Selling Is Now About Relationships, Not Transactions

Selling was once all about getting to the deal and running away, Bibby said, and many resellers still align their training and incentives around completing transactions.

But growth in cloud and managed services have resulted in a shift toward a recurring revenue model, Bibby said, meaning profit is achieved only if usage is sustained for the long-run.

In fact, Bibby said partners typically don't bill upfront and instead begin realizing revenue once they start delivering services.

Bibby said partners should add customer success managers to their salesforce to ensure they succeed in the cloud.