When pitching to a distributor - it’s important to always ask yourself : “How is my brand / product / service going to improve their portfolio ?”
A Handy Checklist To Consider (Prior To The Sales Pitch) :
- Am I willing to let a distributor autonomously represent my brand for me ?
- Do I have enough resources to support the distributor with time, money, and product / inventory to help generate sales ?
- Am I able to identify my brand and have I listed its key competitive advantage assets ?
- Do I have an actionable / actioned strategic marketing strategy ?
- Do I have a complete range of products / services ready for commercial sale ?
- Do I have the volumes of products/ services available for consistent, uninterrupted supply ?
- Does my company have the capacity to product products / services of consistent /improving quality - production run after production run ?
- Are my product’s / service’s priced appropriately for their target market - factoring in the distributor’s margin ?
- Have I already planned / costed the logistics of getting my products / services to the distributor ?
- Is all my packaging up to commercial standards - including UPCs / bar codes ?
- What are the short & long term sales goals that I want to achieve with the distributor ?
- Have I acknowledged (to myself) that simply signing the distributor isn’t a guarantee that sales will be consistent - or even grow over time ?
- MOST IMPORTANTLY - Have I acknowledged that the distributor relationship is a partnership - wherein we work together to generate sales ?
A Handy Checklist Of Things To Include In Your Distributor’s Sales Pitch :
- Your company’s history / milestones / success stories / testimonials
- Price List - should provide conditions / terms of the sale, discounts, credit, shipping an trade allowances
- Samples of the product, packaging, UPC barcode and pricing
- Marketing materials - product brochures, or sell sheets that provide product information
- Capacity of your plant to prove the potential of large volume potential
- Manufacturing information
- A Copy of the presentation - leave behind samples, and your business card
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