Who Drives Who

Key to determining the success of the relationship with your international reseller is figuring out who is driving who into this agreement.
- Establishing this relationship is like a courtship.

Questions to ask a potential distributor regarding your relationship with them include:
- What other companies do they represent?
  - How is the business relationship with their existing suppliers?
- Will you become their primary supplier?
- What percentage of their total business will your products represent?
  - Will they commit a proportional amount of their resources to selling your products?

Finally, some questions you need to ask yourself.
- Are they really committed to this partnernship?
- Are they betting the company on your products?
  - In other words, does their success depend on their ability to sell your products?

© 2004 John Michael Pierobon

Notes