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In the first article in this section of Agency Sales, manufacturers offered their views of what constitutes a “professional” independent manufacturers’ rep. In this article, the tables are turned as two reps turn their eyes on manufacturers.

With 22 years as an independent manufacturers’ rep under his belt — and closing in on 50 years in business for his agency — Joey Lane is quite comfortable speaking about his view of what it takes to be a quality manufacturer. He’s at ease with the subject because he maintains he’s got nothing but real pros on his line card.

Lane, who began his rep career in 1992 with his father’s (Joe Lane) agency, Power Systems, Inc., has some definite turn ons and turn offs when it comes to defining what it takes to be considered a quality manufacturer. (When succession planning for the agency was initiated in 2001, a separate corporation, JR Lane Associates, Inc., was established, although JR Lane Associates was doing business as Power Systems, Inc. In 2008, when the plan was implemented, all of Power Systems’ principals and a large percentage of key customers were included in the plan.)

According to Lane, a manufacturer’s industry reputation, new product development, ability to provide complementary products, marketing expertise, sales support and ability to communicate all have to be considered when taking stock of a manufacturer.

He continues, “In my — and my sales team’s — perspective, a great manufacturer is one that continuously introduces new and innovative products to the market. Purchasing managers and engineers don’t enjoy sales reps making appointments and taking up their time to talk about fishing and golfing anymore these days — that used to perhaps be the case, but not today. They need to know what is new and how we can help them grow their business. Everyone has a lot more job responsibility and much less time to get things done these days. A quality manufacturer will provide us reps with new and innovative products to present to our customers. Quality manufacturers also will provide the professional rep with market opportunities, and hopefully, qualified sales leads related to that particular product line that they are introducing.”

“I’d estimate that close to 90 percent of the manufacturing firms that we’ve conducted business with we’ve found via their reputations in the industry,” Lane says. “When it comes to finding and working with the best manufacturers, I’m not someone who walks trade shows and trades business cards with prospective principals. What works for me is to get to know people by networking and speaking with other reps and customers to learn who’s the best. In addition, if a manufacturer is a member of MANA, then I would have a much higher comfort level entering into a principal-rep relationship with them.”

Lane continues that his agency is contacted regularly by manufacturers from overseas and throughout the United States. “The great majority of times, these contacts don’t work out. On the other hand, what really works is when a manufacturer calls and says ‘I was speaking with a rep who knows you in New Mexico and he speaks highly of you. We’re looking for representation in your territory.’ My response to that kind of personal contact is that this is probably a great opportunity and I’ll find a way ASAP to schedule an interview meeting with this manufacturer.”

Staying on the subject of networking and personal contact for a moment, Lane emphasized the value of networking opportunities he’s experienced during rep-manufacturer gatherings, most recently at the PTRA Annual Conference. “The interaction among MANA/PTRA members and manufacturers at the conference was outstanding. That’s the kind of interaction that really helps both sides long-term. The expense of attending the meeting was well worth it.”

The evaluation of a manufacturer hardly ends there, however. Next up for Lane is to determine whether the manufacturer’s product line complements his other lines. “We’re looking for a good fit. We’re not going to take on a line just to have more to sell; rather, we’re looking for products that our customers need and want. In addition, the quality manufacturer will show a steady record of new product development.”

Tailor-Made Marketing Programs

Hand in hand with new products is the marketing that goes along with it. According to Lane, an important practice that allows some manufacturers to stand apart from their competition is their ability to tailor-make marketing programs for their reps. “If there’s one thing that turns me off more than anything else,” he explains, “it’s the ‘boiler-plate’ marketing programs that a manufacturer believes will work nationwide. For instance, I’ve got a lot of customers down here in the South who are quite a bit different from anyone in the Northeast. If you believe that the same marketing program is going to work for both areas, you’re kidding yourself. The quality manufacturers know that and their approach is, ‘You’re the rep in the territory. You know your customers and their needs. You develop a sales and marketing program for them and we’ll support you.’ That’s how it ought to work and that’s one of the differences between a quality manufacturer and the rest.”

Since JR Lane & Associates prides itself on its internal sales and marketing efforts, it’s looking for the right amount of support from its manufacturing partners. Key to that support, according to Lane, is what the manufacturer can offer when it comes to conducting joint calls in the field. “One thing that is important to my customers when I bring a sales manager into a customer facility is that the customer always wants to know ‘what is going on in their industry’ in other regions of the country, or more increasingly, in their global market. The customer hopefully knows their local/regional market. Customers view sales managers as a knowledge base for what is going on in the bigger industry. When a sales manager is knowledgeable of industry-wide trends, or industry ‘movements,’ then he or she immediately adds value to the customer. That’s the sign of a real pro. They view the sales manager and sales rep as valuable resources — the orders then seem to naturally follow.”

Lane continues, “This is a huge consideration for me. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t regularly cover the features and benefits of the product lines I represent. Likewise, with someone from the manufacturer’s home office, when I bring them into a sales call and they provide input they’ve learned by traveling with reps nationwide, that’s a huge value point for both of us.”

Value of Communication

No conversation with an independent rep about the professionalism of his manufacturers is complete without addressing the subject of communication. Lane maintains that regular call reports don’t translate into effective communication and the quality manufacturers he works with don’t ask for them. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t regular back and forth between rep and manufacturer. “To be perfectly honest, a formal sales report would be a waste of my time and if a manufacturer wanted regular call reports, they wouldn’t have time to read them all. What we do is to communicate with our principals every couple of days or every week. We both appreciate the fact that our time is better spent in front of the customer. In addition, all of my principals require an annual sales forecast and projection.”

Continuing on the subject of communication, Lane describes how four of the agency’s principals (Hypro Corporation, division of Pentair, New Brighton, Minnesota, a pump manufacturer; BETE Fog Nozzle, Inc., Greenfield, Massachusetts, an industrial spray nozzle manufacturer; Den Hartog Industries, Hospers, Iowa, a tank manufacturer; Techtop Industries, Alpharetta, Georgia, an electric motor manufacturer) conduct regular web conference calls. “They conduct regularly scheduled web-ex meetings where all of the reps have the option to dial in. The purpose of these calls is for all the reps to share success and/or failure stories among themselves and also with the key sales/marketing departments of our principals. These meetings are voluntary as our principals would prefer for us to be in the field with customers, but most of the reps find a way, from a hotel, vacation, or wherever they may be, to participate in the calls.”

Lane continues, “I and my sales team always walk away from these calls with enthusiasm and plenty of ideas for opportunities for new customers and applications for our principal’s products. These sessions work great and pump up my sales team. They also provide for great camaraderie among the participating reps.”

He concludes with the thought that “If you ask me what constitutes a quality manufacturer, then I’d have to say everything we’ve spoken about would fit into the definition.”

It’s Not All Puppies and Rainbows

When asked to define what it takes to be a “professional” manufacturer in the eyes of a rep, and then describe how he finds those sometimes not-easy-to-find pros, Tom Halpin doesn’t hesitate to admit “I simply don’t have all the answers.”

That’s a fair response, but he does offer some ground rules that he’s followed over the years that have been effective for him and his manufacturers’ representative agency, Titan Marketing. Halpin also serves as president of the consulting firm The Halpin Group, Gross Pointe Farm, Michigan.

“When you’re considering prospective principals it seems like everything is puppy dogs and rainbows,” he says. “A prospective principal will say all the right things and emphasize that all they need are good salesmen to make everything work great. There’s more to it than just words, however.”

Here are some of the considerations that Halpin, whose agency focuses on promoting products to tool builders and processors in the die casting, plastic injection and metal forming supply chain, keeps uppermost in mind:

• Investment — “I just dropped off a prospective client at the airport and I can tell he’s someone I can work with. The reason I know is that he invests in his company. They put more than $1 million back into the business in the last two years. That shows me how interested they are in running their business professionally.”
• Reputation — “I’ll always ask a prospective principal if they mind if I call their top-performing reps and even some of their customers. Even if they said ‘No’ to my request, I’d probably check them out anyway. Vetting a principal isn’t an easy job, but it’s got to be done — and a large part of the vetting process is checking on someone’s reputation. No one wants to air their dirty laundry and you as the rep don’t want to go into interrogation mode, but you’ve got to know what you’re getting into. In addition to first-hand conversations with people (e.g., reps and customers) the Internet is a huge help in this process.”
• Networking — “An indicator of a true professional is that they are constantly networking with their peers. They’re sharing issues, strengths, weaknesses, best practices and really getting an objective view of what’s going on in their respective industry.”
• Relationships — “A key attribute of a true professional is that they’re believers in creating strong relationships with their reps. If that means building a strong, mutually-agreed-upon business plan or pulling away from daily business activities in order to huddle up on how to do things more effectively, so be it.”
• Commissions — “In my opinion the professional manufacturer will respond to the approach of, ‘I don’t care how you pay me. But tell me how you’re going to do it and be accurate and consistent. That’s what the rep cares about.”
• Key performance indicators — “There are some manufacturers that employ key performance indicators. That means they hold their sales force accountable for things like the number of new accounts; operations is held accountable for on-time delivery, etc. The fact is, if I’m traveling with their company president and he lets me know that they now employ key performance indicators, that’s a sign that they’re a professional. It also shows me that they’re hungry for work, will turn around quotes and in general have a sense of urgency when it comes to taking care of their customers.”
• Complementing the business — “I get the feeling that some sales managers just want to fill a hole in their coverage. They don’t care who reps them. What they’re missing is that to be truly effective their product line has to complement that of the rep. They’re not showing that they have an understanding of the rep’s core business. As a result, the partnership isn’t going to work very well.”