St. Petersburg Foundation for SME Development

Assistance in partner search can be divided into several stages. After every stage number of potential partners is narrowing according to the specified co-operation. The degree of probability to sign co-operation agreement or contract between the Customer and potential partner is increasing while going through each of the stages. The Customer can define the stage when the assistance of the consultant is not needed anymore, and starting from which he will act independently. Possible stages of partner search activities:

1. Market scan*

Goal: to obtain basic information about the market and key players for targeted partner search
Regular report contains:
- Introduction
- Description of the market: products and services existing, producers, prices and promotion means
- Description of the distribution structure
- Recommended profile and scheme for business partner selection
Approximate report length: 5-10 pages
Delivery time: from 1 week
Approximate price: from 1 500 Euro

2. List of companies of a specified profile

Goal: in this variant long list of companies is developed for the further processing; profile of the company is determined by the following criteria:
- Location (city, region, country, group of countries)
- Field of activity (production, distribution, services, export, import)
- Branch
- Product specialization
Regular report contains:
- Company name
- Contact information (address, phone, fax)
- Field of activity
Delivery time: from 1 week
Approximate price: 5 - 20 Euro per company (order from 150 Euro)

3. List of companies that are ready to negotiate

Goal: in this variant the companies have been pre-selected during 2 are questioned in order to find out their interest in establishing contacts with a new partner and in considering his co-operation offers.
Regular report contains:
- Company name
- Detailed contact information (address, phone, fax, e-mail, web-site, contact person and position)
- Field of activity (production, distribution, services, export, import)
- Branch
Delivery time: from 2 weeks
Approximate price: 30 - 60 Euro per company (order from 300 Euro)

4. List of potential partners

Goal: in this variant primary negotiations are conducted with the companies that were pre-selected at the stage 3 in order to find out their interest towards a specific co-operation proposal.
Regular report contains:
- Company name
- Detailed contact information (address, phone, fax, e-mail, web-site, contact person and position)
- Company description
- Products and services offered
- Negotiations chronicle and results
Delivery time: from 3 weeks
Approximate price: 100 - 200 Euro per company (order from 400 Euro)

^*Note
Market scan is advisable within the framework of partner search for the clients planning to enter new / unknown market (for instance, a foreign market).