How to choose a CPG broker: 12 criteria, and why logos are the worst one

A broker is the one relationship that can compress years off a retail plan, and the one most often chosen on the least useful evidence: a wall of retailer logos and a warm introduction.

Logos tell you where a firm has business. They tell you nothing about whether anyone at that firm will make calls for you, in your category, to the specific buying seat you need. Those are different questions, and these are the twelve that answer them.

First, decide if you need a broker at all

A broker sells. A distributor warehouses, ships and invoices. They are not alternatives, and many brands need both, at different points, with different economics. Two rough tests:

• You likely need a broker when the buying seat you want is unreachable cold, the calendar is opaque, or the account expects a rep who already sits in their category reviews.
• You likely need a distributor when the retailer will not buy direct, or when your logistics cannot serve store-level delivery.

The twelve criteria

1. Category specialization

A firm strong in refrigerated natural grocery is not automatically strong in shelf-stable conventional, and a beauty specialist is a different business entirely. Ask which categories they run day to day, not which they can cover.

2. A retailer-specific team

Coverage of an account and a dedicated team on that account are not the same claim. The second is worth paying for.

3. A named account owner

The most important question in the whole process: who, by name and seat, will represent your item to that retailer, and how often do they already sit in front of it? A firm that cannot answer plainly is selling you access it does not have.

4. Current competing clients

If they carry a direct competitor in your set, your item will lose the internal contest for attention before it ever reaches the buyer. Ask outright, and accept that a good broker may decline you for exactly this reason. That is a sign of a real book, not a rejection.

5. Geographic coverage

Regional strength is often better than national thinness. A brand with one strong region and real velocity data is a far easier national story a year later.

6. Distributor relationships

Placement without a working distributor path is a paper win. Ask which distributors they move volume through in your category.

7. Retainer and commission structure

Retainer, commission percentage, what triggers commission, and for how long after a placement it continues. Get the answer in writing before enthusiasm sets the terms.

8. Reporting and analytics

Ask what you will receive monthly and see a real example, with a client name redacted. Syndicated data interpretation is genuinely hard, and a firm that does it well is worth more than one with better logos.

9. Operational support

Some firms handle new-item forms, deductions, chargebacks and the administrative weight of being a vendor. Some hand it back to you. Both models are legitimate. Only one of them is survivable if you are a team of three.

10. Line-review experience in your category

Ask how many category reviews they have presented in your set in the last two years, and what happened. A firm that has been in the room recently knows the calendar, the format and what gets cut.

11. Post-placement support

Winning the shelf is the beginning of the work. Resets, promotional execution, voids and store-level compliance are where placements are quietly lost. Ask who owns those.

12. Contract restrictions

Term length, exclusivity, territory, termination rights and what happens to commission on accounts you brought yourself. This is the clause that decides how expensive a mistake is.

Where brokers are actually found

Category trade shows are the highest-density place to meet them, because a broker who pays for a booth is there specifically to be discovered by brands. That is the healthiest version of this market: their business model is being findable, which is why naming firms is fair and naming buyers is not.

Which firms genuinely cover your channel is real tribal knowledge and hard to search for. The channel map on this site lists firms and leadership by channel, alongside the events where those firms actually staff a booth.

Twelve questions to ask in the first call

1. 1Which categories do you run every week, not which can you cover?
2. 2Who by name and seat will present my item, and how often are they in front of that account?
3. 3Do you currently represent anything that competes with me in this set?
4. 4Which distributors do you move real volume through in my category?
5. 5How many reviews have you presented in my set in the last two years?
6. 6What does your monthly reporting look like? Show me a redacted example.
7. 7Who handles new-item forms, deductions and chargebacks?
8. 8Who owns resets and store-level compliance after we win?
9. 9What is the commission, on what basis, and for how long?
10. 10What is the term, and how do I exit if this is not working?
11. 11What happens to commission on accounts I bring myself?
12. 12What would make you decline a brand like mine?

That last question is the most revealing one on the list. A firm with no answer is telling you it takes everyone.