Distribution & Dealers Expert Witness Shares Top Ten Mistakes To Avoid With Distributor Agreements

In Avoiding the Top 10 Mistakes with Distributor Agreements, Glen Balzer, management and forensic consultant and expert witness in domestic and international marketing and sales, shares a checklist of ten common mistakes to avoid when drafting your next distributor agreement. Mistake #1 is entitled Too Much Too Fast.

Every new partnership between a distributor and a manufacturer is born in a period of bright optimism. Like marriage, there is a limit on the number of partnerships in which a supplier or distributor may engage. By aligning with a new distributor, a supplier is prohibited from singing an alternative distributor. By aligning with a new supplier, a distributor is prevented from immediately signing an additional supplier. When aligning with a new distributor, it is important to assign a territory that is not too large initially. If a distributor is proven in only small territory, it is not prudent to assign a large territory and hope for the best. A better policy would be to open a new distributor relationship in that distributor’s proven territory and expand the territory gradually, after results in the smaller territory suggest that an expanded geography is judicious.

Glen Balzer, President of New Era Consulting, can be reached at glen@neweraconsulting.com.