Each phase produces something you keep and can act on by itself. Nothing here obliges you to the next stage. Priced per market, fixed fee, scope agreed before we start.
ENGAGEMENT SEQUENCE · 01—05
01
3–4 weeks
Channel & Market Diagnostic
Where your route to market stands today, what’s constraining it, and which model the market actually warrants — third-party distribution, a direct entity, or something in between. Includes market sizing, channel options, and a view on the commercial terms a market of this type will bear.
The answer isn’t always a distributor. Below a certain in-market turnover, an owned entity dilutes group EBIT rather than adding to it — the fixed cost of a company, a general manager, warehousing and stock doesn’t amortise. Where that line sits depends on your gross margin, how your COGS are absorbed, where head office recharges land, and what EBIT the group measures against. I’ve built six subsidiaries across four continents, which is how I know when not to.
You receive: findings, root cause, and a prioritised recommendation with costed options.
02
6–8 weeks
Distributor Longlist & Screening
Every credible candidate in the market, including the ones that don’t advertise and won’t appear in a database search. Direct approach, capability assessment, and a read on genuine appetite.
You receive: a longlist of 25–40 with profiles, and a screened shortlist of 4–6 with named contacts.
03
4–5 weeks
Shortlist Evaluation & Due Diligence
Where most appointments are won or lost. Financial standing, competing agencies and where you’d sit among them, sales capability versus stated capability, warehousing and after-sales reality, and the owner’s actual intentions.
You receive: scored comparison, site-visit findings, risk register, and a clear recommendation — including where the recommendation is to appoint none of them.
04
4–6 weeks
Negotiation & Agreement Structuring
Term, exclusivity and its conditions, territory, minimum volumes, pricing, marketing contribution, warranty and returns liability, performance triggers — and most importantly, how the agreement ends. Negotiated at the table alongside your team.
You receive: negotiation strategy and positions, commercial heads of terms, and support through to signature. Legal drafting stays with your counsel.
05
3–4 months
Onboarding & the First 100 Days
The phase manufacturers skip and later regret. Range selection for the market rather than the home country, pricing to the channel, stock and forecast expectations, training, launch plan, and the performance framework you’ll manage the relationship by.
You receive: launch plan with milestones, distributor scorecard, forecasting model, and a joint business plan both sides have signed up to.
Where the answer is a direct entity
Not every market is best served by a partner. Where the diagnostic points to an owned operation — or to converting an existing distributor relationship into one — I’ve done it: building a sales company from scratch after a twenty-year distributor agreement ended, and running six subsidiaries across four continents. Entity setup, transition planning, recruitment, logistics footprint, and the commercial handover. Scoped per engagement.
Also available
01
Retained advisory — standing access for channel decisions as they arise, from two days a month.
02
Fractional regional director — I run the region or the channel while you build permanent capability.