Years ago there was a television police show called Dragnet. Whenever a witness or a suspect would get off track or offer a little too much useless information, the hero, Detective Joe Friday, would say, “Just give me the facts.”

Opening frame from the 1950s TV series.

This came to mind recently when a manufacturer was copied on an e-mail that a customer sent to a rep. Evidently, like so many business people today, the customer is used to getting swamped with calls and information from all sorts of salespeople —except one. Here’s how the e-mail reads: “Just wanted to drop you a note to thank you for not harassing me constantly. I was reminded of that today after I got several calls and e-mails from some reps that usually bother me. I laughed about your joke the other day about not calling me and just keeping me up to date with what you rep.”

This sounds like a good example of less (sales calls) being more (effective).

The Benefits of Becoming a Technophile

A manufacturer who describes himself as a latecomer when it comes to embracing all things technological, begrudgingly admits that when it comes to communications, the trend toward electronic communications has been a godsend. “I’ve been working with reps for years and as far as I was concerned, nothing could replace the phone, fax, sales reports and visits in the field. I’ve been a little slow coming around but I’ve got to admit that texting and transmitting pictures from field installations can’t be beat.”

He continues that his company, just as many other manufacturers, has gone through the typical downsizing needed to allow it to survive. “As a result, I am and just about everyone else around here is doing the work of two or three people. The only thing that lets us do that is technology —especially in our dealings with reps. “It took me a while to get comfortable with texting as the preferred means of communications, but what a time saver. All that goes between us and our reps are the facts. There’s nothing extraneous.”

He goes on to say that the easy transmission of photos from job applications in the field is another benefit of technology. “I don’t know how many times a rep will send a product application photo to us, and attach a question on how to solve a problem. Since our inside people can see immediately what’s going on, they’re much better able to provide immediate attention to the reps.”

A View a Manufacturer Should Appreciate

In the course of interviewing a number of reps for this issue of Agency Sales, one rep offered a view on something he especially appreciates when it comes to principals. According to the rep, “My partner and I have been in business for well over 30 years. To this day, we’re still working with a number of established lines that have been with us since day one. Personally, I like to work with new manufacturers who appreciate the synergy that exists between their products and the lines that I already represent. On the other hand, I get a little apprehensive with a prospective manufacturer that begins talking to me like I don’t know anything about the business that I’m in. I do like it, however, when the manufacturer provides me with the freedom to act a bit like his regional sales manager rather than just a salesman for the territory where I work.”

What a Principal Should Be Looking For

While the focus of this issue of Agency Sales magazine is how reps can find and keep good lines, it’s always helpful to put the shoe on the other foot — that is, to consider what principals should be looking for in prospective reps. To that end and in no particular order, here are a few areas that manufacturers ought to consider when looking at reps:

• Exactly what is it that the manufacturer needs/wants/expects from the agency in order for the job to be performed efficiently and effectively?
• Does the agency under consideration have someone on staff who will act as the principal’s expert or advocate?
• Does the rep agency have an objective or philosophy that is in sync with that of the principal?
• Where does the manufacturer fit into that philosophy?
• What are the agency’s short- and long-term plans for the line? Where does the manufacturer fit into it in terms of being a priority for the rep?
• What does the rep think his agency will look like in five or 10 years?

The Importance of the Written Contract

When MANA convened its Annual Legal Forum in Chicago earlier this year, the attending attorneys made the point over and over concerning how important it was for the rep and the principal to work together with a clearly written contract that spells out the terms of the relationship. Among the points made by the group were these:

• While personal relationships and handshakes are great, they should never serve as the substitute for a written agreement.
• Specificity is critical in a contract. Just as important is the need to remain flexible during early discussions with agencies about any number of things including territories, products, commissions, terms of commission payment, performance, the term of the agreement and the rep’s rights after termination. Then, it’s important to write areas of agreement into the contract.
• When the need arises, specify other points that are not covered in the contract in a letter of agreement — sales meetings and trade show participation, promotion involvement, service, marketing functions, etc.

A “Thank You” for a Poor Economy

When manufacturers were bemoaning the state of the economy at a recent industry meeting, one particular manufacturer offered a thank you of sorts for something the challenging economy has caused — his move from a direct to an independent rep sales force. Here’s how he stated his case:

“When business slowed we found that our sales force wasn’t having much luck selling new products into new territories or existing products into territories where they’ve had success in the past. While this was going on, we were still faced with the prospect of supporting them in terms of full salary, benefits and all the inside support we’ve always offered. Like so many other companies we were forced to make cuts in order to achieve savings and one of those areas where we cut was in the number of our direct salespeople. We made the move to reps in a number of territories and we couldn’t be happier with the results. As a matter of fact, things have worked out so well, we expanded our efforts and are actively searching out more rep firms.”

Keeping Fully Informed

The national sales manager for a manufacturer phoned Agency Sales recently to discuss what types of information that reps should regularly keep coming his way. Thankfully (at least to his reps) this was a manufacturer who didn’t place much stock in regular call reports. According to the manufacturer, “That’s just so much paperwork that we don’t have time for. What I do appreciate, however, is the rep who proactively provides me with all forms of sales and marketing intelligence, not to mention updates on what the competition is doing.” He continued that there’s another area of intelligence that he’s especially interested in and that’s the plans that the agency has for its future. “If the owner of an agency is taking on a new line, looking at new markets or even planning his exit from the business, these are things I need to know. Let me give you an example of how valuable this is to me.

“First, in this past year, one of our reps who’s been in business for more than three decades decided to begin his plans for the future by turning the business over to his son and one other individual. The first thing he did was to let me and his other principals know what was going on. What’s happened is that he’s been assured that all of his principals approve of the changes that he’s planning and they indicated to him that they look forward to working with his new team.”

A second instance he cited was the reaction of one of his reps to a national marketing program the manufacturer was initiating. “All too often, reps receive our marketing information and if they feel it’s not going to work for them, they just push it aside and ignore what we’re doing. Then we have to deal with the fact that our efforts failed not only in his territory, but others as well. In one instance I can recall, late one Friday afternoon one of our reps called and we had a lengthy discussion on why our ‘one size fits all’ marketing program just wasn’t going to hold water. I appreciated his candor and took his input back to our people where we made changes.”

Bottom line for this manufacturer was the fact that the reps he cited were more than willing to take advantage of the open lines of communication that the manufacturer had put in place from the first day of their relationship.