Why does saying yes to everything backfire?
A common mistake when an ISV recruits its first resellers outside its home market is saying yes to every requirement that's supposedly needed for that market. The first reseller you speak to describes its own preferences as "how things work here", you want the deal, and agreeing costs nothing today.
It costs later. Each yes becomes a feature, a contract term or a support promise that you carry for every partner in that market, and you can't tell whether a requirement belongs to the market or to one firm. An ISV ends up maintaining a market-specific version of its product before it has a single live customer there.
Peter de Bruin, our Partner and CRO, has nearly 20 years in the Microsoft partner ecosystem, most of it building reseller channels. His lesson from that work is to build a channel for the long term, not for short-term gains. A "no" or a "not yet" to a requirement is part of that.
What should you settle before you recruit Business Central resellers in a new country or region?
Write two lists before you speak to anyone: what's fixed and what's flexible. Fixed is anything that would hurt your existing partners or your support model if you bent it. Flexible is easy and reversible, such as translated sales material. A request moves from "no" to "yes" only when you can name more than one reseller in the region who needs it, or a customer who'd use it.
Check your margin, but don't lean on it. Margin matters: if it's too low, a reseller has no reason to sell your app. Our view is that it isn't the most important thing, and that ISVs overrate it, along with the idea that the product must be the best on the market. Resellers would rather solve a customer's problem with a solution they believe in.
How do you find the resellers worth approaching?
Map the market before you write anything. Microsoft AppSource, Microsoft's partner directory and community events such as Directions and BC TechDays are the public places to start. Then check each reseller's website: when was it last updated, when did they last publish a blog, and how does it look? Read the About us page and look at the team, if they show it.
The red flags are an outdated website, a product of their own for the same vertical or horizontal as yours, and information on the site that's wrong.
Then score each reseller on three things before you write to anyone:
- Fit: do they serve your verticals and implement the modules your app works with?
- Growth: is headcount going up? Have they made recent business development or alliance hires, opened a new office or taken on funding?
- Gap: which ISVs do they carry now, does any of them compete with you, and what category is missing? Are they showing up at events?
Our platform holds more than 6,000 VARs and implementers, each individually classified, and records their roles, verticals, regions and the ISVs they already carry. That gives you a shortlist for a region rather than whoever happens to reply first. There's more on finding the right Business Central partners.
When should you write to them?
Our view is that the best signal is a person who's just switched roles or joined a new organisation. They're new and want to prove themselves, so they're open to something that helps them do that.
Being acquired is an overrated signal. A reseller that's just been acquired will be looking inward for the next year while the changes happen, so it's rarely the moment to bring it a new app.
Who do you write to, and what do you say?
Write to product managers, presales or customer account managers: the people who see new intakes or manage customers with problems. ISVs tend to write to a reseller's sales people and assume they care enough to reply, which is the most common first-message mistake.
A good first message tells the reseller which problems in its customer base you can solve that its current options don't, or not really. In a reseller's words: "tell me what issues you might resolve at my customer base that my competitor doesn't."
Then keep going. Most people give up after a couple of messages, but no reaction doesn't mean no interest. Resellers are busy; they do read, they just don't reply. Consistency means showing up at events, writing to them, building a bond and trying until you have an answer, yes or no. It's like dating: you never get married after the first hi. A referral into the firm is the other route.
What did this look like for one ISV entering new regions?
Disclosure: Peter de Bruin is also CRO at Exsion365, the company in this example.
Exsion365 builds Excel-based reporting for Business Central. Its reseller network was built on personal relationships in Benelux, and it needed reach into DACH, the Nordics and North America without hiring an alliance manager.
In a live campaign from June to August 2026, Xand IQ worked 223 partner companies, sent 362 personalised messages and opened 38 conversations. The same campaign booked 9 partner meetings, and three of those have since become signed partner agreements. That's the past result of one campaign, not what another ISV should expect.
Can someone run reseller recruitment in a new region for me?
Partner Pipeline is our done-for-you, signal-based outbound for Dynamics 365 and Business Central ISVs recruiting resellers. We agree your target customers, product and region first, so there's one campaign with one clear scope. We map, score and enrich every relevant partner for that region, using a platform that also holds more than 55,000 end customers and the systems they run. We find the partners, write the outreach and handle every reply. Your team only steps in for the live conversation, and it arrives with full context.
FAQ
How many resellers should I target in a new region?
There's no right number for every ISV. Start with a short list for one region, then widen it as conversations come in.
Should I write to resellers in the local language?
Outreach is in English by default, and it also runs in Dutch. We switch language only when a prospect writes in theirs or a client asks in writing.
Which countries and regions does Xand IQ work in?
Xand IQ works worldwide, with most work in the US, the UK and Europe.
How soon does outreach start after signing?
Sending starts in week two, after one week of onboarding, with first conversations as fast as your second week. Full volume runs from month two.
How long is the commitment for Partner Pipeline?
The minimum term is three months, and the notice period is one month.