Zach Selch outlines why trade shows waste time finding distributors and offers three concrete tactics instead: ask your network for referrals, contact commercial offices with specific requirements, and study the distributor lists of complementary products that reach the same buyers.
Chapters
Hi, I'm at Brussels at the Trade Show Exhibition Center, and this is really one of the old great ladies of Art Deco exhibition halls in Europe. Beautiful old building from 1935, survived the war. I've been to shows here, I have some great memories from here. Beautiful, beautiful old building. And ironically, I'm not going to talk to you about trade shows today. I'm going to talk to you about something that I typically like to divorce from trade shows. Finding distributors. And the reason I don't like finding distributors at trade shows is it's random. People walk in, they don't know what you're doing, you don't know who they are. I like to go out looking for the right people. So we've talked about putting together the right profile. What are you looking for in a distributor? We've talked about which countries you want to go into. And again, you want to choose which countries you want to go into. You want to set You want to set the profile of the distributor. You want to be proactive about this. You don't want to let somebody else be pushing the agenda that is using up your resources and dominating your strategy. So now I know what I'm looking for. How do I find these people? Well, the very first thing I'm going to do, because I've been around for a little while, I have some contacts, is I'm going to reach out to the people I know and I'm going to say, this is what I'm looking for. This isn't the right fit for you. You're not the right type of distributor. We've worked together in the past. Maybe it was fun. But I need somebody else. Do you know somebody who fits this profile? I'll reach out to people like that, and that's sometimes very, very helpful because people I've worked with in the past, they might know a distributor who's dealing with a totally different type of line than they are, and they'd be happy to introduce me sometimes. I'll reach out to the commercial office people, and again, you have to be very specific and tell them exactly what you're looking for. And some of them can help, some of them aren't, but you might pick up a few distributors that way. And again, once you have one or two distributors like this, You might be able to say to them, hey, do you know somebody who's selling the same type of things you are in other countries? Can you introduce me to other people? That's very helpful. Now the third thing I'm going to do, and this is the most important thing, is really I am going to put together a list of similar, non-competing, complementary type products. And what do I mean by that? So as 2 examples, I used to sell ventilators. The same people who buy ventilators typically are going to buy anesthesia equipment. They're going to buy medical gas equipment. They might buy respiratory monitors, capnographs, pulse oximeters, those type of things, right? We're dealing with the critical care doctors, the anesthesiologists. I also at one point sold nurse call hospital communication systems. And again, the people who buy that typically buy wall paneling. They buy floors. They buy beds. Lighting, those type of things. So if I can find competing complementary, if I can find complementary products that are sold to the similar purchasing people at a similar price point at a similar time in the decision-making process, right? Then I know that those distributors are going to be fantastic for selling my product if if they're successful. And I want a product that's similar to mine. If I have a budget product, I want somebody selling budget products. If I have a premium product, I want somebody selling. Premium products. So if I can come up with a list of, say, 5 brands that are complementary to me, I'm going to reach out. I'm going to see if I can get the list, a list of their distributors. And it might be as simple as going on their website and they might have it there. I might be able to go on LinkedIn and find it there, or I might reach out to their sales managers and say, look, can you help me out here? I'll owe you a favor. Sometimes they'll say, hey, I'll do this. I want $1,000 a name. Or I want, you know, a point, or I want something, and then I'll think about it. I don't like doing it that way, but if I have to, sometimes I will. I'll pay a fair finder's fee.
