How to reach distributors.
So you are ready to launch your product into the market. You want an efficient marketing process and you strive to shorten that length as much as possible to startup your journey to success.
With the advancement of technology, many new products and innovations make their way to the Internet first becoming diluted in the highly-competitive market. There are many options and paths to take, but which one is right for your business? Distribution centers are imperative for the marketing, merchandising, and disbursement. By considering these three questions when finding distributors, you and your business will take an effective approach to product-launching.
Here are three of the most frequently asked questions when reaching out to distributors.
- “Which distributor is suitable for my business?”
There are several things that incline a suitable distributor for your business. Initially, consider which distributor your competitors are using. These distributors will be knowledgeable where the products similar to yours will be in high-demand. In order to have your product sold to your end users, identify which distributors they prefer to receive their merchandises from. Furthermore, take a look at their product mix and identify if there are products they carry that compliments and supplements your own. Also for a healthy relationship, entrepreneurs need to research the financial standings of distributors such as payment reliability and credit history. Accountability in a partnership is crucial.
- “How well will they sell my product?”
Once you have identified the suitable distributors, you will need to consider these three areas: sales performance, growth potential, and management ability. Explore the suitable distributors’ sales history of similar products to see if they have been successful. Research their growth potential to see if they are capable to keep up with the fast-paced industry. Lastly, you will need to see if the distributor acquires the ability to manage efficiently. Management ability, such as planning and training their sales force and logistics will prove to you how well they handle their own end in order to successfully disburse your product.
- “What should I expect from the distributor?”
Having expectations will help you will gain an insight on distributors’ potential for long-term growth. Identify areas such as communication, resource sufficiency, and service quality. A suitable distributor must have prompt communications with both your business and their clients. Considerably, they must be capable of acquiring the necessary amount of resources to produce your product when it is in high-demand. Distributors have to provide and maintain quality service that encourages a long-term loyalty towards their customers, manufacturers and your business.
Conclusively, entrepreneurs have an interdependent relationship with distributors so you need to evaluate consistency and accountability. It is crucial that you ask yourself these questions in order to determine the overall fit of distributors along with your business’s ventures. In a highly-competitive market, a compatible partnership with distributors will assist your business on its way to a successful product-launch.