THE ANNOYINGLY OBVIOUS NON-SECRET TO SECURING INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION FOR TOYS & GAMES!

THE ANNOYINGLY OBVIOUS NON-SECRET TO SECURING INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION FOR TOYS & GAMES!

After nearly 25 years of selling products into international markets, I have learnt one primary factor which dictates the success or otherwise of the sales product. And this factor has very little to do with the selling skills of the person or organisation selling the product.

I have sold some products which were a really easy sell and sold millions of units, and in a couple of instances, sold tens of millions of units. I have also sold numerous products which flopped – having gained distribution they just didn’t sell through, and I have worked on even more products which did not obtain significant distribution outside of their home market.

The observant reader should recognise here that the selling resource (i.e. myself!) did not change, and neither did the sales process. So how can the same sales process deliver massive success and complete failure?

The answer (of course) is that the variable is the product or product range. Products with a really strong commercial potential, with clear consumer appeal and an in built advantage in terms of positioning and attractiveness versus other competitive products will be far more likely to find international distribution than a me-too product or a niche product which has no clear path forward in new markets.

While this an annoyingly obvious ‘non-secret’ to securing international distribution for toys & games. But the reality is that if you have products which are a fairly hard sell in your home market, you can expect them to be a hard sell into other markets. Sometimes the solution is not to sack your Export Sales manager (!), but to relook at your product development briefs, strategies and inputs.

Those companies who have significant export sales tend to develop products with the needs of international markets in mind…

We run a Consultancy business for toy companies. We work with major toy companies through to start ups and one person bands. For more information on how we help toy companies grow their distribution around the world: https://www.kidsbrandinsight.com/blog/toy-co-growth-booster-program/

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