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Spend time speaking with manufacturer sales managers and independent manufacturers’ reps and chances are it will be a common occurrence when you run into a rep who was once a manufacturer and vice versa. For manufacturer sales managers especially, their time spent as a rep can prove valuable in their dealings with their rep networks.

One manufacturer notes, “Since my reps know that I was once a rep, I come to the table armed with a great deal more credibility than someone else might have.” He goes on to say that many reps go out of their way to seek and value his guidance, especially when it comes to creating and making effective sales presentations. Armed with several years’ experience on both sides of the desk, this manufacturer sales manager regularly offers some important sales tips to his reps including the following:

• Keep abreast of the latest developments — “There’s nothing better than a rep who is not only informed on all current product applications, but also on industry trends in general. When both elements are included in a presentation, the customer will be impressed. It’s up to the manufacturer to push his reps in this direction. Since I was once a rep, this process is a bit easier for me.”
• Targeting the customer — “It’s critical for the rep to stay focused on the specific needs of the customer and keep his presentation tightly focused on meeting those needs in addition to anticipating and solving customer problems.”
• Give and take — “If one person (the rep) does all the talking during a sales presentation, the opportunity is lost to truly learn what the customer needs and wants. I always encourage reps to build in time for questions and ensure that they’re prepared to answer all of them.”

Valuing the Rep’s Time

“When I made the change from a factory sales force to a rep network one of my first concerns was how I would know whether the rep is spending the proper amount of time on my line.” That’s how one manufacturer typified her company’s initial forays into the world of rep selling. “I had heard from other manufacturers how they wanted their reps to submit reports and other regular updates on their sales activities, but whenever I mentioned such things to my reps, they pushed back.”

She continues, “It took me a little over a year before I think I hit my stride in relations with reps, but here’s what I did. I finally realized I just wasn’t going to get all of my reps’ time and I certainly wasn’t going to get the amount of time from them that I did get with a direct sales force. When I want more of the rep’s time and attention, I make sure that there’s a real need for it. I’m not going to waste his and my time. For instance, let’s assume I’ve got a product introduction in the works. Rather than just sit there and complain that I’m not getting his attention, I’ll let the rep know ahead of time why this is important and why it’s important for him, not to mention how it meets customer needs. My experience has shown this kind of one-on-one communication works wonderfully. For their part, reps have been extremely cooperative.”

Promoting the Annual Sales Meeting

Just as manufacturers are downsizing, so too are their reps. As a result, one manufacturer pointed out that he’s encountered a growing reluctance on the part of many of his reps to attend annual sales meetings. “I understand what’s going on,” he explains. “As the economy continues to struggle, reps are reluctant to leave their territories, which is where they make their livelihood. Their feeling is that time out of the territory is money out of their pocket not only in terms of what they sell for me, but for all their lines.”

To counter the rep’s objections, here’s the multi-pronged approach he’s taken, which thus far has worked quite well:

• “I stress the point that reps are going to receive a ‘free’ education covering my entire line of products. This education will be conducted quickly and efficiently and we’ll get you back in your territory with a minimal loss of time.”
• “I stress that this is absolutely the best time and place where you can get an update on all new products and company policies.”
• “You’ll have the opportunity to meet the factory people, network with employees and develop rep advocates within our company.”
• “Here’s the ideal time for the rep to ‘sell’ his agency and its capabilities to our entire management team.”
• “Any nagging problems can be resolved in person, by you.”
• “You’ll have the chance to meet with your rep peers and discuss mutual problems and solutions to those problems.”

“While that’s what can be accomplished during the actual sales meeting, I continue to communicate with them and let them know that following the meeting:

• “I’ll be communicating with each of the reps in attendance and acknowledge their help in this effort.”
• “I’ll lay out a plan that clearly shows them how we’ll complete every task that we agreed upon. I think it’s important to let them know that there were no empty promises made.”
• “Finally, I communicate to them that I will conduct ‘de-briefing’ meetings with my own staff in order to go over all the important matters that we discussed during the sales meeting.”

The manufacturer concluded that “It all comes down to communication. I tell them what I’m going to do ahead of time. I do it. And then I follow up.”

E-mail Overload

When one of his reps complained about e-mail overload, the manufacturer listened. “I’ve got to admit that I eventually and grudgingly accepted e-mail as a viable means of communication with my reps,” he explains. “It’s probably got something to do with the difference in generations, but I have always preferred in-person or telephone communications when working with my reps. As time changed, however, I bought into the idea that e-mail worked better on many occasions. Maybe it was just my becoming more comfortable with electronic communications, but when my rep said his e-mail was overflowing with messages, I asked him what was the better way to communicate. He quickly responded that if I wanted his immediate attention and the message could be sent in a concise manner, then texting was the way to go.

“As I look at the whole picture of communication between principal and rep, I’ve got to admit that everyone has become too reliant on e-mail as a means of communication and I’m no exception. But what has happened is that this rep, and all my reps for that matter, simply receive too much. It has become a tool that, while once valuable, is now being abused. As a result, there’s a real possibility that important communications can be ignored, if not lost.

“I’ve got to admit that the first thing I had to do was learn how to text, but now I’m at ease with it. An outgrowth of this is that this isn’t the only rep I communicate with in this manner. Many of my other reps have followed suit and I receive immediate response (as do they) when questions come up.”

The manufacturer emphasized that texting wasn’t supplanting all other forms of communications and the telephone and in-person meetings were still critical to the relationship.

The Importance of Understanding

When a number of independent reps were interviewed for the “Rep of the Future” article that appears in this issue of Agency Sales, several of them explained that they felt their principals didn’t truly understand the rep way of going to market. Chief among the failings they cited were the manufacturer’s lack of grasping the rep’s multi-line business. As a result, many manufacturers want to be first and foremost all the time with the rep in front of the customer. The knowledgeable principal, on the other hand, understands the workings of the rep firm and recognizes the strength of the synergistic approach.

While many of the reps maintain it’s incumbent upon principals to know what a rep is and how he operates, they added that since they find this knowledge lacking many times, it’s up to the rep to carry the education /communication load in order to truly inform the manufacturer.