A very specific medical device, for a very specific market segment
A distributor of many years, which understands the device and market.
All good, sounds good. Or is it?
What if the distributor did not tap the full potential of the market? True that it would be challenging to grab all or even the majority of market share, but perhaps the distributor could do more?
What if the distributor was not initially from this device segment, and learnt it along the way from the manufacturer? Would it benefit more by having a distributor more to this specific market segment?
If the country is too large, would more than one distributor be required? If yes, would one of the distributors become the master distributor?
There are some suggested solutions:
Have a country / area sales manager under the manufacturer’s payroll. Having a person on the ground to be in the distributor’s face will ensure that there is some promotional efforts for your product. However, this comes with a cost, sometimes inconsistent talent pool, and the most common issue of all – staff turnover. Sometimes there is this wish to apoptin more distributors just to ‘make full use of’ this resource.
License holding, so that the license is with an independent party, and the distributors are managed from there. Again, it costs money, and the legislation may not entirely be what the manufacturer wants. Finally, the chances of lack of cooperation from the distributors are high (because the license holder is taking their leverage away).
Whichever the way, there is one fundamental to remember. Nothing is free. Invest before harvesting returns. It is important to see the upsides before investing – fair and reasonable. Just to ensure that the reasons are not just to avoid risky business situations, but to develop a great upside for future sales.
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