We are an engineering driven company that has developed 2 products for
the consumer Health care market. The HealthFitCounter and
SmokeLessCounter are products with large potential audiences. They can
be seen at www.healthfitcounter.com  We have basically used all of our
funds to develop and manufacture the products, so very little money
left for advertising. We do have product in stock but sales are very
slow as we are web based only.  People who do buy the products seem to
like them very much.

We have tried searching the web for product distributors, wholesalers
and brokers with not much success, we just don't have contacts in
that area. We have tried web based press releases, google adwords and
overture also without much success aside from individual sales.

My question is: With respect to these 2 products, what companies,
reps, distributors, wholesalers etc. should we contact to help us get
our products into some kind of distribution?

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Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 20 Jan 2006 10:36 PST

Hello -

Are you able to disclose an estimated budget for pursuing distribution?

jbf777
Researcher

---

Request for Question Clarification by jbf777-ga on 20 Jan 2006 10:42 PST

Also, do you have the wherewithal to produce a lot more stock -- i.e.,
be the point of manufacture for this product?

jbf777

---

Clarification of Question by jackinabox-ga on 20 Jan 2006 11:48 PST

Hello jbf777,
With regard to the budget... Very little at this point, a few thousand. 

Manufacturing is not a problem. We are working direct with a manufacturer in China.

Thank you for your interest!

Hello -

There are a few available avenues that you can take with regard to
getting your product into distribution.  I've enumerated and discussed
each below.

o Find a Manufacturer's Rep/Agency
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
One approach is to hire a person or agency -- "manufacturer's rep" --
who can pitch your product to the appropriate channels.  You could
potentially hire someone on a stipend/contract basis, where you
stipulate an arrangement that requires a certain performance level
within a given time frame (i.e., X weeks to secure Y number of
wholesale channels).  You could offer this individual a piece of the
company in exchange for a certain output.

The Manufacturers' Agents National Association is an organization of
agencies that represent manufacturers.  You can join for as little as
$299, and this will afford you access to their online directory of
agencies.  In addition, the association publishes "Agency Sales," a
monthly magazine which features a large classified ad section through
which you can place an ad to find a specific rep from among thousands.

See this link for more information:

MANA
http://www.manaonline.org/?cat=51

Membership form is here:
https://member.manaonline.org/assoc_membership_form.cfm

An agency named Alltis specializes in sales/representation for manufacturers:

Alltis
http://www.alltis.com/index.html
747 Farmington Ave., Ste. 6
New Britain, CT 06053
Tel: 800/285-0898
Fax: 860/674-8168 

You could also opt to place a standard personnel-seeking classified ad
on the likes of http://www.monster.com or Career Network
http://www.careerbuilder.com.
These typically cost a few hundred dollars and reach (inter)national audiences.


o Pursue Wholesalers Directly
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Working with wholesalers directly will require you to do the job of a
manufacturer's rep.  You would have to cold-call and/or mail directly,
with all the sales work being done directly by your company.

MedMarket is a site that specializes in connecting manufacturers with
wholesalers/distributors.  Simply follow their online instructions:

MedMarket 
http://www.medmarket.com/psd.php
For $195/year, exposes your product to thousands of distributors worldwide

NDC is another company connecting manufacturers with distributors:
http://www.ndc-inc.com/index.html

Medical Distributors provide a wide variety of services in medical
device distribution:

Medical Distributors
http://www.medical-distributors.com/eng/


The Independent Medical Distributors Association has a "manufacturer's
showcase" (which varies in price -- nonmembers' access is $1200) that
would allow you to showcase your products to potential distributors:

IMDA
http://www.imda.org/manufacturers/virtual_manufacturers_showcase.htm


Vector Resources is a company that provides a wide variety of
services, including those similar to Alltis listed in the first
section above:

Vector Resources, L.C. 
7651 South Main Street - Suite 106
Midvale, Utah 84047-7158
(801) 352-8500
(801) 352-8506 (Fax)


Two additional associations you may wish to contact:

National Association of Wholesale-Distributors
http://www.naw.org/
202-872-0885 x George

Consumer Healthcare Products Association
http://www.chpa-info.org/web/about_chpa/contact_us.aspx
900 19th Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: (202) 429-9260
Fax: (202) 223-6835
(202) 256-5677 -ac


Contact information for distributors can be found through companies
like Firstrank and D&B:

Firstrank
http://www.firstmark.com/fmkcat/distribpharm.htm
800.729.2600 
leads@firstmark.com.

D&B: 800-234-3867


Websites that list companies looking to carry new product lines
include inventors.org and UIAUSA:

Inventors.org
http://www.inventors.org/productscouts.html

UIAUSA
http://www.uiausa.com/Services/NewProducts/NPManufacturers.htm



o Locate Investors/Venture Capitalists 
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Since you have successfully manufactured and sold products to date,
showing proof of concept and selling potential in the real world, you
might be in a good position to seek outside funding from angel/venture
capitalists.  With an extra few hundred thousand dollars (or million),
you might consider producing an infomercial or other media advertising
most beneficial for your product.  See the following resources
concerning venture capital funding:

goBIG Network - connects venture capitals with investment seekers
http://www.goBIGnetwork.com/?=google&gclid=COLD29DS4YICFQoEGgodBw0Tjw

CapitalVector - comprehensive venture capitalist data
http://www.capitalvector.com/capfinder.html

VersantVentures - venture capital firm
http://www.versantventures.com/

Oak Investment Partners - venture capital firm
http://www.oakinv.com/

Google's directory of venture capital firms
://www.google.com/Top/Business/Financial_Services/Venture_Capital/


If you need any additional clarification, please don't hesitate to ask!

Thank you,

jbf777
Researcher



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