Appointing distributors in B2B start-ups and software companies is rather common. In a previous article, we listed the 5 Most Deadly Mistakes of B2B Start Ups and Software Companies When Locating and Recruiting Distributors Abroad.
We’ve seen that one of the common mistakes results from the companies’ approach, by which it is sufficient that they find a good distributor, and it will do the work of breaking into the target market for the company.
This approach does not take into consideration the distributor’s point of view, which rather avoids taking risks (especially when penetrating with a new product) and the difficulty in selling the product.
The video in this link by a B2B software company called Centage, which has a solution for the budget management and planning field, gives a glimpse into the world of channel partners and how distributors perceive doing business with your company.
We learn that beyond the issue of profitability, distributors know how to evaluate a marketing plan for channel partners, which is meant to support them and make the sales process easier for them, and which includes, among others, webinars, videos, case studies and dedicated sections on the company’s website – all meant to support the sales process.
Distributors are also looking to work with a company that has high standards: accuracy, professionalism, speed and business decency. In this context, it should be remembered that in the distributor recruitment process, not only do you examine the partner, but the partner also attempts to evaluate you and how easy it is to do business with you.
As the video describes, reducing the sales process duration, preparing marketing and sales tools for the distributors’ disposal and reducing risk by illustrating that it is a proper product with satisfied customers – all of these, together with being managed as a global company with high standards – constitute the international marketing infrastructure that will assist you in becoming more attractive to potential distributors and to assist existing distributors to easily reach fast sales.
