Partner Program Glossary

Plain-English definitions of referral, partner program, and channel terms — written for MSP operators who need to make decisions, not pass a vocab test.

Partner Types

B2B Affiliate Partner

A B2B affiliate partner is an individual or company that drives traffic — usually via content, ads, or product reviews — to a B2B vendor in exchange for a commission on resulting sales or sign-ups.

Channel Partner

A channel partner is any third-party organization that sells, services, refers, or markets a vendor's products to end customers — operating as part of the vendor's indirect (non-direct) sales motion.

A distributor is a company that buys products in volume from manufacturers or software vendors and resells them to downstream resellers, retailers, or VARs — usually without selling directly to end customers.

ISV Partner

An ISV partner (Independent Software Vendor partner) is a software company that builds products on top of, or integrates with, a larger platform — typically participating in that platform's partner program to gain co-sell, marketplace, and ecosystem benefits.

Managed Service Provider (MSP)

A managed service provider (MSP) is a company that delivers IT, security, or software services to clients on an ongoing subscription — running infrastructure, support, and operations on the client's behalf for a recurring monthly fee.

OEM Partner

An OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) partner is a company that embeds another vendor's product — sometimes white-labeled, sometimes branded — into its own offering and sells the combined solution to end customers as if it were a single product.

Partner Ambassador

A partner ambassador is a customer, creator, or community member who actively advocates for a vendor — speaking at events, creating content, mentoring other users, and recommending the product — in exchange for recognition, perks, or modest compensation.

Referral Partner

A referral partner is an individual or company that sends qualified leads or introductions to a vendor in exchange for a commission — without transacting, reselling, or handling the customer relationship directly.

Reseller

A reseller is a company authorized to buy a vendor's product at a discount and sell it on to end customers — earning revenue on the margin between wholesale and retail price, sometimes with added services or branding.

Systems Integrator (SI)

A systems integrator (SI) is a services firm that designs, implements, and integrates multiple vendors' products into a single working solution for an enterprise customer — typically through large, project-based engagements.

Technology Alliance

A technology alliance is a partnership between two software vendors who integrate their products, co-market, and often co-sell to shared customers — without a direct revenue-share or reseller relationship.

Value-Added Reseller (VAR)

A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that buys products from a manufacturer or software vendor and resells them to end customers after adding value — typically through integration, customization, implementation services, training, or ongoing support.

Compensation

Channel Rebate

A channel rebate is a back-end payment a vendor makes to a partner — usually quarterly or annually — based on the partner hitting predefined volume, growth, or strategic-product thresholds.

Commission Structure

A commission structure is the formula a vendor uses to calculate how much a channel partner earns for sourcing or closing a deal — typically expressed as a flat bounty, a percentage of revenue, a tiered rate, or a hybrid of these.

Market Development Fund (MDF)

A Market Development Fund (MDF) is money a vendor gives a partner to spend on marketing activities — events, ads, content, lead generation — designed to drive demand for the vendor's product within the partner's customer base.

SPIFF

A SPIFF (Sales Performance Incentive Fund) is a short-term cash or non-cash bonus paid to sales reps — internal or partner — for selling a specific product, hitting a quota, or driving a strategic outcome within a defined window.

Program Operations

Channel Conflict

Channel conflict occurs when a vendor and its partners — or two partners of the same vendor — compete for the same customer or deal, creating friction that damages trust, margin, and ultimately the partner program itself.

Co-Marketing

Co-marketing is a joint marketing effort between a vendor and a partner (or between two partners) designed to reach a shared audience with combined content, events, or campaigns — splitting the work, the cost, and the leads.

Co-Selling

Co-selling is a sales motion where two vendors work jointly on the same deal — coordinating account planning, demos, and proposals — so the customer ends up buying both products as part of a connected solution.

Deal Registration

Deal registration is the process by which a channel partner formally reserves a specific sales opportunity with a vendor — protecting them from channel conflict and securing margin protection if the deal closes within the agreed window.

Partner Enablement

Partner enablement is the systematic effort vendors make to equip channel partners with the training, content, tools, and certification they need to sell, implement, and support the vendor's product effectively.

Quarterly Business Review (QBR)

A Quarterly Business Review (QBR) is a structured meeting — typically held every three months — between a vendor and a channel partner to review past-quarter performance, surface issues, align on initiatives, and commit to the next quarter's goals.

Program Design

Partner Tier

A partner tier is a ranked level in a vendor's partner program — usually named (Bronze/Silver/Gold or Authorized/Premier/Elite) — that defines a partner's benefits, commission rates, and obligations based on performance or commitment.

Software

Partner Portal

A partner portal is the partner-facing web application where channel partners self-service onboarding, access training and sales content, submit deal registrations, view their commission earnings, and check their tier status.

Partner Relationship Management (PRM)

Partner Relationship Management (PRM) is the category of software that runs the operational layer of channel partner programs — partner onboarding, deal registration, commission tracking, enablement content, and reporting — for vendors managing indirect sales motions.

Measurement

Partner Attribution

Partner attribution is the practice of identifying which pipeline and revenue can be credited — fully or partially — to specific partners in your channel ecosystem, typically split into "sourced," "influenced," and "delivered" categories.

Partner-Influenced Revenue

Partner-influenced revenue is revenue from deals a partner contributed to — through a recommendation, an integration, evaluation support, or co-marketing exposure — but did not originally source.

Partner-Sourced Revenue

Partner-sourced revenue is new business revenue attributed to a specific partner who originated the opportunity — typically established by a registered deal where no prior vendor-direct relationship with the customer existed.

Strategy

Channel Marketing

Channel marketing is the discipline of marketing through and with channel partners — using co-branded campaigns, market development funds (MDF), partner enablement content, and through-channel marketing automation (TCMA) to drive demand at the partner level.

Channel Sales

Channel sales is the indirect sales motion where third-party partners — resellers, MSPs, distributors, and systems integrators — sell a vendor's product to end customers, rather than the vendor's own sales team closing the deal directly.

Ecosystem-Led Growth (ELG)

Ecosystem-led growth (ELG) is a go-to-market strategy in which a company uses its partner ecosystem — integration partners, resellers, referrers, and adjacent vendors — as the primary engine for new customer acquisition, retention, and expansion.

Indirect Sales Channel

An indirect sales channel is any route to market where a third party — not the vendor's own employees — sells products to end customers. Partners may resell, refer, or otherwise broker the transaction.

Partner Ecosystem

A partner ecosystem is the full network of channel partners, technology alliances, integrators, referral partners, and adjacent vendors connected to a SaaS product — the broader sphere of organizations that create, capture, or deliver value alongside the vendor.

Partner Marketing

Partner marketing is the function responsible for generating demand with and through partners — across resale, referral, tech alliance, and ISV relationships — using co-marketing campaigns, joint content, partner enablement, and ecosystem-wide programs.

Partner-Led Growth (PLG)

Partner-led growth is a go-to-market strategy in which partners — usually a focused set of resellers, MSPs, or referral partners — drive the majority of new customer acquisition, often more than the vendor's direct sales team.