Distributor & Partner Search
Find the right distributors and commercial partners in your target market.
A fixed-fee research programme that identifies, assesses and prioritises credible potential distributors or commercial partners in one agreed market — before you spend months approaching the wrong ones.
£3,500 + VAT
Fixed fee — one target market
- One agreed target market
- 25–40 credible candidates where the market supports it
- Around 10 priority candidates profiled in depth
- Evans Distributor & Partner Intelligence report
Why it matters
Find the right partners before you spend months approaching the wrong ones.
Most distributor searches begin with a list and end in months of unfocused outreach. This programme works the other way round: research the market's real channel structure first, then narrow it to the organisations that genuinely fit your products, sectors, territory and commercial model.
A smaller, better-qualified partner universe — what it removes
- Wasted outreach to companies that were never a fit
- Unsuitable partners that look plausible on a website
- Competitor conflicts discovered after the first meeting
- Poor geographic or territory coverage
- Mismatch between their customer base and yours
- Misunderstanding how the channel actually works in that market
- Months of unfocused desk research inside your own team
The value is not a longer list. It is a shorter, better-qualified one you can act on.
Scope discipline
What this is not
Clear boundaries make the fixed fee credible and keep the research honest.
- Not a purchased distributor database
- Not a scraped contact list
- Not a generic directory export
- Not an appointment-setting service
- Not full international market entry
- Not guaranteed distributor appointments or interest
- Not distributor negotiation or contract work
Who it is for
Who it is for
The programme suits businesses selling technical or considered products where the channel matters more than the click.
- Manufacturers
- Engineering businesses
- Building-product companies
- Industrial suppliers
- Technical product businesses
- B2B exporters
- Companies entering a market through channel partners
- Businesses reviewing an existing distributor network
- Overseas businesses considering UK distribution
- UK businesses seeking distributors internationally
What you receive
25–40 credible candidates, then roughly 10 profiled in depth
The standard programme aims to identify 25 to 40 credible candidates in the agreed market, depending on market size and genuine fit. The strongest ten or so are then profiled far more deeply.
Where the credible universe is genuinely smaller — a narrow category, a specialist territory, a fragmented channel — the report says so and explains why. Numbers are never invented to hit a quota. A padded list of thirty is worth less than a defensible list of eighteen.
Quality over quota. If the market cannot support forty credible candidates, you will be told that in writing, with the reasoning.
What each candidate is researched against
- Company
- Website
- Geography / territory
- Sectors served
- Product / category fit
- Customer base
- Route-to-market fit
- Relevant brands / product lines
- Competitor / conflict observations
- Company scale
- Commercial relevance
- Named decision-maker
- Verified email / contact route
- Why they may fit
- Potential concern
- Evans priority — high / medium / watch
- Confidence
- Recommended approach
Researched, sourced, and honest about what is not known
Every field is completed from publicly available or directly verifiable sources. Where something cannot be verified, the report records that rather than filling the gap.
- Revenue, brands and partnerships are only stated where publicly published
- Decision-makers are named only where the role and person can be evidenced
- Contact routes are verified where possible; guessed email patterns are never presented as verified
- Territory claims come from the company's own published coverage
- Each candidate carries a confidence level so you know how firm the read is
Priority profiles
The top-10 priority profiles
The strongest candidates get a deeper commercial profile, written so a commercial director can make an approach decision from it.
- Company
- Why it stands out
- Market position
- Customers / sectors
- Product fit
- Territory
- Channel fit
- Decision-maker
- Verified contact route
- Competitor conflicts
- Commercial upside
- Risks / questions
- Recommended approach
The recommended approach explains the angle and the sequence for that specific organisation. Evans outreach methodology itself is delivered in the engagement, not published here.
Recommendations
Four recommendation bands
Contact now
Strong fit, credible territory coverage, no disqualifying conflict, a route in.
Research further
Promising, but one material question needs answering before you invest time.
Watch
Not right today — wrong scale, wrong stage or a conflict that may change.
Not recommended
Named and explained, so the same companies are not rediscovered in six months.
Every band is reasoned. The point of the report is that you know why a company is on the list, and why others are not.
Evans Sales Consultancy — Distributor & Partner Intelligence
The client report
You receive a written intelligence report carrying your company, the target market, the product or sector and the date. It is commercial intelligence, not a spreadsheet export.
Executive summary
What the market's channel structure looks like and where the best-fit partners sit.
Target market
The agreed market, category definition and the boundaries of the research.
Partner universe
How the channel is structured, and how the credible universe was arrived at.
Distributor / partner dashboard
The full candidate set at a glance: fit, territory, priority and confidence.
25–40 candidates
Each candidate profiled against the standard research fields.
Top 10 priority profiles
Deeper commercial profiling on the strongest candidates.
Market patterns
What the research says about how this category is actually bought and distributed.
Channel observations
Margin expectations, exclusivity norms, stocking behaviour and territory practice, where evidenced.
Potential conflicts
Competing brands and lines already carried, and what that means for you.
Recommended priorities
Contact now, research further, watch, and not recommended.
Next commercial options
What you can do yourself, and where Evans can take it further if you want that.
Boundaries
What the fee does not include
£3,500 + VAT buys identification and intelligence. It does not buy relationship development.
- Distributor outreach
- Meetings
- Negotiation
- Appointment guarantees
- Contracts
- Market-entry execution
- Ongoing partner management
- Travel
If you want Evans Sales Consultancy to approach the shortlist, open the conversations and develop the relationships, that is International Market Entry — a separate engagement with its own terms.
International Market Entry →Sequence
How the work sequences
01
Search
02
Shortlist
03
You decide
04
International Market Entry
05
Evans approaches and develops the relationships
Nothing beyond the search is compulsory. Many clients run the approaches themselves using the report.
Commercial terms
£3,500 + VAT — fixed fee, one target market
Scope and terms
- £3,500 + VAT, fixed fee, one target market
- A fixed project, not a three-month subscription or retainer
- Enquiry, fit and target-market confirmation, invoice, payment, research, report
- One agreed product category and customer definition
- Several countries, several brands, substantially different product categories or highly fragmented markets are scoped separately
- Any subsequent recurring service follows that service's own terms
Bundle discounts
- Add another new Evans productised service alongside the search: 5% off the additional service. The search stays at full price.
- Add the search to a qualifying flagship engagement — International Market Entry, Fractional Commercial Leadership, International Recruitment or a major Digital Infrastructure project: 10% off the search. The flagship engagement is not discounted.
- Discounts do not stack.
How it runs
From enquiry to shortlist
01 — Enquiry
You tell us the home market, the target market, the product and the customers you sell to.
02 — Fit and target-market confirmation
We confirm the market is researchable, agree the category definition and the boundaries, and say honestly if the credible universe looks small.
03 — Invoice and payment
Fixed fee, invoiced before work starts. No online payment, no subscription.
04 — Channel research
How the category is actually distributed in that market: structure, tiers, territory practice, typical routes.
05 — Candidate identification
Building the credible universe — 25 to 40 candidates where the market supports it.
06 — Assessment and conflict checking
Fit, territory, customer base, scale, and the competing brands or lines already carried.
07 — Priority profiling
Deeper commercial profiles on roughly ten priority candidates, with decision-makers and verified contact routes where they exist.
08 — Report and review
The written intelligence report, followed by a working session on priorities and approach sequence.
What we need from you
- The target market and, if relevant, the territory within it
- The product or category, and what makes it different
- The customers and sectors you sell to today
- Any existing distributors, agents or partners in or near that market
- Brands or competitors you would not want a partner to already carry
- Any territories, channels or company types to exclude
No access to your systems is required. The research is external and independent.
Where this fits
Which Evans service do I need?
| Your situation | The right Evans service |
|---|---|
| We need to know who the credible partners are in one market | Distributor & Partner Search |
| We know who they are and want the relationships developed | International Market Entry |
| We want live commercial triggers to act on each week | Opportunity Engine |
| We are not sure distribution is the right route at all | International Market Entry Playbook |
| Our proposition needs a credible local digital presence for partners | Market-Entry Landing Estate |
| Our existing website needs translating and localising for one market | International SEO & Localisation |
| We want a broader commercial diagnosis before committing | Commercial Growth Sprint |
The search never replaces a market-entry programme where execution is what is actually needed. If the honest answer is that you need the approaches made, you will be told.
International Market Entry
Distributor & Partner Search is identification and intelligence. International Market Entry is commercial development and execution — approaching partners, opening conversations, developing the relationship.
Search first if you do not yet know who to approach. Market Entry when you want the approaches made.
International Market Entry →Opportunity Engine
Distributor & Partner Search answers: who may be the right channel partners? Opportunity Engine answers: where is something happening right now that gives you a commercial reason to make contact?
Complementary, not duplicates. One maps the channel; the other surfaces live triggers.
Opportunity Engine →International Market Entry Playbook
The Playbook helps you decide whether distribution is actually the right route into a market at all. Not every market should be entered through distributors.
Read the Playbook if the route to market is still open. Buy the search once distribution is the decision.
The Playbook →Market-Entry Landing Estate
Partners judge you by what they can see. Where the partner proposition needs credible local digital support — market proposition, a distributor or partner page, product and sector pages, enquiry architecture — that is the Landing Estate.
Search identifies the partners. The estate makes you credible to them. Market Entry develops them.
Market-Entry Landing Estate →Enquiry
Discuss your target market
Tell us the target market, the product and the customers you sell to. Tom Evans will come back personally on whether the market is researchable, how large the credible universe is likely to be, and whether a search is the right thing to buy at all. No online payment, no obligation.
Rather talk it through first?
Distributor & Partner Search — questions
A fixed-fee research programme that identifies, assesses and prioritises credible potential distributors, agents, resellers or commercial partners in one agreed target market, delivered as a written Evans intelligence report.
Channel research for one market, identification of the credible candidate universe, assessment against your product, sectors, customers and territory, conflict checking, deeper profiles on roughly ten priority candidates, the written report and a review session.
Yes. £3,500 + VAT covers one agreed target market. Several countries, several brands or substantially different product categories are scoped separately.
The programme aims for 25 to 40 credible candidates, depending on market size and genuine fit, with around ten profiled in depth.
No. If the credible universe in that category and territory is smaller, the report says so and explains why. Padding a list with companies that will never fit is worse than an honest shorter list.
Against product and category fit, sectors served, customer base, territory coverage, route-to-market fit, company scale, the brands and lines already carried, and the commercial relevance of your product to their business.
Yes, where they can be verified: company contact routes and, for priority candidates, a named decision-maker and a verified contact route. Guessed email addresses are never presented as verified.
For the priority profiles, yes — where the role and the person can be evidenced publicly. Where they cannot, the report names the role to target and the best route in.
The report records that honestly and gives the best available route: switchboard, a named role, a company enquiry route or a professional network approach. Nothing is invented.
Yes, where they are publicly evidenced — competing brands or product lines already carried, and what that is likely to mean for your proposition.
Not within this fee. Outreach, meetings and relationship development sit under International Market Entry.
No. The search delivers identification and intelligence. Meetings sit under International Market Entry.
No. Distributor negotiation and contracting are outside this fixed fee.
Yes, if you want that. The usual progression is search, shortlist, your decision, then an International Market Entry engagement where Evans makes the approaches and develops the relationships.
This is identification and intelligence. International Market Entry is commercial development and execution in the market.
Distributor & Partner Search answers who may be the right channel partners. Opportunity Engine answers where something has just happened that gives you a reason to make contact now. They are complementary.
The Playbook helps you decide whether distribution is the right route into that market at all. The search then identifies the organisations. Not every market should be entered through distributors.
Yes. Agents, resellers and other commercial partner types are researched the same way, against the same fit criteria.
Yes, where the category genuinely sells that way. The route is agreed before the research starts.
Yes. European markets are a core part of the work.
Yes. Overseas manufacturers seeking UK distribution are among the most common clients.
Yes. Australia is one of the four principal markets Evans works across, alongside the UK, Europe and North America. Evans is UK based and researches these markets from the UK.
Yes, for one agreed market and territory definition. North America is frequently scoped by region rather than as a whole.
Yes — each market is a separate fixed fee, and several markets are scoped together so the research does not repeat itself.
Yes. The search sits alongside market entry, the landing estate, the opportunity engine and the rest of the productised programme.
Add another new productised service alongside the search and the additional service gets 5% off. Add the search to a qualifying flagship engagement and the search gets 10% off. Discounts do not stack.
No. No one credible can. What is guaranteed is researched, evidenced intelligence on who is worth approaching and why.
Find the right partners before you spend months approaching the wrong ones.
One market, a researched shortlist, ten deep profiles and a written intelligence report — £3,500 + VAT, fixed fee.