on a realistic commercial understanding of where your brand fits, you will begin to attract more Llcensees, even where the proposition is weaker, because you project an understanding of scale/scope and where your brand fits. 2. Run a pitch process with clear structure Clearly there are great benefits from running a competitive pitch process. If the brand you are presenting is even half way to selling product through retail, a competitive itch will give you a structured framework to assess licensees. Barging in there and saying, "but if you won't step up and pay the big bucks, these other five companies will," is not a wise approach, because you'll turn off licensees who could be good partners. You could fail to stimulate competition in the way that a more indirect and gentle approach might. 3. Minimum guarantees are important, but not everything Yes, a high minimum guarantee committment is a good start point, and a statement of serious committment, as are the other commercial terms like royalty rate, payment schedule, size of advance, definition of net sales and more. However, to select licensees who will do the best job all round for your brand, you also need to look beyond the commercial terms. What is the product development capacity and quality of output like? What is the distribution set up like, and are there any gaping holes in it? For example, a company who for whatever reason doesn't supply Argos in the UK is going to miss a huge chunk