BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
How Ongoing Market Management runs
Ongoing Market Management is the continuing engagement at the centre of EFC's business development practice. The research and strategy come first; the market is then managed and reported every month for the term.
The first weeks
What happens after signature?
The preparation arrives as one body of work, with the source shown for each finding. Where a fact cannot be established, it is marked as not obtained, so the strategy rests on what is known.
| Stage | What you receive | Why it comes at this point |
|---|---|---|
| The scope | Markets, channels and the path, agreed in writing. | Every later finding is sized to it. |
| The position today | What the channel already holds and sells, who is named on the goods, and where your range sits on price. | For a brand already selling, this is the baseline that expansion builds on. |
| Competitors and comparable cases | How comparable brands entered or grew in the category, including attempts that failed and the reasons. | The sequence that follows is built on precedent. |
| The strategy | The markets to pursue and those to leave aside for now, in order, with positioning, pricing logic and the route per market. In Europe, it also sets out the stock argument for each priority buyer. | You approve it before any outreach begins. |
| Decision makers and the approach kit | Named decision makers at the accounts you chose, each with a route checked at handover. Scripts, follow-ups and answers to likely objections. | A name without a route is not a contact. |
| Every month after | Outreach, follow-up and meetings with the named decision makers for the length of the term. | What buyers answer reorders the markets and rewrites the approach. |
Every month
What reaches you each month?
A coordination call every two weeks sets the rhythm. Between calls, EFC runs the pipeline: outreach, follow-up, meeting coordination and a contact list revised by what the market returns.
- The contact map
- Chains, distributors, importers and partners, kept current, including candidates that surface from the work in the field.
- The state of the pipeline
- Every open conversation and what it waits on: a reply, a meeting or a decision.
- A briefing before each meeting
- A short written note on the account, the person and the argument that fits them.
- Market feedback
- What buyers say, recurring objections included, and what it changes in positioning and in the order of markets.
- The stock argument, by buyer
- In Europe, what a local stock position changes for each buyer: lead time, order minimum, replenishment and returns.
- The monthly report
- What went out, to whom, what came back and what moved, with any change to priorities or wording recorded.
The market is managed for the full term, and each month's answers from buyers correct the map, the priorities and the wording.
From your side
What does the engagement need from you?
The work runs on your product facts and your decisions. Neither can be researched around.
Materials
- Your product lines, with the priority lines marked.
- Trade price list and terms, the order minimum and the lead time offered to buyers today.
- Buyer-facing material in English: a catalogue, product pages with packaging images and a presentation for a chain buyer.
- Any distributor agreement, territory or account already in conversation, so none is cut across.
Your sign-off
- The scope and the path, before work begins.
- The strategy and the shortlist, which decide where contact work goes.
- The approach wording, before anything reaches a buyer.
One person on your side
Someone who can answer short questions, give sign-off and join the call every two weeks. The role is part-time.
If a product page does not exist in English, it is flagged at the start. A chain buyer will not wait while it is written.
The terms
How is the engagement charged?
Indicative figures follow a first call, once the markets and channels in scope are known.
- Ongoing Market Management
- A monthly retainer on a twelve-month term, with the research and strategy included at EFC's expense.
- Commission
- A commission on the sales the work generates, on top of the retainer.
- Why a commission
- The retainer covers the work. The commission ties part of EFC's return to the sales that follow, so EFC earns more only when you sell more.
- The research on its own
- Research and strategy without the twelve-month term, charged once in full. The work ends at delivery.
EFC commits to the work itself. That means the quality of the research, the accuracy of each contact route, the timing of each approach and the persistence of follow-up. It does not guarantee a meeting, a listing or a sale.
Boundaries
What sits outside the engagement?
EFC is not your commercial agent and holds no representation mandate. You set the prices, sign the contracts and keep the customer relationship.
Quoted or paid separately
- Paid media
- New marketing material beyond what you supply
- Attending trade fairs, with travel
- Third-party fees such as rulings, registrations and licences
- Import as importer of record, fiscal representation, warehousing and delivery, quoted alongside the engagement
What EFC is not
- A distributor, since title to the goods stays with you
- An importer or holder of any regulatory role for medical devices under Regulation (EU) 2017/745
- A source of legal or tax advice
After the yes
What happens when a chain says yes?
A listing brings an order pattern, labelling rules and delivery slots set by the chain. Missing them puts the listing at risk.
In Europe, EFC handles that side as importer of record, with customs, VAT through fiscal representation, stock and delivery run from Portugal.
Release for free circulation on arrival is usual, and duty and import VAT fall due then. Slower, higher-value lines held under bond pay both at each release.
In the United States, supply is planned with you, starting with who imports.
Questions
Questions before an engagement starts
Can markets or channels change during the engagement?
Yes. A change is raised on the call every two weeks and agreed in writing.
What if buyers in a market say no?
The monthly report records it, with the objections buyers gave. A recurring objection on price, order minimum or lead time becomes a finding, and the next month is reordered around it.
Can EFC work alongside an existing distributor?
Yes, where the distributor is active. The work then usually covers the markets or channels it leaves open, or the European stock position behind it. If it adds nothing, the first call says so.
What is signed?
A service agreement setting out the scope, the term, notice, liability and governing law.
The first call
Send the product lines and the markets in view. The call settles whether the work fits, and on which path.
Request a call back