Earlier this year, Electrical Wholesaling magazine published an article that examined those very musts. Bylined by Jim Lucy, the publication’s chief editor, the article focused on many of the attributes a rep must have if he is to garner the attention of manufacturers. Included in his study is the following adapted from that article.

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to succeed in the rep game. But as in any sales profession, the difference between winning or losing an order is often razor-thin, and you need to do the little things exceedingly well. It’s not always about the lowest price, and when it is, it’s often an order reps should not want anyway. Heck, when reps even just focus on the following Sales 101 basics, they can out-sell a good-sized handful of competitors:

• Following up on requests from manufacturers and end-users with accurate information as quickly as humanly and technologically possible.
• Always making that extra sales call.
• Being prepared for all sales calls.
• Treating everyone with the same professional respect and basic honesty you ask of them.

These sales basics go a long way, but for a rep to truly be best of breed they must do the following:

Develop certifiably great selling skills — Many of the top rep firms regularly enroll new sales personnel in MRERF’s Certified Sales Professional (CSP) program.

Run a profitable rep firm — Over the past 20 years, dozens of top reps have enjoyed executive-level operations’ training through MRERF’s CPMR program.

Work in sync with manufacturers on product launches — Reps are the central link in a successful product launch. To do it right takes a ton of up-front preparation. First off, the manufacturer has to make it worth the rep’s time. The best manufacturers pay a higher commission percentage for new products. An often overlooked step of the launch process is developing a timetable for getting product samples and literature out in the market — often in coordination with an advertising campaign in publications, key trade shows and counter days with distributors.

Budget selling time for missionary lines — Be properly compensated for your effort — many reps round out the package of lines they represent with a few smaller “missionary lines” that require extra effort to introduce in the marketplace.

Go electronic — Like many small business owners, some reps have a love-hate relationship with technology. But the best of the bunch use EDI to their advantage.

Keep the company’s website updated — Reps run small businesses, and most can’t afford a full-time web master to build out and maintain a sophisticated web site. But that doesn’t mean that at the very least their web sites shouldn’t always have current contact information and links to their manufacturers’ web sites.

Keep salespeople equipped with and trained on the proper technological tools — Most reps are road warriors, and they need to be able to run their businesses and sell effectively from the road. Best-of-breed reps usually equip their salespeople with laptops, personal data assistants (PDAs), pagers or other communication devices.

Network — Sure, some lone-wolf reps succeed. But there are many more reps who have built their businesses with the contacts and ideas they get through MANA or their industry-specific rep association.