Import, export and distribution
Distributors live on supplier and customer relationships, and both usually belong to the owner. Growth means more containers, more credit and more risk on one judgement. We build the team under the owner: an operations lead, a sales system that works the customer base, finance alongside your CPA, and processes for what goes wrong in a shipment.
How the work gets done today
- Margin is thin per unit and made on volume, turns and freight
- Cash is tied up from supplier payment to customer collection for months
- Currency, duties and compliance can erase a season's margin
- Customer relationships belong to the owner or one salesperson
The moves we make
- Put an operations seat in place for logistics, inventory and suppliers
- Build a sales system so every account is worked on a schedule
- Install a cash forecast and landed cost model with your CPA and broker
- Write playbooks for shipment exceptions, claims and customer onboarding
Seats usually missing
An operations manager who owns purchasing, logistics and inventory. A sales manager who owns the account base and the pipeline rather than a few relationships. A finance seat that runs cash, landed cost and credit alongside your CPA. The owner usually holds all three and the supplier relationships as well, which is why holidays are short. We fill the seats fractionally and build the systems, then design the permanent structure around the volume you are actually moving, not the volume you hope for.
Getting the owner out
Shipment coordination first, through written processes, a logistics seat and automation for status updates and documents. Account management second, through a CRM and follow up system that works every customer on a schedule, so relationships belong to the company and survive a resignation. Credit and collections third, through a finance process with your CPA and clear terms. The owner keeps supplier negotiations and the largest accounts for a while, then hands them over on a planned timeline with a named successor for each.
What to outsource first
Operations and process, because exceptions in shipping and inventory cost the most and consume the owner's day. Then the sales system, so growth no longer depends on who the owner remembers to call. Finance follows, with landed cost and cash forecasting built with your CPA and customs broker. Customs compliance, trade law and contracts stay with licensed customs brokers and your lawyer. Ali's Canadian Market Entry session (75 minutes, $449) is the starting point for companies new to the Canadian market.
Questions from import, export and distribution owners
Do you handle customs and compliance?
No. Customs brokers and trade lawyers do. We build the processes around them so documents are ready, exceptions are logged and nothing depends on one person's memory.
Can you help a foreign company set up in Canada?
Our Canadian Market Entry consultation is the first step, then we build the Canadian team, operations and sales system. Immigration, corporate and tax matters are handled alongside regulated immigration consultants, lawyers and CPAs, and we never promise immigration outcomes.
How do you reduce dependence on the owner?
By moving every account into a system with a schedule, notes and a second contact in your company, and documenting supplier terms and history. Relationships then belong to the business.
Tell us which seat is empty.
A 30-minute call with Ali about the business and the people running it. You leave knowing which role to fill first and whether fractional, outsourced or a hire is the right answer, whether or not we work together.