MANA member designs an iPhone/iPad app for agents and principals that includes MANA content and supports the outsourced system of selling.

One MANA manufacturer member describes his representative network as a “force multiplier.” In other words, by deploying this network he is able to reach many more customers and have greater impact on those customers than if he had tried to make those sales calls directly. And he’s learned by experience that the best use of his time is working to support his network rather than trying to do their work for them.

Representatives who sell through wholesalers or distributors apply that same principle when they work with wholesalers or distributors to effectively touch many more prospective customers than the representative could touch on his or her own.

Whether it’s a manufacturer supporting a representative network or a representative supporting a distributor or wholesaler network, a major part of supporting a network is by being sure that the network always has the tools and collateral material it needs to be effective in the field. In the past, that meant regularly updating print catalogs, managing the logistics of getting those catalogs into the right hands, and finding creative ways to be sure that old, obsolete catalogs were pulled from agents’ trunks and customers’ libraries.

As the president of MANA representative member Paul Davis Automation Inc., Chardon, Ohio, I found myself in the perfect position to study that problem. As a representative, I saw both the challenges principals faced supporting their representative networks, and the challenges I faced supporting the distributor networks that sold his products.

With a strong technology background and a deep understanding of the Apple operating system, I developed a solution that not only solved my problems, but my principals’ problems as well. That solution has now become an iPhone and iPad app called LineCard.

What is LineCard?

As with many apps, LineCard is offered on a “freemium” basis, with significant functionality available for free, and additional functions available on a monthly subscription basis. First, the free version.

The free version allows manufacturers to post PDF pages to their own branded channel in the app and make those pages available to their representatives and distributors. So representatives and distributors who have an iPhone or iPad and download the app will always have the manufacturer’s latest catalog material.

The free version allows representatives to launch their own branded channel for their agency, choose up to three principals, and post PDFs of those principals’ products on an agency-specific branded channel that the representative can offer to all his or her customers, whether they are distributors or users.

Because I’m a strong supporter of both the representative system of selling and of MANA, every version of the app will include free access to four classic MANA publications:

• Understanding the Outsourced Sales Professional, by Harry Novick
• Sales Reps/Manufacturers, Adversarial or Cooperative? Tips For Each For Mutual Gain, by Bob Reiss
• The Sales Force, by Charles Cohon
• Why I Love To Find My Competitors’ House Accountsby, Doyle N. Evans

What does it mean when the representative, the wholesaler or distributor, and the end-user all have uninterrupted access to a manufacturer’s literature?

• The topic of a representative’s or distributor’s serendipitous, unplanned meetings with customers will tend to gravitate toward products for which the representative or distributor has collateral material available at that moment. For manufacturers whose products have been loaded into LineCard, their collateral material is always right at hand.
• When a representative or distributor salesperson has downtime, they will tend to review the catalog material they have readily at hand, and again material loaded into LineCard is always readily available.

Having up-to-date literature readily available 24/7/365 is a powerful driver of sales activities, so much so that I refer to LineCard as a “channel mindshare management” tool. And MANA principals and representatives can exercise that tool without cost in the free version of LineCard.

In addition to unlimited cloud-based hosting of product literature, the free version of LineCard has the following features:

• Web-based dashboard. Instead of loading content through an iPhone or iPad, load and manage your content from any web browser, Apple or Windows.
• Request quotes and support on demand. Contact information for both manufacturers and representatives is integrated into the tool, and quote requests are easily submitted by e-mail while viewing any sales collateral stored in the app.
• Smartsale customer mapping. Routing yourself for a day of sales calls? Finish calls early and looking for one last call for the day? Customer cancelled an appointment and you have a last-minute two-hour gap in your schedule? LineCard app will map your stored contacts and your LinkedIn contacts onto a Google-style map, reminding you who is nearby and might be able to see you during that gap in your schedule.

Of course, if the free version is good, the paid version has got to be better, and added are upgrades, such as:

• “Push” promotions. Manufacturers or representatives can use this feature to send text-like notifications of a special offer to anyone who has subscribed to their channel in LineCard.
• Application stories. More than a catalog page, application stories tell how a particular representative, distributor, or customer used a product with great success. A quick, two-step process loads a picture, search keywords, and a white paper or other collateral material into LineCard.
• Analytics. Learn how many times each document has been viewed, shared, liked/disliked, or quoted by users in the app, so you’ll know which of your products are hot and which are not.
• See your subscribers. See who has subscribed to your channel: name, company, e-mail address, city, state, and the last date they used the mobile app.

One of the next features to be addressed will be the ability to view “how to” videos on the app, making it easier to demonstrate products without actually having them in hand.

What About Android?

I initially developed this app for my own agency where Apple products are the company standard. Now that LineCard is a commercial product, an Android version will be needed.

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How Does it Work?

Getting Started

To download and install the app, locate LineCard in Apple’s AppStore using “LineCard Mobile” as the search term. After installing the app, follow the prompts and log in. This takes you to a basic line card you can build from, and you also can subscribe to existing manufacturer organizations, which may be listed by tapping the list icon in the upper left hand corner of the screen and then selecting “Add Manufacturer” from the table on the left.

Selecting the “Sales Partner” button from the toolbar at the bottom of the screen yields a similar list, this time displaying the rep and distributor organizations to which the user has subscribed. Similar to adding manufacturers, sales partners may be added by opening the left hand side drawer with the same list button, and then selecting “Add SalesPartner” from the table.

Once subscribed, users have instant access to all of the product literature, application stories, and promotions published by these sales partners and manufacturers.

LineCard for Manufacturers

Using the dashboard, manufacturers can upload three categories of sales information: sales collateral, application stories, and promotions. These documents must be in PDF format and under 2MB per file, but a nearly unlimited number of documents can be uploaded. Each time a file is uploaded it synchronizes with users who have subscribed to that manufacturers’ channel.

LineCard for Reps

A slightly different representative dashboard allows a representative organization (called a Sales Partner) to build a smart, interactive version of their organization’s LineCard specifically for their customers. For each manufacturer on their line card, a representative organization can add PDF sales collateral, ensuring that their customers and salespeople are never without current sales information.

For more information visit www.linecardapp.com or e-mail Davis: [email protected].