I recently had an Asian based Thunderbird colleague over for a weekend lunch and eventually we started shop talking about overseas distributor recruitment strategies.  I have written a lot about how to find distributors in various markets.  That helps start you with a target list to research, however, I have found these tactics never led me to the best distributors in practice.  The best distributor candidates usually find me.  They are hungry.  They have passion.  They are usually the business owners and see the customer possibilities in their market long before me.  They recruit me with their enthusiasm.  It is a hard attribute to measure, but you know it when you see it, and feel it.
How do they act?

• They are proactive.  The background that you seek: basic logistical information, organization charts and marketing plans are prepared and logical.  They may not be polished and professional, they are short, concise and on the mark.  They are actionable.

• They push me.  They want product training and are willing to invest their time, energy and $ at the early stages to get the projects started.  They want product brochures and technical information so they can translate them for their customers.  They seek historic product application information so they can build a target customer list.  They want a company representative to join them at local trade shows and customer visits to show that they have a partner and want to soak up all the knowledge they can.

• They see the possibilities in the alliance and devote the mind share towards a longer term relationship.  They are driven by profitability.  They are willing to price product to market and extract a premium for their service to support the product, but also optimize market share to give the brand visibility.

• They see the value in the leads that are provided and respond to these customers quicker than I would.  They build my brand better than I could from afar.

• They are open and transparent.  They share competitive pricing data, customer details and application information.

• They are focused on your product line.  They systematically devote human resources and a distributor team to reach success.

• They are customer centric.  They offer the customer the best product option and solution based on the end users’ needs.

What are telltale traits of their opposites you could encounter?

• Entitled-the opposite of hungry. They think their sales force can move mountains without making the necessary investment in product training, marketing tools and application development.

• Not accountable.  They don’t want to set sales goals and plans.  There are neither leading indicators e.g. demos, samples and/or lagging indicators e.g. sales results to gauge success.

• Closed.  They don’t want to share market or customer information and best practices.  They only communicate when it benefits them on their timeline.

• Short term and transactional.  They view the relationship as buy/sell from the outset and never a partnership.  They will dwell on profitability in the shortest term possibility and see adding a new product as a zero sum game (if I add this new product I will have to take someone off another product.)

• Blame oriented.  They won’t self- criticize or benchmark themselves-preferring to blame others for outcomes.

If you are reviewing existing channel partners...
 
http://www.jimthomasintl.com/survey-for-channel-partner-effectiveness.html

The best new distributors I have added were:

1. Seeking me.  Their application demonstrated they were eager and easy to do business with.  The distributor applicant responded to a request from the US Commercial Service in Italy as part of the Gold Key program:

http://www.export.gov/salesandmarketing/eg_main_018195.asp. 
I used the Gold Key > 10X and this was the best results I ever had and justified the 9 poor searches.  The business owner had passion from Day 1 and was unwavering in his support.

2.  Patient.  The Turkish owner sought me out at an international trade show in 2008 and made a positive impression.  When the opportunity to change distributors changed in 2011 they were “johnny” on the spot and took over in a tough situation for me.
3. Entrepreneurial.  It happened in Denmark, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, South Korea, Poland and Germany. I may have forgotten a few at my advanced age.
4. Hidden.  Buying as a sub-distributor from a less than remarkable sole national distributor.  They had a regional/market focus that required support from the principal.  It happened in Japan, Chile, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, Czech Republic and Argentina.

Without hunger and passion, a new distributor will never be a top performer for your line.

Good selling!


 

 
Like many baby boomers I have worked in multiple positions at multiple companies.   I always worked in the corporate HQ-the bubble.  There were three organizations that made deep positive impressions upon me.   Each particular company had a unique corporate environment.  At times I was confounded by some of the non-traditional employment practices having my first job at GE-an icon of Corporate America and home of Neutron Jack.  These unique environments had practices to re-enforce the corporate objectives. 

What were some of these practices?

1. Expensing lunches with other executive team members.  This tactic promoted cross functional communications.  It made it easy to embrace colleagues with whom you may have had little interaction.  Table talk naturally gravitated to work issues.  They were discussed in a neutral setting among adults. They build camaraderie that went far beyond the lunch counter.
2. Having everyone serve a term on either the entertainment or community affairs committee.  This allowed an employee to reach across the organization.  Newcomers were able to meet non-departmental employees and serve the rest of the organization.  It was a great ice breaker for a newcomer.
3. Inviting foreign employees to the company summer picnic.  The "outsiders" were extremely visible-not just their black socks and Birkenstocks.  It forces everyone to mingle.  The “outsiders” felt like a part of the hub rather than “subsidiary” to it.
4. Being semi-staffed Thanksgiving Friday day to process international orders.  This reinforces the 24/7 customer service concept.  Friday morning bagels after a turkey feast can be an annual tradition too.  Orders processed faster means happier customers.
5. Having an employee date of service plaques openly displayed for employees and visitors.  This symbol states the company respects the long tenure of its employees.  Low turnover keeps costs low.
6. Having each company officer be the corporate executive sponsor at two key accounts.  This gives the staff officer that may not get out of the "bubble" a feel for customer issues, windshield time with a salesperson and a voice of the customer in the boardroom.
7. Rewarding employees publicly on their one-year anniversary.  Probation is long over and corporate acceptance has been publicly acknowledged.  It also may be an occasion to renew acquaintances after the Day 1 tour.
8. Having company officers attend rotating non-departmental meetings.  This gives the executive the chance to get up close and personal with the rank and file employees outside his function.  You can thank employees for their efforts, respond to questions in an open setting and provide insights that may not be available on a daily basis.  It fosters teamwork and communication.
9. Rewarding engineers with patent approvals both a personal and corporate plaque for their innovation.   The corporate plaque should be displayed in a public space to acknowledge this achievement.  Product development is a creative process that can yield significant results for the entire organization.  Patent applications are a long gruesome task, and provide a long term source of value to the company.
10. No corporate parking assignments-first come-first served except for visitors and handicapped spaces.   Private parking creates employee resentment upon entering the workplace-a bad way to start the day.

The one trait all the companies shared was the Owner/CEO’s desire to build a global enterprise.  They wanted a global workplace, a global mindset and a global revenue stream.  They all built great global enterprises that exceeded the norm and built a better global brand. 

Please send me the practices you have experienced and embraced so they can be shared. 

Good selling!

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