Expanding the Distribution Network

Expanding the Sales Network

Entrepreneurs who get an idea off the ground and successfully start a business may be rewarded with a sense of satisfaction and hopefully some financial pay-off. However, profits generated by growing SMEs are often ploughed back into the business to drive forward expansion. There are a variety of ways, outlined below, to expand a business. For more detailed guidance about these, see below.

Sales and Commercial Agents: If you don’t want to expend internal resources on finding new business, you can work with a sales or commercial agent who will be able to use their own professional networks to find new avenues of income. See "Related Documents" below for agency template documents.

Distributors: If you’re spending substantial resources on producing goods, you may prefer to have a large customer who will buy in bulk and take care of the process of actually getting your products to market. This is the role of a distributor. See "Related Documents" below for distribution document templates.

Manufacturing Licences: If you’re an inventor or just want to focus on the design of a product, rather than getting involved with manufacturing, sale or transportation processes, you can use a manufacturing licence agreement. This will hand over the industrial process to a third party and avoid the expense of setting up your own factory. See Patents, Know-How and Design Agreements under "Related Documents" below.

Franchising: If you’ve got a solid brand and wish to expand locally, nationally or internationally without the hassle of setting up new shops or outlets yourself, you can adopt a franchising model. See "Related Documents" below for a template franchising agreement.

Expansion Abroad: Your local requirements in a particular territory may become more complex than could appropriately be handled by an agent, distributor or other collaborator, and you might want to expand your business abroad in some other way. See "Expanding Your Business Abroad" below.

Competition Law: If your business grows with the result that you have a large market share you will need to be increasingly careful to keep within the bounds of competition law. See "Competition Law Issues" below.