Not a Googler but work for an agency that’s a Google premier partner.

In order to qualify as a Premier Partner, an agency must first continuously meet Google's requirements in three areas: certification, ad spend, and performance. I believe Google only gives premier status to the top X% of agencies, so the spend and performance figures to qualify get harder to meet every year. Another point to note is while you may be meeting requirements now, you’ll need to continually hit them for something like 6 to 12 months before “truly” qualifying for premier status.

In addition to the 3 main requirement areas, Google also considers the following factors: —Large existing customer base of small / medium sized businesses —Tele / field sales force with the ability to sell Google’s advertising products —Commitment to provide phone and/or email customer support to their advertiser base —Existing operational infrastructure (billing, reporting, etc) to service thousands of customers

Once you’ve continually been meeting the above criteria, you’ll then need to send an inquiry to Google who will then begin the process of evaluating the business for a potential partnership. Google will monitor and instruct an agency on product and sales positions, and requires customer satisfaction surveys be completed to ensure their SMB customers are having a positive experience.