First, the worst advice. The worst rep advice I’ve received was a suggestion to enter into the industrial products markets at the same time everyone else was doing so. It seemed to be the next best thing to venture into. Wrong!

Now, the best advice. The best rep advice I’ve received was for our agency to remain within our own ‘synergistic continuum’. What?!

It basically means to remain within our safety industry and within the scope of the products and services of that specific industry only. It doesn’t mean (as we and others attempted) to venture out into a broader spectrum of industrial products — those unrelated to safety products, such as grinding wheels, abrasives or cutting tools, etc. It means staying synergistically within the continuum of our industry (continuum: “the continuous whole, quantity, or series” — Webster).

Of course, the reverse of this paradigm is true. Broad-spectrum industrial products reps can venture into industrial safety products. But that is another topic.

So here it is: if you service broad markets — sure, venture out; synergistic continuum — stay within.

The key, I think, is to remain on the journey, doing what you do best — but better. By doing what you do best within your product group, you become the expert — the source and the resource. You also become the economic value-add to your distribution channel.

That’s my best advice. Think about it.