Here are nineteen sources of distributor leads. They should be used selectively and in combination with one another.  Use them in advance of a personal visit.

1. Check with others in your industry, particularly with any companies whose sales would be helped by your success overseas. This could include your suppliers or manufacturers of complementary products. Don't be shy about telephoning overseas.
2. Contact customers of potential distributors. They know the strengths and weaknesses of their suppliers. Use the telephone. Hire an interpreter if necessary. If you find these companies difficult to contact from long distance, call on them when you visit.
3. Use the overseas expatriate business community. For American companies this often means the American Chambers of Commerce abroad. They speak your language. They can easily be identified and reached by phone. Some of them are especially helpful in referring you to local business contacts. The American Chambers in Japan, Costa Rica, and Switzerland are examples.
4. Learn how to get the best out your own government trade promotion services. The U.S. Department of Commerce offers an ICP Service for $600 per country--a bargain if the search is done well. You can affect how well it is done by providing a clear presentation of your product and an exact description of the kind of representative you are seeking. Allow six to eight weeks for completion.
5. The Foreign Commercial Service officers in the U.S. government embassies and consulates abroad are as close as your telephone or email.
6. Most publicly disseminated trade leads are out-of-date before you get them...but not always. It pays to review such leads to see who is in the business. Once in a while these leads pay off handsomely.
7. Professional or trade periodicals sometimes mention companies active in you field overseas. Some editorial staffs know what is happening abroad and can suggest contacts.
8. Work through your industry or trade association. Some association managers have personal contacts abroad in your industry. Some organizations publish newsletters, which are read by potential distributors.
9. Trade lists of foreign companies are available from government and private sources. They are often out-of-date. Potential importers are often lumped together with competitors. Occasionally, however, a careful mass mailing will turn up in an interesting company or two.
10. Trade directories are available for many countries. Your local library may have the old standbys from Kompass, Botin, Dun & Bradstreet and R.H. Donnelly. There are also specialized regional directories for areas like China or the Middle East. Lesser-know local directories, like Teikoku in Japan, are very useful but sometimes available only in the local language. Do not overlook directories just because the work of consulting them seems routine.
11. Foreign telephone directories and yellow pages are available at good public libraries or, with some delay and cost, through the better long-distance telephone companies. They are invaluable.
12. Computer database providers such as Dialog, DRI, Dun & Bradstreet, and Predicasts, provide online access either to lists of foreign companies arranged by country and industry, or business news reports on your industry abroad. If you do not yet have a skilled database searcher in your organization, hire or train one. The benefits go far beyond distributor searchers.
13. Foreign government trade offices and consulates are in the business of pushing their own exports, but they can provide useful lists of companies if you frame your questions carefully.
14. Advertise in major foreign business newspapers or specialized trade periodicals.
15. If you already have a strong relationship with a bank, international freight forwarder or international airline, you may be able to impose on them for distributor contacts.
16. Trade fairs, in your own country or abroad, are an efficient way of meeting foreign companies first-hand.
17. Trade missions to larger markets must be industry specific to be of much use; otherwise they are junkets. In smaller countries where everyone knows everyone, trade missions can lead to valuable distributor contacts.
18. Be sure to mention on your web site that you are seeking representatives.
19. Don't forget the Internet - When this article was originally written, the Internet was in it's infancy.  Now it may be the best source.  Here's some suggestions on maximizing your effectiveness:

• Use meta search engines that search multiple search engines at the same time.  Examples are:
  • Dogpile
  • IxQuick
  • Copernic
• Check your competitor's websites - There's a big debate in corporate websites - Do you list your distributors?  Those that do balance the rewards of better sales and visibility with the real threat of losing their distributor to a competitor.
• Check on-line directories and databases - almost every major market has internet based directories in the form of Yellow Pages, Industrial Directories, Web Portals or whatever.  In addition,  we suggest that you try our WebGuides series because each country has a listing of available directories and databases.

John Norton is an international consultant and representative for Business International Corp. in San Diego, California. This material was taken from an article published in NUTS AND BOLTS.

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Date Updated: June 11, 2010