Exclusive Agreements: How to Sell Unique Promo Products

Customers are more demanding than ever and selling unique promo swag is a great opportunity to stand out. But how to earn producer’s trust? How to get to the Holy Grail of exclusive rights for a product distribution?

Our experienced CSO Svitlanka Sergeychuk shares important insights that will help you set goals and reach new heights of distributing business.

Open Relationship or a Commitment?
Working with a supplier is a lot like any other relationship. It is a two-way dialogue, you have to invest your time, money, exercise consistency.
Not every distributor feels like committing. You can prefer ‘open relationship’ with different suppliers, depending on a project, to sales promotion of a particular company and a particular product. However, practice shows that establishing consistent relationships is the best way to go. Fixed agreements with a supplier give undeniable benefits, and we’re going to talk about the most important of them in a minute.
Before going into details let’s make sure we understand what we’re talking about.

Photo by Helloquence

Exclusive Distribution Agreement definition says that it is an agreement that gives distributor exclusive right to sell a particular product on a particular territory, specified in a contract.
This agreement should include particular terms, conditions, and rights, and there are many checklists to start with. Now, what does this mean for both distributor and a supplier?

Does Responsibility Pay Off?
First of all, such an agreement is a sign of a producer’s trust, that should not be taken lightly. Here, distributor becomes a single representative of a product on a particular territory and bears responsibility for showing its value to the clients. If it is a unique promo product, the distributor is the one, explaining to brands why it is unique and why it is worth buying, he should be genuinely interested in a product he introduces to the market. Being ‘the one and only’ gives a distributor obvious advantages over the competition. The exclusive agreement secures seller’s position, making him the one provider of a product, so his clients won’t be able to contact promotional product producer directly.

Did you take these perks into account?
- Exclusive right to sell by itself is a jackpot, but there are also extra benefits to anticipate.
- Financial benefits. After achieving financial targets, set by a producer, distributor usually receives a rebate. The key here is to set realistic financial targets, but more on that later.
Product benefits. Product samples, new products, and special pricing is what an exclusive distributor gets.
- Staff training. Distributor’s personnel receives a special training provided by a supplier, educates about the value of the product and how to present it properly.
So well-formed partner program provides even bigger benefits.

Distributor’s personnel receives a special training provided by a supplier. Photo by Paul Bence

Where to Start?
Before getting into that exclusive agreement, make sure you’re after the right product.
Without a proper client’s channel analysis it would be highly improbable that you’ll get ideal product for the customer.
Analyse the industry you’re going to sell to. What are usual promotional products of your competitors? What swag would help you stand out? What do your clients prefer? In other words, specify, what promotional product would have maximum effectiveness for your client. These questions should be addressed before making a decision.

Holy Grail of Exclusive Agreements
Now that you’ve started the journey, let’s look at crucial stages and traps you should avoid while getting to that Holy Grail of an exclusive distribution agreement.
Attend biggest industry events
Previously we said that you should know exactly what product can make you the exclusive seller. For that, you should be in synch with all the latest trends and hottest novelties in the industry. Attending biggest industry events, exhibitions, and trade shows is the key.
Analyze the market, choose top suppliers of a key product
Knowing what your customers want and being in trend leads you to the next point - choose the right supplier. Don’t rely on the internet alone - ask for references, look up the history of a promotional products supplier, note if he was present at the biggest industry events.
Analyze your sales amounts, define financial targets
Knowing your key products sales amounts gives you an opportunity to define financial targets. There are pitfalls, of course, and we’ll look at them in the next paragraph.
Sampling
If communication goes right and you’ve reached this stage, it is time to double-check the product you’ve picked. Order some samples, present them to your key customers. Collect feedbacks, run tests to see if they function properly.
And finally, agree on financial targets and sign the agreement.

Common Traps
Every serious decision, every strategy, and activity has some pretty common mistakes that can be avoided. Our CSO gave insight on three most common points that are often missed.
- Sales objectives set too high or too low
If you sell unique promo products, don’t forget that you’ll have to invest time to introduce the product to the market. This doesn’t happen overnight and time you thought you’d be spending on sales will considerably decrease.
- Out of sync communication model
Many would suggest that after receiving high-quality promotional products, there should be no more major communications. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The supplier is the creator of the product, he knows all about it, its value and its exclusiveness or special qualities, and how to show all of these things to the client. Lack of communication with the supplier complicates achieving distributor’s financial goals.
- Not testing printing facilities
It’s a must - test printing possibilities of your own facilities to make sure you will be able to fulfill branding desires of your clients.
Exclusive Distribution Agreement is an agreement that gives distributor exclusive right to sell a particular product on a particular territory, specified in a contract.
When done right, it benefits both supplier and distributor. Also, exclusiveness opens extra opportunities for a distributor - financial bonuses, best prices on company’s newest products, training for personnel.

To get into an exclusive distribution agreement and sell high-quality promotional products one should first analyze the client’s channel, find a product that will suit his clients best and then start looking for a proper seller. Picking a producer should be based on company’s reputation, feedbacks of other industry professionals, attendance of major industry events, etc. Remember to set realistic sales objectives and keep all-time communication with a producer.
Even though not everyone wants to be involved in such a ‘committed relationship’ practice shows that it is worth doing