Written By: Josh Sandberg
Christmas is around the corner and I wouldn’t have to go too far out on a limb to guess that the vast majority of Orthopedic and Spine executives are hoping Santa brings them more high quality distributors this year. Why is that likely the case? Well, finding good distributors to sell your products is one of the biggest challenges of developing a business.
Distributors offer your company a lot of real value. First, you only have to pay them a portion of their success. That obviously lowers your cash burn by not having to spend millions in hiring direct sales reps. However, companies are often stuck in mud when it comes to a non-producing distributor. With direct reps, you are forced to make a decision every 2 weeks. You constantly compare their worth to their costs because it’s so obvious. With an independent sales organization, that often makes for difficult math. If you aren’t paying them they aren’t really costing you anything other than…. OPPORTUNITY!
Also, if you have a non-producing distributor without integrity concerns, you likely don’t want to make a change until you have a better option to bring on. Perhaps there are some ancillary things they are selling or you are just hoping that one morning they will make a sales call that will turn the whole thing around. I learned years ago that I can handle the disappointment; it’s the hope that kills me.
One of the main reasons distributors have chosen independence is because they hate to be managed….READ THE REST AT TDG-LLC
