals are reviewed and processed. These updates are designed to help your referrals move faster and reach the right Microsoft sellers sooner - while reducing back-and-forth due to missing or unclear information.
To support this enhancement, we also enhanced our automation and Partner Center experience, with more improvements coming soon.
What's changing
All inbound co-sell referrals will automatically be checked for completeness and quality at submission. The automated checks ensure that referrals shared with sellers meet a consistent standard and are ready for action.
To avoid delays and improve acceptance speed, ensure every referral you submit includes these five items:
- Solution area/play: Select the most appropriate solution area and play aligned to the customer scenario
- Estimated deal value: Provide a realistic estimate. Values such as $0, $1, or placeholders (for example, "00 millions") might trigger follow-up
- Estimated close date: Must be a future date. Past dates or dates within the next seven days are invalid
- Customer need: Clearly describe the customer's business problem, the specific product or service need, and relevant business context. Tip When submitting directly in Partner Center, AI-assisted notes can help you structure this.
- Customer contact information (non-mandatory): Provide valid customer contact details OR select the consent checkbox indicating contact details will be shared later. If needed, you can also note: "The referral is fully BANT qualified. Customer contact details can be shared later once the seller is engaged"
What happens if information is missing?
- Complete, high-quality referrals are automatically accepted and routed to the appropriate seller
- If any required information is missing, the referral might be held for follow-up, or declined with the option to resubmit once updated
- Submitting complete and accurate information upfront helps avoid delays
Improvements to support you
We enhanced the Partner Center UI to:
- Guide you through required fields more clearly
- Reduce ambiguity during submission
- Improve overall referral quality
What's coming next
- Bulk submission improvements
- API connector enhancements
These updates will further reduce manual effort and improve efficiency for partners managing higher referral volumes.
Why this benefits you
By submitting complete, high-quality referrals, you get:
- Faster seller engagement
- Less rework and follow-up
- Improved referral acceptance rates
- Clearer alignment with Microsoft sellers
- A more predictable and scalable co sell experience
With high-quality referrals, sellers can act quickly, and you can move deals forward sooner.
Next steps
Review your referral submission process and ensure all submissions include the five required fields:
- Solution area/play
- Estimated deal value
- Estimated close date
- Customer need
- Customer contact information (or consent checkbox)
- For more information on these updates, read about managing co-sell opportunities