1. 626 Brass Castle Road, Belvidere, NJ 07823-2725 M: (908) 296-1156 P: (908) 453-4065
Active Member-Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning (IBF), St John’s University, NY
Active Member-International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM)
Page1
…..helping under-performing companies
…..become strong, growing companies
AT A GLANCE:
WHO: Seasoned US-based TV equipment manufacturer with international customer
base
WHAT: Flat revenue growth due to reseller apathy
HOW: Uncovered damaging and ineffectual reseller communications and restructured
network from the ground up.
This is an actual case study of how GEA & Associates identified and corrected a problem in a
vendor company’s reseller distribution program, which resulted in improved reseller relations,
and subsequent increases in revenues for the company1
.
THE COMPANY:
Company A has been manufacturing professional TV products for over 20 years, with
revenues holding in the mid-$20M range without measurable growth. An established company,
not a start-up, they had been operating under the same procedures developed many years ago.
THE PROBLEM:
Revenue growth was flat. Senior management suspected a major part of the
problem was a serious disconnect between the Company and its resellers.
Historically, reseller sales had comprised about 85% of the company’s total
revenues, the remainder being direct sales. GEA was engaged to identify the
issues contributing to lagging sales and to recommend solutions.
THE SITUATION:
GEA immediately initiated meetings with several members of the support staff and their
supervisor to learn what procedures were used to communicate with resellers, and also to
uncover their efforts to keep them engaged. They all agreed that resellers were crucial to the
Company’s success, but they feared interest in the company’s products was waning despite the
new product literature, and price lists, special promotions, and press releases that were
distributed, both electronically and via postal and delivery services.
At the conclusion of the first session, each member of the staff was instructed to bring a
printout of the official reseller lists to the next meeting. It was discovered that each had a
1
In the interest of protecting the subject company, all company names and city locations are fictional, but the
case is 100% authentic.
CASE STUDY
Company A

2. 626 Brass Castle Road, Belvidere, NJ 07823-2725 M: (908) 296-1156 P: (908) 453-4065
Active Member-Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning (IBF), St John’s University, NY
Active Member-International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM)
Page2
different list comprised of 30-35 company names with little commonality. There was no single
official reseller list, and therefore most of their efforts were wasted on contacts that were not, in
fact, at all interested in the Company’s products or communications.
THE SOLUTION:
We then set out to determine who the real official resellers were. By definition an official
reseller was an agency with whom Company A had a reseller contract, and that contract had
two signatures on it; the reseller’s signature, and the Company signature. When the Company
database was accessed, only 9 contracts appeared, and NONE of them had dual signatures.
There were, officially, NO authorized Company A resellers. Confidential Reseller Trade
Discounted Price Lists were being sent to agencies around the world that had no reseller
agreement.
This called for a complete revamping of the total reseller program. GEA immediately:
A. Determined what senior management wanted to include in the reseller
program, i.e., pricing and discounts, territories, collateral support,
advertising co-op programs, trade show support, training, forecasting
of future orders, etc.
B. Drafted new domestic and international reseller agreements.
C. Determined who the company wanted to sign as an official reseller.
D. After conferencing with Company A’s Accounts Receivable
department, contacted each reseller that was not going to be signed and notified them
that we would cease doing business with them in the next 30 days (a grace period).
E. Contacted each reseller that we did intend to franchise, and explained the new reseller
program to answer any questions, and to get their commitment to the new program.
F. Completed and mailed new reseller agreements.
G. Upon receipt of the executed agreements, created ONE official reseller distribution list.
Only the supervisor was authorized to make changes to the list. Only resellers on this
list were allowed to receive confidential reseller information and place orders at the
reseller trade discounted prices.
H. Created a procedure for franchising new resellers who wished to be franchised.
RESULTS:
1. With an official list, we immediately eliminated the “guesswork” which had been
prevalent within the order department. The order department began to function much
more smoothly, efficiently and productively.
2. All resellers knew who the other resellers were, who they may be competing
with on any given order. And more importantly, who was not franchised, and
who they would not be competing with. Reseller relationships with
Company A dramatically improved. Consequently, reseller interest in
Company A’s products increased as well. They became enthusiastic!
3. Within six months the reseller sales increased approximately 12%, a net increase of
approximately $ 2.4 million.

3. 626 Brass Castle Road, Belvidere, NJ 07823-2725 M: (908) 296-1156 P: (908) 453-4065
Active Member-Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning (IBF), St John’s University, NY
Active Member-International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers (IABM)
Page3
LOOKING FORWARD:
Company A’s Sales Management has enthusiastically continued with the
revised reseller program, and has enjoyed both increasing reseller sales for the
past 4 years, and continued reseller loyalty. Reseller sales once again have
grown to a level in excess of 85% of total company revenues. Since all resellers
are known and recognized within the reseller network, the inter relationship and
cooperation between individual resellers is at an all-time high. Everyone wins!
ABOUT GEA & ASSOCIATES:
GEA is a highly respected consulting firm, working directly with manufacturers/vendors in the
Broadcast and Media Technology (B&MT) industry, to improve their profitability through
increasing sales and decreasing selling costs. The emphasis is on streamlining sales operations
and procedures, revitalizing under-performing reseller sales channels, uncovering high sales
opportunity countries, eliminating wasteful non-producing regions, forecasting and planning
monthly/quarterly and annual sales, and organizing territories and assigning sales targets and
quotas.
To support this work GEA produces periodic research Newsletters and Quarterly Industry
Economic Reports to highlight geographic regions/countries that are revenue targets for
increasing sales. We also do in-depth studies of CapEx and OPEX financing availability, to
assure that the dedicated sales efforts expended produce actual orders and revenues.