“I do a good job for all my principals, but there is one principal whose product I really love selling. I probably spend more time on that principal than the commission strictly justifies, but I do it anyway, because they always make me look good to my customers.”

That’s not a direct quote from one rep, it’s a composite of rep comments from a recent LinkedIn conversation — and it’s a topic that always comes up when reps get together.

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Those reps’ consensus: Great principals earn more of a rep’s attention

by being easy to do business with. “Not-great” principals sometimes push for attention disproportionate to commissions, but reps ultimately push back when principals try to get extra attention by pressuring their reps instead of earning it. One rep cited a principal who wanted 30 percent of his time but represented just 8 percent of his income. The rep had no choice but to have a heart-to-heart talk with that principal to manage expectations about activity levels that could be maintained in proportion to commissions.

Principals who earn more of a rep’s attention do it by generating enthusiasm and becoming the rep’s “emotional favorite” with rep-friendly practices such as:

• Scheduling time in the territory based on mutual need and productivity.
• Using the reps’ feedback from the field to good advantage.
• Providing a quality product, shipped on time, at a competitive price.
• Creating fair and consistent split commission policies.

And one thing most reps agree on is that a principal who has house accounts has little hope of becoming its reps’ emotional favorite. Many reps consider house accounts to be a bellwether of a principal’s overall attitude about reps — once a principal takes house accounts, can commission cuts and territory reductions be far behind? It’s likely that most principals who take house accounts never consider this collateral damage: Even though they continue to get their fair share of their reps’ time, taking house accounts blemishes their reputation, making it unlikely they will ever become their reps’ emotional favorite or earn anything more than just their fair share of their reps’ time.

Congratulations to John Beaver of GSA Optimum for winning our “MANA Wants You for the Cover of Agency Sales Magazine” membership recruitment contest, which earned him the right to have his rep company featured on the cover of this month’s issue of Agency Sales. Thank you, John for your recruitment efforts and for your long and continued support of MANA!