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“MANA is the #1 resource for:

• Professional reps,
• Reps who aspire to become professional, and
• Principals who set high standards of professionalism of reps they choose to be their partners.”

Those words appear on MANA’s website, and elsewhere in this issue of Agency Sales magazine (see MANA President and CEO Charley Cohon’s editorial on page 3). They are repeated here because this issue of ASM focuses on the pressing need for professionalism in independent manufacturers’ representatives.

Close to 10 years ago MANA member Harry Abramson, president, Electronic Salesmasters, Inc., Beachwood, Ohio, kicked off a series of articles for this publication that all contained the word “perfect” in the title. He began with the perfect rep and went on to detail the qualities of the perfect principal, perfect customer, perfect sales meeting, etc.

When he was contacted to comment on the professionalism of reps, Abramson was quick to agree that it was more than acceptable to substitute the word “professional” for the word “perfect” when referring to today’s rep. “Not all that much has changed since I first wrote those words,” he says. “Fundamentally, what I said then, I still believe today.”

Some of what the veteran electronics industry rep said years ago includes the need for the “professional” rep to be adept in a number of business practices including these:

• Limited Line Count

Today’s rep really does want a limited, synergistic line card for which he can generate a reasonable income and comfortable lifestyle. Additionally, all reps want fair and stable commission rates and no “house accounts.”

• Time Share

The professional rep creates the feeling that each principal is his most important line and receives the majority of his time. Minimally, each line does receive its “fair share.” Professional reps allocate time for each principal on every sales call and thoroughly pre-plan appointments with key decision-makers.

• Communications

The professional rep is the ultimate communicator. He provides prompt responses to customers, principals and distribution partners. He submits reports and forecasts in a timely manner. His phone is answered by people who care and voicemail is only used during off hours.

• Face-to-Face Contact

The professional rep doesn’t lose sight of the importance of direct, face-to-face contact. This applies to interacting with all supply chain partners — especially customers.

• Technology

The professional rep is a member of a high-tech organization with slick software systems that track opportunities, have account management, sales analysis, create RFQs, quotes, sample requests and even conduct databasing — and more.

Abramson stresses the critical importance of staying abreast of technological advancements when he says, “Our principals require effective and timely communications. As a result, they’re putting all kinds of technology at our disposal. They want their reps to be high-tech. If we fail to get on board, they’re never going to let us on the train.

“We’ve always made a concerted effort to stay ahead of technology and we’ve consistently promoted that fact.”

• Relationships

The professional rep will primarily focus on selling relationships and second offer product solutions. Product knowledge is easily accessible from the Internet and ironically reps are no longer essential to disseminate product information. The professional rep understands and masters account culture and has strong relationships with the “movers and shakers.”

• Loyalty

The professional rep is truly loyal and respectful to their supply chain partners. Open and honest relationships must be promoted, honored and valued — that’s just what they do.

• Line Conflicts

The professional rep has no line conflicts, but in the real world minor conflicts occur. The professional rep reports line conflicts, regardless of degree, as soon as they occur.

• Succession

The professional rep plans for succession — not too early and not too late. The principal/owner of the rep firm has hired people with the “right stuff,” who are capable of taking the organization forward after his retirement.

Abramson explains that “I’m in the midst of making my contingency plans for the future right now, and I feel great that my successors are in place. If I do this right — which I have — the continued success of our agency is guaranteed.”

He adds that once succession plans are formulated “It’s important for the professional rep to share them with principals. My way of letting them know about future plans is an informal approach over lunch, for example. I didn’t want to do it via a letter. My message was, ‘We’ve always been a forward-thinking organization, the individuals we have in place are progressive-thinking to take us successfully into the future.”

• Negotiating

The professional rep must master the skill of negotiating with their principals as well as their customers. While the previous words describing the attributes of the professional rep were adapted from Abramson’s early writings, he’s quick to offer his up-to-date view of the professional rep of 2013.

“It’s useful to think of the words of Garrison Keillor on National Public Radio’s Prairie Home Companion who refers to the children of the fictional Lake Wobegon as ‘all good looking and very smart,’” says Abramson. “So too is it with independent manufacturers’ reps. The good looking and very smart among them are the ones that survive and thrive. They are the true professionals. But then the question is asked: ‘How did those successful survivors get to be so good looking and smart?’ The answer is they’re professionals at what they do. They possess all of the attributes mentioned above — and more. Those of us who are still around are more sophisticated than ever before because the accountability of our actions has increased. All of the software packages that we’re now called upon to be adept with come with reporting and forecasting models and opportunity trackers. It’s up to us as professionals to know how to use them effectively. They are our empowering systems. We should feel blessed that we have them at our disposal.”

There’s more than just accountability, however. “What does it take to be truly successful?” he asks. “Is it education or attitude? There was a study on that very subject I believe out of Harvard University. The results they published indicated that it was attitude and I’d concur. In looking at the people in our profession who are successful, it’s because they desired to be successful. Add to that their propensity for associating with others who are just like them (either in their businesses or in the associations they participate in) and your have the ingredients that lead to professionalism and success.”

Conversely, when he’s asked what he sees when he spots a rep who may fall into the “unprofessional” category, Abramson explains, “The first thing I see is a lack of ethics. They simply don’t possess them. Sure, they can say all the right things and be in all the professional trade organizations that exist, but the ethics of those organizations simply don’t rub off on them.”

Based on what he sees of current rep practitioners, Abramson admits he’s fairly optimistic for what the future holds for the true professionals in the rep profession. “Obviously, nothing is cast in concrete, but if the ‘best and brightest’ among us continue as they have, the rep profession looks quite good for the future. It’s got to be somewhat Darwinian in that if we continue to do those things that make us professionals in our trade, then we’re going to be the ones who survive.”