As if the anecdotal evidence from MANA and some of its sister rep associations needs any backing, more reps are reporting there’s been an ‘uptick’ in the number of manufacturers who are contacting them during these trying economic times.

The number of calls from manufacturers desiring to learn more about working with and locating representation has increased to the various association headquarters. Part of the increase in interest stems from the fact that manufacturers — just as other businesses — are cutting back on their staffing, and that includes personnel in their outside sales force. Since contracting with independent manufacturers’ reps is a variable cost vs. the fixed cost of a direct sales force, reps are looking better all the time.

From their perspective in the field, reps report more queries asking if they’re interested in taking on additional lines. According to one rep, “If anything, I’m excited about what’s happening. Sure, a struggling economy impacts us just like everyone else, but the fact is, we (reps) have a real opportunity here. It’s up to us to take the ball and run with it as we educate principals to the value of going to market with reps.”

Dealing With a One-Sided Contract

One rep who’s trying his best to take advantage of this “opportunity” related an interesting encounter he had with a manufacturer who is an associate member of MANA. According to the rep, “I was contacted by a consultant who is working with this manufacturer. He told me the company was a MANA member and was in need of representation in my territory — a territory where they had no existing business. We had a couple of phone conversations as we got to know each other and finally, the manufacturer invited me to visit his factory which was located about 100 miles away. I went there, toured the plant, met the people and was very impressed. Before I left his place of business the principal said I was just the type of rep he was looking for and he was very interested in doing business with me. As I was leaving, he said ‘Please take a look at this contract and let’s see if we can work together.’”

Upon returning home and carefully studying the contract, the rep said, “I was surprised at the one-sided nature of the contract. Naturally, I had seen contracts like this before but given the fact this company was a long-standing member of MANA, I was taken aback, especially since MANA had worked so hard on coming up with a recommended standard contract. In addition to the one-sided nature of the contract, since there was no existing business in the territory, there was also no mention of shared territorial development fees.”

Not giving up on this obvious opportunity, the rep put together a folder that completely covered all of his agency’s capabilities and he included a letter where he presented his case for shared territorial development fees. The result of his effort? No response from the manufacturer. Finally, the consultant got back to him and explained that the rep’s insistence on shared territorial development fee was the deal breaker. The consultant maintained, “The principal felt since you were already calling on customers, what’s the big deal about covering the new line? It shouldn’t take that much of an effort.”

Predictably, the rep responded that for him to approach any business in his territory in a professional way, he’d have to gear up, gain product knowledge, learn the needs of the customers and take the needed time to build relationships with customer decision makers. “None of this occurs in a void. All I want is some acknowledgement from the manufacturer that he’s aware of my investment in the territory and a show of willingness to share in my efforts.”

There’s No Such Thing as a Secret

“There are no secrets in our industry” is an oft-repeated phrase among members of industry-specific rep associations. The truth of those words was driven home recently when two manufacturers and a rep were discussing a move by a third manufacturer to part ways with his rep sales force. It seems the manufacturer recently began having their products manufactured in China, and somehow it made sense to them to do away with reps and use a direct sales force right out of the home office. The three aforementioned participants in the conversation in question were discussing the move, with the rep taking the lead in noting that customers can just about forget getting any kind of after-sale service. The two manufacturers added that competitors of the manufacturer who had made the move were licking their chops at the prospect of selling against the offshore provider. As one of them explained, “There’s no one in the territory who is unaware of this move. We’ve already found that many distributors are shifting away from the manufacturer because while there may be some initial price advantages, those will be far outweighed with concerns over delivery, quality and a lack of service after the sale.”

Finding the Right Fit

One manufacturer wasn’t really complaining when he made the point that for his company there really isn’t a definition of the ideal rep. “Because no single rep has ever been able to meet all of our criteria for excellence, what we do is try to find those who can meet as many of our requirements as possible,” he said.

To that end, “We have prospective reps complete a questionnaire and provide credit information. From the contents of these forms, we’ve been very successful in determining whether to move forward with them.”

With that as a starting point, the manufacturer explained that the company goal was to choose a rep who could meet as many criteria as possible. Among those criteria are:

“We’re never going to sign on with an agency that has more principals than can be effectively handled. In our view, reps in sparse territories may have as many as 40 lines.

In densely populated areas, the rep may have only three or four. The average for what we’re looking for is 10-11 lines. Anything more than that, and we’ll probably look elsewhere.”

“The agency has to have a full-time office support staff to take care of incoming calls from us and our customers. They’ve also got to be able to write quotes.”

“They’ve got to have a customer service organization that provides limited installation service, start-up service and user training.”

“A deal breaker appears if the agency doesn’t have other lines that are complementary to ours. And certainly none of those lines should be competitive.”

“Finally, once we’ve determined the potential for a territory, and the sales for each of the prospective rep’s principals are determined, we’ve got to see that we’re going to be among their top three lines. Anything less than that and we’re not convinced we’ll be getting enough of the rep’s attention and time.”

Why Look at Reps?

When a rep-friendly manufacturer took the time recently to communicate how and why he had made the move to reps from a factory direct sales force, he cited a number of arguments in favor of reps that he had studied in a marketing textbook. Among the points he cited, in addition to economic considerations, were:

“When you make such a decision, the economics of it are right there in front of you. Look at it this way — the commission that you pay to a rep should be weighed against the monthly cost of the salesperson. If that’s all you’re looking at, then the decision should be an easy one. There are, however, other things to keep in mind. As a manufacturer of a specialized product, there may be a need for you to have some sort of specialized knowledge of products/market needs, etc., or to have strong relationships with customers that would be difficult for a factory direct person to duplicate.”

“And that’s not all. Sure, reps aren’t directly under the control of their principals, but having said that, it’s not accurate to hold the opinion that they won’t be responsible to the manufacturers’ or the customers’ needs. I always refer to the argument that for manufacturers and reps to be successful in their relationships, they must believe in the intrinsic value of having an interdependent relationship. As one side does their job properly, the other side benefits.”

Never Give Up on a Good Idea

When one manufacturer complained about his difficulties in starting a rep council, another manufacturer urged him not to give up. The first manufacturer complained that his top two choices to participate in the council refused him because they had participated in them in the past and found them to be a waste of time. The second manufacturer responded with the following advice: “Sure, sometimes rep councils aren’t worth the effort put into them. That usually happens when they are put together to only meet the manufacturer’s needs. Don’t let that throw you off course, however. Rather than working overtime trying to convince unwilling reps to participate, contact some others and get the council up and running. Once you’ve done that, those original reps who were so reluctant will probably see the error of their ways and come around. Chances are that when they see what you’re accomplishing, they’ll want to join in.”