Business cases

Distributor management

How do I keep up distributor performance in a rapidly-changing market?

The client: Our partner is a professional player in the Middle East. This company and the Dutch parent organization have been doing business for decades. However, the local market is changing and the distributor is not following suit. At least not as quickly as the parent company would want.

The question: How does one manage the relationship as well as the results in a changing market?

The TEN solution: In the distributor-principal relationship it is very important to keep each other "on your toes". Actually, this particular distributor caters to several principals, all of which demand the highest priority. It requires understanding and empathy for the market as well as a solid relationship to be able to give constructive feedback to a local, powerful person on disappointing results. In addition, there is a contract involved. In this case, we broke up the problems into bits and presented these to decision-makers incrementally. Following discussion of the problems, we rewrote goals and drew up a new plan of action.

The result: The periodic adjustment and discussion of plans and close monitoring of results has already led to substantial improvement. If it turns out that the intended results are not achieved, there is a foundation upon which new steps can be taken. However, the degree to which these issues can be managed depends upon the existing relationship and the amount of understanding of the local culture.