Any recommendations on WHERE to find agents?

Question

Any recommendations on WHERE to find agents? Ive paid for lists of current agents but none are relevant to our sector (DIY/Garden Centre/Retail). Thanks

This question was asked at our recent webinar – Finding the right agent or distributor to grow your business overseas

Answer

Hello Again Tracey,
Do you deal with the DIY/Garden centres stores in the UK? What do they say about other European markets? Do they have connections or perhaps there own chains in those markets in order they can offer you advice?
If I were you, I would also approach the retail groups in the market you want to enter by writing to them. If they want your product they will almost certainly know of agents or distributors and will pass the details to you.
Sometimes you have to shake things up a bit to get the answers you need.
Hope that helps.
Steve

Answer

Hi Tracey,

I am a Certified International trade Advisor and a private market entry specialist (working on a fee) for Romania, Central and Eastern Europe. I know exactly where to find agents and distributors which to correspond to the requirements of exporters such as you as I know where to look in the countries I cover. I know as well how and where to gather relevant information about the distributors/agents such as economic data in the last 3-5 years (turnover, profit, loss, number of employees, brands they already work with), contact details and contact person. I do as well introductions. But I am a private business and I charge a fee for the result.
Please read more about how to deal with agents/distributors here: http://www.thebrc.co.uk/distributor/

Hope this helps,

Lorela

Answer

Hi Tracey

You need to try and find out where your target agents or distributors hang out – be that digitially or face-to-face via associations, national conferences or industry type events so that you can get amongst them and find your relevant partners.

And I agree with Stephen – if you have no joy with this then reverse engineering can be a great way of getting to your right kind of partner.

Approach your end user/customer (ie. the retailers or wholesalers) and ask them who they recommend you deal with locally. If you can get them excited about your product and would want to stock it then they are going to be highly incentivised to point you in the right direction (just make sure you don’t disclose any pricing that doesn’t factor in a local partner taking a cut!)

You sometimes have to put the pieces of the puzzle together this way to get to where you want to be.

I did this once with a hospital who wanted to stock a product I was selling. They put us on to their reputable suppliers who we could service their product needs through – it made the customer happy and the distributor too as they were handed guaranteed business on a plate from their customer! Not to mention the business we achieved in that market as a result!

Hope that helps and good luck!

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