Sources of information to find suitable commercial agents
The sources of information for finding commercial agents are varied and important. The choice of a good commercial network is key for our export project to work. This is why we recommend our clients to dedicate the necessary time and effort. Making a good selection will be crucial in order to have the best possible candidates.
Before starting with the selection of agents, we advise you to dedicate some time to draft a document where we reflect the list of activities or complementary products of ours in order to find the most suitable profiles and oriented to the commercial visit that best suits us.
The value of commercial agents
Commercial agents can bring a lot of value to your project. Here are some of the main advantages:
- Access to New Markets: Commercial agents usually have an established network and knowledge of the local market, which allows you to access new clients and regions that you might not be able to reach on your own.
- Industry Experience and Knowledge: Many agents have industry experience and knowledge of market trends, which can help you better position your products or services.
- Reduced Costs: By working with sales agents, you can reduce marketing and sales costs, as they are in charge of promoting and selling your products, which can be more efficient than having an in-house team.
- Flexibility: Sales agents often work independently, which allows you to adjust your sales strategy without the long-term commitments of hiring permanent staff.
- Established relationships: Agents already have relationships with potential customers, which can facilitate the introduction of your products and speed up the sales process.
- Focus on Sales: By delegating the sales function to an agent, you can concentrate on other areas of your business, such as product development or customer service.
- Market Feedback: Agents can provide you with valuable information about customer needs and preferences, which will help you adjust your offer and improve your value proposition.
- Increased Sales: With their expertise and network of contacts, sales agents can contribute to a significant increase in your sales, helping you reach your business goals faster.
In short, sales agents can be a great ally to your project, bringing experience, connections and a sales focus that can boost your business.
What sources of information are available?
We list the most common sources of information, in order of success rate:
–International trade shows in the sector: Through the list of exhibitors at trade show we can find companies that manufacture complementary products or provide complementary services to ours. And through them we can find the commercial networks they have in each of the markets we are interested in. This is the best of the sources of information to reach them.
–Professional social networks: such as Linked In, Viadeo (strong presence in France) or Xing (strong presence in Germany) through which to achieve a network of professional contacts (networking) in our sector. In addition to using them to locate the most relevant commercial agents, we can use them to carry out advertising actions and to position ourselves as experts or specialists, through interesting content and other publications. They help to build customer loyalty. And they are very interesting sources of information.
– Chambers of Commerce: Many local and international chambers of commerce have directories of commercial agents and can offer you useful contacts. And are very reliable sources of information.
–Buying databases: there are companies that sell databases of commercial agents, listed by sector or activity. The main drawback is that in most cases these databases are not updated or up to date. And we may find ourselves with agents who have already retired, or who have changed activity or who are currently in-house salespeople for a company, rather than multi-portfolio agents. Sometimes, these sources of information are not updated, pay attention.
–Competitor research: following our competitors helps us in two ways. We know which agents already have a concurrent portfolio with ours and which we should therefore discard, as well as giving us an idea of the agents who have worked for them in the past and who are therefore qualified agents with extensive knowledge of our product/service and sector.
–Federations or associations of commercial agents: they allow us to place advertisements that are disseminated among their associates in order to attract suitable profiles. They tend to have a low response.
–Industrial Associations: Many industries have associations that can help you find commercial agents specialised in your sector.
– Consultancies and Export Agencies: These companies can offer you services to find suitable trade agents for your business. As we do.
–Online platforms: There are websites such as LinkedIn, Alibaba, and Kompass where you can search for commercial agents and distributors in different industries.
–Free Google search: if we search for the commercial networks of the companies in our activity we will get the list of the companies that in some section of their websites list their international commercial networks, thus providing us with very complete information.
–References and Recommendations: Asking other entrepreneurs or colleagues in your industry can be an effective way to find reliable commercial agents. Do not hesitate to contact your colleagues.