Many foreign manufacturers look for a representative in Switzerland without deciding what they expect: someone who buys and resells, someone who sells in their name, or someone who directs their commercial effort. These three roles do not share the same contract, the same cost or the same effect on the customer relationship.
Clarify what you are looking for
Three different needs hide behind the same request. The first is coverage: someone must visit customers regularly in a given region. The second is logistics and stock: someone must buy, hold and deliver locally. The third is direction: someone must decide which segments to work and in what order. One partner rarely fills all three. Naming the dominant need before you start looking prevents recruiting a profile who will do a good job on work that was not your priority.
Agent or distributor
An agent sells in the principal's name: prices, terms and invoicing stay with the manufacturer, the customer relationship remains visible, and remuneration is usually tied to business introduced. A distributor buys to resell: they carry stock and risk, often set their own resale prices and become the end customer's point of contact. The first model suits you when you want to learn the market and keep control of positioning. The second suits you when immediate availability decides the sale and you accept losing visibility over users.
The criteria that actually matter
A contact book impresses but is not enough. Four things weigh more: knowledge of the people who genuinely decide in your sector, the language of the target region, the time actually available for your range, and how your product fits the rest of their portfolio. The third point is the one most often overlooked. A representative already carrying eight brands may know everybody and still give your range only a few days per quarter, which will produce no measurable result.
What to verify before committing
A few simple checks save lost months. Ask which other brands are represented and which of them address the same buyers, because an undeclared conflict of interest always surfaces too late. Ask how work is documented: accounts visited, quotations issued, reasons for refusal. Ask who will physically appear at the customer, not only who signs the contract. Finally, speak to a current or former principal. A serious partner accepts these questions; reluctance to answer them is itself useful information.
The contract: points that negotiate badly later
Five points belong in from the start, because they are hard to renegotiate afterwards: the exact territory and any exclusivity, the products covered, the basis and rate of remuneration, the initial term including a trial period, and the conditions for ending the relationship, including what happens to the customers introduced. How accounts are treated after the mandate ends is the most frequently omitted and the most expensive point. The legal framework applicable to agency contracts in Switzerland should be checked with a lawyer before signature.
What the principal has to provide
A representative without head office support fails regardless of their quality. The principal must provide documentation in the language of the region, delivered prices in Swiss francs, a response time that is met on technical questions, demonstration equipment, and a named person for urgent matters. That last point often decides the outcome. When a Swiss customer waits two weeks for a technical answer from abroad, the representative loses credibility locally and fairly soon stops presenting the range at all.
Following the relationship without policing it
A representation relationship is managed on facts, not impressions. Three elements are enough in the early months: accounts opened with their position, quotations issued and what became of them, and the reasons for refusal observed. A quarterly rhythm with a short written note usefully replaces informal exchanges that leave each side with its own interpretation. That discipline also protects the representative: it shows the work done when first orders are slow, which is normal in a market requiring technical validation.
Recognising early that it is not working
Certain signals appear before results. No new account opened after six months, no market information reported back, visits that are never documented, or constant insistence that price is the only obstacle. Each can have a legitimate explanation, but their accumulation usually means the range is not genuinely being carried. A frank conversation with a dated decision then beats an extension granted out of politeness, because every additional quarter consumes market time you will not get back.
How Swiss Sales Partners works
Swiss Sales Partners acts as a local commercial partner under a written mandate: region, segments, target accounts, presence rhythm, deliverables and review dates. Swiss Sales Partners is not a recruitment firm and does not place third-party representatives. The approach rests on more than 30 years in B2B sales, field sales, commercial management and sales management, with experience gained in the environments of Hilti, Egli Fischer (efco), Berner and Bouygues. No volume is guaranteed and the principal remains the decision maker on its own commercial policy.
FAQ
Agent or distributor: which should we choose?
An agent suits you when you want to learn the market and keep control of prices and the relationship. A distributor suits you when immediate availability decides the sale and you accept less visibility over end users.
Should we grant territorial exclusivity?
Often yes, but time-limited and tied to verifiable milestones. Open-ended exclusivity with no conditions locks up an entire region if the partner stops being active.
How many brands can a representative carry?
The useful question is how much time is given to yours, not how many brands exist. Ask for days per month and which accounts will be visited, then verify it during reviews.
How is a representative paid?
Usually through commission on business introduced, sometimes with a fixed element during the start-up phase. The calculation basis and terms should be written down before the mandate begins.
When should we judge the relationship?
After six months on activity and market information reported, and after twelve to twenty-four months on turnover, depending on the length of the sales cycle in your sector.