Are you desperate for distribution?

You have limited in-house resources and you need more feet on the street. What do you do? In some cases, it makes sense to find a partner who can help you get broader distribution. If your market is well defined and customers are used to working through intermediaries, this is a cinch. On the other hand, if you’re launching a complex product or creating a new market, you have to be pretty picky about distribution channels and partners. In any case, don’t expect someone else to sell for you. Find a way to position your product with a partner so that it adds value to their core product, and you’ll have a much better chance of success.

Create an immediate buzz about your product with real success stories

Nothing gets a sales person’s attention faster than seeing someone else making a sale. Kick off the relationship with your partner by working with a few of their people—those who have the best chance of understanding how your product can be used to increase their product sales. You’ll need to shadow them and show them the ropes, but your investment will pay off. Once the rest of the sales team smells success, they’ll want to get in on the act as quickly as possible. And they’ll be more patient with the process, because they know that success is just around the corner. If you don’t create the excitement up front, their sales force will be hypersensitive to any failure or negative customer feedback, and your distribution will go dormant—quickly and permanently. You won’t get a second chance, so resist any pressure or temptation for a full rollout to the sales force up front.

Covet your knowledge of the end customer

If your partner even hints at putting a wall between you and the end customers, run for the hills. You need to understand how customers think in order to drive your product development as well as your overall sales and marketing strategies. Don’t rely on second-hand information. Work with your partner as a team to meet customer needs and make sales. You’ll both be a lot more successful in the long run.

Add more value wherever possible

You can differentiate your product in the eyes of your partners by developing an ongoing program to help them incorporate it into their sales process. That doesn’t mean that you do the selling. Instead, you can provide additional services that they use themselves or that they can pass onto customers who use your product. As your product becomes more commoditized, the value from unique services will help you build long-term relationships with your partners and end customers.