When it comes to licensing, the most common suggestion is to license to a manufacturer. Some will say manufacturers or distributors. It will be great if a company makes and also distributes. What if some companies only do the 'make' part and some others only do the 'distribute' part? Which is a beter licensee candidate? What are the pros and cons?

Thanks,
Dave

USually the Distributors are not interested in investing money in a new product. You will always get a manufacturer interested in the right product.

Allen,

Thanks a lot for the valuable insight. At first, I was thinking a distributor could be a better or as good a licensee condidate because it could arrange to have the product made by a manufacturer bidding the lowest price.

David

A distributor will be good if you have the money to support an initial product run.
But nobody can be sure either - how about if you find a distributor that likes your product and he want to invest his own money or wants to become a partner in a future corporation based on your product.

Here's another thought for you, Dave.

Provided you have a proto-type of your product and some sales literature, get some quantity pricing from a few manufacturer's. You can look in the Thomas Register's in your library. This is a huge volume of directories of U.S. manufacturers. You can also access this online at; www.thomasregister.com Once you have this information contact distributors/reps who would be interested in carrying you product line. This approach would put you in the drivers seat. If you want to find the absolute best rep in your area for your product, call an appropriate store and ask to speak to the purchasing agent. If it's a large store you may need to ask for the housewares, etc purchasing agent. Once you have this person on the phone ask who their best rep is who comes to call on them. This will do two things for you. Number one it will give you someone to contact with regards to carrying your product. Number two is tell the rep the purchasing agent over at ____store said you were their best sales rep. Guess who this rep will call on first.
The nice thing about this method of marketing your product is you don't have to fill your garage with prodcuts.

Since you will have quantity pricing in place from manufacturers, you only have to order the amount you have sold.

I hope this helps you in some small way, Dave.

Good Luck!

Gary

Hi Dave -

I'll throw in my two cents worth, but please realize that I'm struggling with many of the same issues you are. I've been working to license various hydraulic technologies for some time. Recently, I've been contacting manufacturer's representatives - although it isn't my intention to license the technology to them.

There is a method to my madness. Each of the representatives works with several manufacturers. They have a reasonable idea of those manufacturers who are seeking new products, those who have a successful track record introducing new products, etc. Hopefully I will find one to steer me in the right direction. Thomas Register, Hoovers, and Alibaba can direct you to numerous manufacturers, but may not give you an accurate insight into their corporate culture or current status.

Assuming the manufacturer / licensee is able to successfully develop and launch the new product, the representative will realize a significant amount of new business.

Happy hunting.

Dennis