The three partners of The Garham Group have been able to achieve their goals of successfully creating and growing a business all their own while “Bringing Products to Life.” As stated on the agency’s website (www.garhamgroup.com), the products they “bring to life” reside primarily in their customers’ backyards.

Anthony Zasuwa, one of the agency’s three partners, states: “We specialize in exterior building and outdoor living materials. These include decking, railing, cladding, foundation, and hardscape products. During the last five years, there’s been a real emphasis on backyard spaces. As an agency, we focus on selling innovative products that last a … Read the rest

Sometimes it takes a trigger to spur a rep into action. It might be something along the lines of a change in commission rates, new ownership taking over a manufacturer, or dealing with a new sales manager, but whatever the cause, reps report that performing line productivity analysis can be an indispensable tool when these changes occur.

That was the gist of conversations that took place in the course of a MANAchat devoted to the subject of reps carefully analyzing how profitable their lines are.

One rep started off the conversation by stating a fairly common predicament that many reps … Read the rest

Whether you are looking to replace a line, expand your line list, or start from scratch and build your agency business, there are many factors to consider when signing on with a new principal.

Let me focus on six:

1. Fit with your agency mission statement.
2. Buy-in to outsourced sales model from principal’s ownership and senior management.
3. Reputation for quality products and services in your geographic territory.
4. Excellent references from agencies in other territories.
5. Financial strength.
6. Commission/compensation plan.

Let’s drill down a bit deeper:

1. Fit With Your Agency Mission Statement

Sounds self-explanatory; but easier said than done in my experience. … Read the rest

Keeping your agency “out there” is a great tool for success in the rep business. I send out Christmas/Holiday cards. Mine are a bit special. They contain four pages of photos from the past year along with a few lines of copy underneath.

The response to the cards is quite remarkable. People actually read the little captions on the photos. A picture definitely does say 1000 words.

I get phone calls from people I haven’t seen in person in years. I get emails. Once, I even got a handwritten note from an old friend.

What does this mean to your … Read the rest

Are you noticing how customers are becoming more demanding? When managers bring me in to deliver customer service training for their teams, one of the most frequent concerns they share is how customers seem to be angrier, more frustrated, and more rushed than ever. But is that really true?

My experience over the 30-plus years that I’ve been speaking and training on the topic is that customers aren’t necessarily grumpier. It’s that they occasionally receive service that’s faster than expected, like Amazon’s overnight delivery. And they’re also doing business with organizations like Uber that report real-time the driver’s location, and … Read the rest

Every sports team practices — not just the pros. College, high school, pee-wee, shoot I remember my Pony League baseball team practicing when I was five years old. Add to this the fact that many, if not most, professionals practice. Would you want a heart surgeon who hasn’t practiced on cadavers, and in many other ways, shapes and forms, doing open-heart surgery on you? Of course not. Actually, in that case, you’d hope that they not only had tons of practice before their first surgery and between the others, but you’d also hope that they got lots of game experience … Read the rest

One of my clients recently asked me: “Are outside salespeople obsolete?” He is the CEO of a distributor that specializes in automation equipment. He had just lost three field salespeople and was thinking about replacing them. “What kind of person should I look for,” he asked, “in light of the recent and radical changes in the economy?”

While his need for a solution was urgent, the question he asked is one that every B2B sales leader should be asking in the next few months.

Outside Sales

For generations, outside salespeople thrived on face-to-face relationships. Their approach to the job was … Read the rest

My rep agency was founded in 1975. Communicating with customers and manufacturers was by telephone and “snail mail.” There were no internet connections, emails, or cell phones.

During my high school and college years, I worked for my father’s construction subcontracting business each summer. My father had business friends who were independent manufacturers’ representatives. They each earned excellent incomes and enjoyed the freedom of owning their businesses. Since my father owned his company, I thought I would also like to own my business. The independent manufacturers’ rep business intrigued me.

After graduating from Lehigh University with a degree in industrial … Read the rest