SALES NETWORK

When a supplier chooses Veritas as their Japanese distributor, they place their trust in us to represent their company and their products professionally and honorably. We fully understand and appreciate this and we take this responsibility very seriously. By always acting with the highest level of integrity, professionalism and respect, we have built very strong relationships with all of our suppliers, many of which we have enjoyed working with for many years. Some other things we do to keep our relationships with our suppliers strong include:

• Honest and straightforward communication with mutual respect
• Prompt and accurate payment of supplier invoices
• Personal contacts between management, technical support and marketing personnel of both companies
• Face-to-face visits at suppliers’ facilities for technical training and business discussions
• Introduction of supplier’s representatives to Veritas’ customers and coordination of technical seminars and site visits
• We give useful feedback from Japanese customers to our suppliers about their products. At times we discuss with them how to modify their products so that they are a slightly better fit for the Japanese market (we have a number of successful examples of this).

We also see ourselves as the coordinator of a three-way relationship between us, the supplier, and the final customer or end user. Although we do our best to become knowledgeable about our suppliers’ products, the fact is that the ultimate expertise resides within the suppliers’ organization itself. Unlike many distributors that guard the identity of their customers and keep this information from the suppliers, we believe that the customer is best served by allowing them direct access to the suppliers’ expertise whenever appropriate. Rather than keeping the customer and the supplier apart, we actively promote their interaction whenever the situation calls for it. This openness, which is achieved through relationships built upon trust and mutual respect, is a hallmark of Veritas’ approach to business.

Selling Life Science Products in Japan

Technology has made the world a much smaller place, and it often seems that most of the advanced countries are becoming more alike than they are different. However, there are still certain unique characteristics of the Japanese life sciences marketplace that are quite different from how things are done in North America or Europe. One of the unique features of the Japanese marketplace is a primary distributor’s use of a network of sub-distributors to sell products to end users. Although this system is employed by all of the major Japanese distributors of life science products, European and North American suppliers can sometimes misunderstand it or perceive it as an optional and unnecessary additional layer between themselves and the end users. Please follow the links on the left to help you better understand our sub-distributor system and Veritas' sub-distributor network.

About Sub-Distributors

In Japan, many large companies and institutions will only deal with certain local sales agents (i.e., sub-distributors) that specialize in providing certain types of products. For the large organization, this serves to reduce some of the accounting and invoicing paperwork. For the individual supplier or distributor, however, this creates both a barrier and an opportunity. A barrier, because the large organizations will not deal with the main supplier directly, no matter how valuable or unique their product offering is. An opportunity, because the development and nurturing of an excellent sub-distributor network can open doors for the main supplier and amplify its own sales and marketing initiatives. Veritas has seized this opportunity and has developed a wide and effective network of sub-distributors, each of which we treat as a partner in the process of representing our supplier’s products to potential customers.

Our Network

Veritas has a network of over 150 sub-distributors. 10 major sub-distributors from each area are selected as “special partner distributors”, which we work with very closely and plan special marketing initiatives with.
We are constantly educating our sub-distributors about our suppliers’ products, and we do our best to provide them with all the tools and ammunition they need to effectively raise customer interest in the products. Once that interest is established, they allow Veritas to interact with the customers directly, and we provide additional, more in-depth information and ongoing technical support. The staff of both our sales and our technical marketing departments work closely with our sub-distributors to gain the sale and keep the customer satisfied (for example a member of Veritas often accompanies a sub-distributor on customer visits to help them explain and learn about the products). Our model of working closely with our sub-distributors as valued partners and using their resources to full advantage is akin to an efficient “client-server” model, as opposed to the more traditional and cumbersome “mainframe” model commonly used by other Japanese distributors. We believe it is one of our strengths.

Our Direct Sales Force

In addition to the sub-distributor sales network described above, Veritas has our own direct sales force for pharmaceutical companies and major labs. So even when necessity dictates that our sub-distributors handle the financial dealings with such customers (orders, payments, etc.), Veritas deals directly with them with regards to technical sales and support. Members of our direct sales force also make contact and maintain close relationships to many academic labs. Our direct sales force helps us to keep good communication lines open with end users to collect information and to receive feedback that aids us in effective marketing.