A roundtable discussion made up of manufacturers and reps tackled the subject of synergistic sales calls late this summer. There was no shortage of responses when the question was asked, “Do manufacturers give credence to the theory that every call a rep makes is a relationship call for the manufacturer regardless of whether their line is presented or not?”

One participant offered, “It’s a 50/50 proposition. If the rep doesn’t actually present one of his lines in the course of the call, he’s still in front of the customer, and at the same time he’s gathering information concerning the customer’s needs. Ultimately that may present opportunities now and in the future for any principals who aren’t actually presented. More times than not, a rep will go into a sales call prepared to discuss two or three of his lines. My experience has been that the rep winds up presenting one or two additional lines.”

A rep added that “Any sales call is a positive experience in terms of strengthening customer relations even if each line represented is not specifically covered in the course of that call. Remember that during the visit any good rep will offer ‘I have other lines. May we help you with other needs you might have?”

Nodding in agreement, one manufacturer noted, “The reps we prefer to go to market with tend to be synergistic in nature. As a result, sooner or later they’ve got more than one line to discuss with the customer.”

Ultimately, however, every principal has to answer the question of how much of a rep’s time he would like in the field. Among this group, one manufacturer offered, “We’d like as much as we can get. I’m not sure there’s any single answer, however. But when we have 50 percent of the rep’s revenue, is it unusual for us to expect 50 percent of his time?”

Other members of the discussion group weren’t about to let that question go unanswered.

One rep, who has spent time as a manufacturer before going into business for himself, noted, “When I was a manufactur-er, I didn’t really care how much time was spent on sales calls. I simply measured the rep’s performance in terms of dol-lars booked vs. potential in the territory.”

Another rep explained how he adjusted his time on various principals’ lines: “The manufacturers that I work with expect me to develop and grow accounts based upon the existing and potential dollars. I develop a matrix that might explain that such and such is a $100,000 annual account. What that means is that I will call on that account every two months. I set the expectation, and if a manufacturer doesn’t like that approach, then we discuss it up front during our annual review.”

And finally, another rep who indicated he was more than willing to be forthcoming with his principals, said: “I really wish that more of my principals would ask how much time I spend developing their business. Generally, they simply look at the sales numbers with absolutely no reference as to what it takes to produce sales or what they may be doing to make it easy or difficult to produce sales. I make every effort to remind my principals that our statistic reports are actually more of a reflection of their shipping schedules than our selling efforts.”

Taking a Sales and Marketing Plan to the Next Level

Rather than being completely introspective with its sales and marketing plans, one manufacturer decided that to become truly effective with its team of independent manufacturers’ representatives, it would include them in their corporate sales and marketing plans. According to the manufacturer, “I developed a specific plan for working with reps based on a great deal of material from MANA. In addition, I’ve been working closely with the first rep I ever appointed as a consultant for my company. Our first rep pointed out that it was important that we have a consistent plan for working with reps, and we contracted with him to help us develop that plan. I’ve got to admit, we felt a bit as if we were inviting the fox to come into the hen house because we didn’t any have any real knowledge of working with reps and we were depending so heavily upon him. In hindsight, though, it really worked out well. Our choice of that rep and our decision to have him develop the plan was the best course of action. I’d suggest that other manufacturers follow suit regardless of how they develop it. In addition, I’d suggest that even manufacturers who have been selling through reps for an extended period of time should develop a plan if they don’t already have one. It will help them clarify relationships, while at the same time point out areas that need bolstering and areas than can be augmented to be even better than they are.”

Agreeing To Solve a Mutual Problem

An obvious sign of the trying economic times was related by one manufacturer that was told by its top rep firm that it was downsizing from two full-time people on the road to just one. The move was taken because the rep’s other principals had undergone some tough times and had downsized themselves. The principal involved here was the rep’s top line, but it was his feeling that having just one person work a fairly large territory wasn’t going to provide him with the coverage he had become used to. The rep agreed, but was unable to hire another person to continue the expected coverage. Both the rep and the principal desired to continue to work together so they had to agree on something. What they finally agreed upon was that the rep would either give back a portion of the territory or appoint a sub rep. The rep opted for the latter and things seem to be working well thus far.

What a Rep Should Be

One manufacturer wrote Agency Sales recently to let us know the value of something that appeared in the magazine years ago. According to the manufacturer, “I read something in Agency Sales more than 15 years ago, and I’ve used the advice I read to guide me as I’ve continued to work with reps over the years. The article in question described qualities that a rep should possess: ‘The rep had better be someone who’s well-rounded and isn’t primarily occupied with closing the sale. Rather, a manufacturer needs reps who think strategy and planning—not just how many of what product the customer needs.

‘The rep should be as interested in the business page and Wall Street as he is in the sports pages. In addition, he’s someone who’s always a step ahead of the customer, not only anticipating his needs, but at the ready to meet those needs before the customer realizes the need is there. In other words, he has a mindset of, ‘I’m going to be there waiting for the customer.’”

The manufacturer admitted that he clipped this advice from the magazine and keeps it within sight on his bulletin board.

Moving Up the Purchasing Ladder

Long an advocate of making joint calls with his reps, one manufacturer reports his method for helping reps achieve greater market penetration beyond the typical purchaser or user of a product. “After years of working with reps, I’ve come to the conclusion that salespeople are seldom able to penetrate their customer’s organization beyond the level of the individuals who buy or use the products that they sell. All of us know how helpful it can be for salespeople to at least be on friendly terms with those in general management at upper levels. Recognizing that fact, a few years ago we developed an approach that seems to get us where we want to be with those people. Our joint calls with agents are not only made with our top marketing people, we make every effort to integrate our key top management, including our CEO. These calls are planned very carefully to provide the customer with the opportunity to bring in their top people. In fact, we’ve found that this is something they really want to do. Some seem somewhat intimidated by meeting our CEO without having their key people with them. Of course, this has worked to our advantage. It works in our favor that we have a CEO who knows that nothing happens until someone sells something. But maybe you can train the bean counters to have a broader outlook, too.”

Making the First Call a Good One

“Too many people think we can pull all the information we need from the Internet to ensure that their first sales call is going to be successful. That hasn’t been my experience,” maintains one manufacturer. “It takes a face-to-face meeting in order to get a handle on what is really going on with a prospective customer. I’ve noticed over the years from making calls with my agents that those who sell best are those who operate this way. And they also tend to be those who have considerable experience. The newer and younger people tend to believe that everything they get off the Net is complete and true and useable. It isn’t. It’s a good start, but it’s only one part of the big picture.”