Why distributor lists go stale, and what to do about it
A list is a photograph. Selling through other companies is a film.
People change roles, companies merge, and distributors change what they carry. A spreadsheet that was right when it was built can quietly drift out of date, and nobody is assigned to notice.
The fix is not a bigger spreadsheet. Treat each distributor as one living record: one entry per company, with who leads it, what it carries, and what has changed lately.
Then make change visible. The accounts worth a call this week are rarely the ones at the top of an alphabetical list. They are the ones showing a signal: a new product line, a new leader, a quiet stretch.
Email consent is not one rule: a plain-language guide
The same contact list can be fine in one country and a problem in another.
In the United States, marketing email generally follows an opt-out model: you may email, but you must identify yourself honestly and honour unsubscribes. Canada generally requires consent first. The United Kingdom and the European Union are stricter again, and the details differ by country and by whether the recipient is a business or an individual.
Whatever the country, a few habits hold up everywhere: say who you are, do not disguise a subject line, include a working way to opt out, and keep a record of where each contact came from and what permission you have.
This is a general overview, not legal advice. Have counsel review before a large campaign, especially across borders.
What belongs in a pre-meeting brief
Ten minutes of the right context beats an hour of general research.
Before a distributor meeting, you want a single page, not twelve tabs. It should say what they carry and how big they are, who leads them, anything recent worth mentioning, and what their market requires.
It should end with the part most briefs skip: what is worth raising. A list of facts helps you talk. A short list of suggested topics helps you sell.
The test of a good brief is simple. If you can walk in, open with something specific and relevant, and never open a browser during the meeting, it did its job.
