Local Partners and Distributors: Your Shortcut into New Markets

Local partners know the market, the customers, the culture and the rules, and they already have relationships you'd take years to build. Working with international distributors and local partners is often the fastest, lowest-risk way into a new market. Here's how to find, vet and support them.

This guide is part of our international expansion series.

Types of local partners

Partner	What they do	Best for
Distributor	Buys and resells your products	Physical products, retail channels
Agent / representative	Finds customers for a commission	B2B, high-value sales
Reseller / channel partner	Sells your service or software with theirs	Tech and services
Joint venture	Co-owned business in the market	Larger commitments (joint ventures)
Marketing partner	Co-promotes to their audience	Brand awareness (co-branding)
Local agency	Handles PR, advertising or creative	Local marketing expertise

Finding partners

• Trade shows and industry events
• Industry associations and chambers of commerce
• The Trade Commissioner Service's in-market contacts
• Referrals from clients, suppliers and your network
• Research into companies selling complementary products

Vetting partners

Ask:

• What's their track record with similar brands?
• Which customers and regions do they cover?
• How big is their sales and marketing team?
• What do their current partners say?
• Are they financially stable?
• Do their values and standards match yours?

Visit in person if you can.

Structuring the agreement

Cover territory, exclusivity and performance targets, pricing and payment terms, marketing responsibilities and budgets, brand and trademark use, reporting, intellectual property, and term and termination. Tie exclusivity to results. Get legal advice in both countries. See how to write a partnership proposal.

Supporting partners' marketing

Partners sell more when you make it easy:

• A localized brand toolkit: logos, guidelines, templates (brand consistency)
• Product training and sales materials
• Localized ads and content (brand localization)
• Co-op advertising funds
• Joint PR and launch events (international PR)
• Leads passed quickly and tracked (CRM)

Protecting your brand

• Register trademarks in the market before you sign
• Approve marketing materials that use your brand
• Monitor how products are presented and priced
• Keep direct relationships with key customers where possible

Measuring partner performance

• Sales against targets
• New customers and market share
• Marketing activity delivered
• Customer satisfaction and reviews
• Quality of reporting

Hold regular reviews and adjust support or terms as needed.

Red flags in a potential partner

• Reluctance to share references or performance data
• Demands for broad, long exclusivity with no targets
• Representing direct competitors
• Unclear ownership or finances
• Requests for unusual payments or commissions

Partners and trust

A respected local partner gives customers confidence to try an unfamiliar brand. See building trust in a new market.