SAP’s Industry-leading Blueprint for Multi-Partner Sales
Authors:
- Laura Merkelo, Senior Director, Power of 3 Partner Sales Program, SAP
- Rebecca Jones, Chief Growth Officer, Bridge Partners
- Judy Loehr, Chief Product Officer, PartnerTap
Partners have been co-selling with SAP Account Executives for decades. Sometimes deals start with opportunistic introductions; other times, the reps have known each other for 15 years.
But every Q1, territories are re-assigned and co-selling grinds to a halt. It can take all Q1 for partner teams to understand new sales territories and plays, identify the right target accounts, and rebuild joint business plans. That only leaves nine months to build pipeline and sell.
SAP's New "Power of 3" Multi-Partner Sales Program
While most technology companies are still debating whether to invest in co-selling transformation, SAP is already five steps ahead. Led by Darryl Gray, SVP of ISV Partners, SAP has launched one of the industry's most advanced multi-partner sales initiatives: Power of 3.
The Power of 3 program is SAP's scaled "better together" sales motion with ISVs, GSIs, and resellers. Where many companies run these plays informally, SAP has built a highly scalable program fueled by new technology from PartnerTap and strategy + execution support from Bridge Partners.
The program launched at SAP’s Worldwide Partner Manager Summit, where SAP trained global and regional partner managers on PartnerTap's platform, introduced the Power of 3 program, and invited top-tier ISV partners to participate.
What makes SAP's approach groundbreaking isn't just the strategy—it's the speed and scale of execution. As the largest company in Europe and one of the largest software companies in the world, SAP is setting the industry standard for multi-partner selling.
Whether you're ready to lead these sales plays within your own ecosystem or simply want to participate more effectively in plays orchestrated by the world’s largest cloud and technology companies, SAP’s “Power of 3” playbook offers a tested blueprint.
SAP’s “Power of 3” Playbook
Here’s how SAP is operationalizing multi-partner selling at scale:
01 Scale Up Co-Selling with Your Top Revenue-Driving Partners
Move from reactive, opportunistic, one-off co-selling to a systematized, orchestrated, and accountable motion with your most important partners. SAP does this by rolling out PartnerTap to all Solex and Endorsed ISV partners, automating account mapping, giving partners comprehensive product-level whitespace analysis, and enabling partner managers to run precision targeting sessions with each partner.
02 Invest in a Partner Ecosystem Management Platform
Mapped partner account data is the foundation for scalable, insight-driven multi-partner selling. SAP uses PartnerTap to generate AI-ready mapped data that will power co-sell agents for field sellers. This isn't a future-state vision—it's happening now.
03 Develop Your Multi-Partner Sales Strategy and Playbook
A clear, repeatable strategy is essential for enabling cross-partner execution at scale. SAP works with Bridge Partners to design the Power of 3 strategy and playbook – an operational framework that supports thousands of partners and sellers.
04 Accelerate 2026 Business Planning
Annual planning becomes faster and sharper when you use mapped whitespace to identify top opportunities early. SAP partner managers and partners leverage PartnerTap's mapped product-level whitespace data to identify the best SAP customers for each ISV to focus on, dramatically streamlining 2026 business planning. Executive teams then use these target account lists to design sales territories, compensation structures, marketing campaigns and sales enablement content.
05 Train and Enable Sales Teams to Become World-Class Co-Sellers
Effective co-selling starts with helping your teams adopt a partner-first mindset. SAP provides ongoing training and change management to help sellers shift from lone-ranger habits to a partner-first mindset, ensuring smoother multi-partner engagement. Multi-partner selling requires cross-company coordination at scale – and that only works when everyone is equipped to build trust and momentum with peers.
06 Prepare Campaigns and Sales Content
With targets locked in, marketing and enablement teams can begin crafting the campaigns and sales tools that power each sales play. SAP partner managers and partners now complete account mapping, targeting, and business planning in early Q4, giving marketing and enablement two months to develop sales play content before launching new pipeline-generating motions in January 2026.
07 Activate Multi-Partner Sales Plays Early in Q1
Kick off sales plays as soon as new sales territories are finalized to maximize pipeline-building runway. SAP uses PartnerTap's Co-Sell Engine to run sales play workflows that automate the double opt-in and introduction process across sales reps at each company.
08 Proactively Manage Multi-Partner Sales Engagements
Provide active oversight and coaching on top-priority deals. With precision targeting enabled by proper account mapping, SAP, ISV and GSI partners have already identified the SAP customers most likely to buy each ISV solution and aligned them with the GSI that has the strongest existing relationship. Given their high value, these target accounts warrant proactive monitoring of sales engagement and progress. Bridge Partners manages this process for SAP, proactively coaching SAP and ISV sellers on how to engage and co-sell effectively with their GSI counterparts. This ensures every deal has the momentum, clarity, and collaboration it needs to close.
09 Track Net-New Pipeline and Revenue
Preparing, operationalizing, and scaling a multi-partner sales program requires significant commitment. Tracking and celebrating net-new pipeline and revenue driven by each multi-partner sales play ensures visibility and momentum. SAP and Bridge Partners use PartnerTap pipeline attribution reports to monitor and report on new pipeline and revenue driven by each sales play with each partner.
10 Celebrate Multi-Partner Selling Behaviors
Recognition drives behavior change. SAP recognizes top-performing co-sellers in team meetings and quarterly events. When sellers see their peers getting recognition for selling with partners, they take notice and adapt.
The Accelerators: Technology, Expertise, and Program Support
A multi-partner sales transformation of this magnitude requires all three:
01 Technology for automation, data, and sales collaboration workflows that make scale possible.
02 Expertise to design your strategy and program from specialists who know what good looks like.
03 Program support to help partner and sales teams move quickly and effectively.
PartnerTap: The New Technology for Multi-Partner Selling
SAP selected PartnerTap as the technology foundation for their Power of 3 program for several reasons:
- Secure Data Sharing Platform: For the first time ever, SAP is sharing their customer data with partners through digital clean rooms that give both parties full control over what data is shared.
- Automated Account Mapping and Precision Targeting: PartnerTap automates account mapping and product-level whitespace analysis, enabling SAP and their partners to identify the best accounts to target in minutes rather than months.
- Co-Sell Engine for Sales Play Activation: PartnerTap's Co-Sell Engine automates co-selling and partner-to-partner (P2P) sales play activation through workflows that handle opt-ins and introductions at unlimited scale.
- Attribution Reports: PartnerTap’s attribution reporting tracks net-new pipeline and revenue from each sales play and each partner, giving executives clear visibility into program ROI.
Bridge Partners: Strategic Program Design and Management
SAP selected Bridge Partners as their strategic consulting partner and worked closely with Laura Merkelo to design the Power of 3 strategy, develop the playbook, and support ongoing program execution. The program is now underway and preparing for the next wave of Power of 3 sales plays that launch in January to jump-start new pipeline for FY2026.
Bridge Partners provides:
- Strategy and program design for multi-partner selling
- Comprehensive playbook development and partner sales enablement
- Program execution and seller coaching
- Performance monitoring and optimization
If you’re an SAP partner interested in learning more about SAP's Power of 3 Multi-Partner Sales Playbook, contact Laura Merkeo at laura.merkeo@sap.com.
To discuss how PartnerTap can help your company operationalize and scale multi-partner selling, contact them here.
To explore how Bridge Partners can accelerate your multi-partner program with strategy and program design and execution services, contact us here.