For technology brands
Almost nobody publishes their actual selection philosophy. Mine comes down to four tests, in the order I apply them.
CEO of 
and 
How does the brand actually move? Nine times out of ten I prefer a product that sells like a box over one that sells like a six month enterprise deal.
When I do take on something unknown or misrepresented, I am happy to build it with trainings, reseller onboarding and marketing, as long as the end state is quick deal cycles. We onboard to what the team can actually execute, not to what a slide says.
Quality plus ambition plus support.
We have built brands from unknown to established, and every time it required the same things from the other side.
What it took from the vendor, every time
A great product from a vendor who will not invest is a worse bet than a good product from one who will.
Too niche fails on volume. Too crowded fails on margin. It is a direction rather than a fixed rule, but it kills more candidates than anything else.
I pitch larger brands aggressively and I never onboard at a disadvantage. A brand has to bring TLM on strategically and happily.
A partnership that starts reluctant never becomes loyal.
I have walked away from names most distributors would take on any terms.
Brands often appoint 4 distributors in Dubai and none in West Africa. We run our own companies in Mali, Burkina Faso and Cameroon, with their own stock, facilities and people who live there.
Tell me your category, the markets you want, and who represents you there today.
manish@tlmintl.com