While working with international principals has proven to be a profitable and attractive option for many independent manufacturers’ representatives, two agents caution there’s much work to be done in order to make such partnerships work.

MANA members Sid Ragona and Dave Hull look over their experiences in Europe and Asia respectively and offer their agent peers advice on how to make the most out of overseas relationships. While there are some distinct differences/challenges in working with principals from Europe and Asia, the two men do agree that there are a number of areas that agents should consider and pay special … Read the rest

In years past Agency Sales magazine has addressed the subject of house accounts via coverage of industry presentations and round tables, personal interviews and in a variety of survey articles. It should come as no surprise to anyone who is an agent, who works with agents, or someone who observes the business model that includes independent manufacturers’ representatives taking products to market that house accounts are the exception and not the rule. However, they do happen and they do exist.

When house accounts rear (what some might consider their ugly) heads, it’s generally for reasons such as:

• Cost — the

The only way to find out if your marketing is performing the way you want is to doubt everything you’re doing.

Instead of guessing, jumping from one initiative to another, hoping for the best, or taking advice without knowing how to evaluate it, start at the beginning by questioning your assumptions, your expectations, your personal preferences, and, particularly, your perceptions of what marketing should do for the company.

Just to be clear, question every marketing activity, every plan, every “great idea,” and every recommendation. It’s the only way to move from hoping and assuming to getting marketing right for your … Read the rest

More than 500,000 startups are born each year in the United States alone. Impressed by that number? Don’t be — because 50 percent of those startups fail within their first year. And, within the next four years, another 50 percent — or more — will fail. The environment for small business is hostile. If you’re running a small business today, you know what I mean. Luckily, there are ways to master your environment and give your company a leg up. The number-one rule is this: You absolutely must know how to sell your product or service. And you need to

Long-time friend of MANA Bob Reiss has graciously allowed Agency Sales magazine to serialize his book Bootstrapping 101: Tips to Build Your Business with Limited Cash and Free Outside Help, available now on Amazon.com. The book looks at surprisingly effective low-cost and no-cost ways to acquire the resources you need to run your company. Whether your company is an existing enterprise or a start up, a manufacturers’ representative company or a manufacturer, this book will introduce you to innovative ways to cut your costs and drive more of your income into bottom line profits.

One of the best ways … Read the rest

Not to be clichéd, but in reality most of life and business success is so simple that it borders on cliché. While the saying that “90 percent of success is just showing up” is true, there’s a lot behind that 90 percent. First, most people won’t do the hard work necessary to show up where and when they need to. Second, it isn’t just showing up that matters, it’s how you show up.

What it Means to Show Up

Showing up means your number shows up on caller-ID, it means you physically show up on the doorstep, it means showing … Read the rest

On the westernmost point of Alaska, forming the tip of the Aleutian Islands sits the small island of Attu. Attu has the distinction of simultaneously being the westernmost point in the United States and North America and also one of the easternmost points, (being that it is actually in the eastern hemisphere). Also, it was the site of the only land battle ever fought on U.S. soil during World War II.

On the morning of March 26, 1943, Admiral Charles H. McMorris (U.S. Navy) was patrolling the waters off Attu with a small convoy consisting of one heavy cruiser, the … Read the rest

Essentially a sales manager’s primary responsibility is to recruit, train and motivate his or her sales force to achieve peak performance. Of these three vitally important management tasks, recruiting is the least understood and by far the most challenging.

If you’re successful during the recruiting interview process and hire a superstar sales rep, you’ll find that he or she is self-motivated, coachable, and eager to train. On the other hand, if you’re recruiting out of desperation because your sales reps are failing left and right and you need another warm body, you’ll experience low morale, continued high turnover, and find … Read the rest