I recently had to take a census of our international distribution network for a presentation. For a small company like Martel, I thought the numbers were pretty astonishing.

Martel is represented in 55 countries by 65 different companies, not counting various sub-distribution arrangements that some distributor have. Since that census we’ve added a new market and a new company to our list.

Another piece of good news is that virtually all of these companies have been active for us during the past year. That’s probably one reason our international sales increased in 2009 by an astonishing 42% over 2008.

We do a lot to support our distributors both internationally and domestically with our marketing and technical support programs. A lot of our marketing is an effort to drive customers to the distributors. We know that they will sell what they get asked for.

Technical support is also critical to international sales since customers don’t usually like to send products back to the US for repair or routine recalibration. Our service mantra is to have local support in all the markets where we do business. It’s sometimes a challenge, but nearly always rewarding.

The annual Control Magazine Readers’ Choice Awards are out. For us, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that Martel/BETA is listed as #6 in the Portable Calibrator category. I think it’s the first time we’ve been so honored.

The bad news is that #2 on the list doesn’t make or sell calibrators and #5 on the list isn’t even a company any more.

It does make me wonder seriously if people really know what calibrators and calibration are all about. At any rate, thank you to everyone who chose Martel for your calibrators. You are in good company.