Case Study · Medical devices
Surgical instruments manufacturer secured multi-state distribution contract in 9 weeks
A regional surgical instruments manufacturer needed to expand beyond direct sales without building an internal distribution team. The firm structured and closed a multi-state distribution contract that opened access to 240 private practice doctor's offices.
States covered
7
Practice offices opened
240
Weeks to contract close
9
Target account penetration in Q2
68%
Situation
A regional manufacturer of specialty surgical instruments had built strong reputation with direct accounts among private practice physicians in three states. Growth had plateaued. The leadership team did not want to hire a national sales force and did not want to give up product control to a large generalist distributor. They needed a structured distribution arrangement that preserved pricing discipline while opening territories they could not reach through direct sales.
Approach
The firm identified three regional medical distributors with existing footprints in the target states and complementary product portfolios. Each was evaluated against criteria the manufacturer had not formalized: account quality, pricing transparency, training capacity, and willingness to commit to category exclusivity. The firm structured the term sheet around protected pricing tiers, a defined onboarding program for distributor sales reps, and quarterly performance reviews tied to specific account penetration targets. Negotiation closed in 9 weeks from first introduction.
Outcome
The contract opened access to 240 private practice doctor's offices across seven states without requiring the manufacturer to add headcount. Within two quarters of execution the distributor had achieved first shipments to 68% of target accounts. The pricing structure protected manufacturer margin while giving the distributor a clear path to its committed revenue tier.
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