Discussions focusing on the need for individuals and companies to change very often seem to gravitate to examples of dinosaurs and buggy whip manufacturers — both of which failed to change and now they’re gone. Among the more common phrases that accompany these discussions are, “Change is hard” and “People hate change.”

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Perhaps a more down-to-earth consideration of the subject appears in the words of Chip and Dan Heath in their book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard. The authors maintain, “Big changes can start with very small steps. Small changes tend to snowball. But this is not the same as saying that change is easy. If it were, we wouldn’t see around us … lagging companies and thwarted social change efforts. Change isn’t always easy and it isn’t always hard. In some ways change is ubiquitous; in others it’s unlikely.”

The Real World of Agents

Since both authors work in academia, their description might make a bit more sense using an example from the real world of the independent manufacturers’ representative. What follows is a note sent to Agency Sales from MANA member The Jones Company, Wheatland, California:

“Below is a news release we’re going to send to a variety of HVACR type publications. We feel it might start something in the rep business that will grow and grow. We’re hearing more and more complaints about most reps having lines but not understanding, promoting or knowing a thing about them when questioned. So, to that end, we’re going down to eight lines and will concentrate on the eight only. This means if another line comes to us (we get about two contacts a week), we’ll need to decide if we want to drop one of the eight to take on a new one. This makes the decision more difficult but at the same time we think it makes our company stronger in eyes of our principals, customers and employees. My son (Greg) and I are both graduates of CPMR and appreciate all it’s done for us. We used the product line analysis for the review. I’ve enclosed a new line card showing both ‘eight is enough’ and ‘American made.’”

The announcement continued: “The Jones Company, a manufacturing rep firm in the HVACR industry, has decided to rep only eight lines. We feel ‘eight is enough.’ After hearing complaints from wholesalers, contractors and principals about reps not knowing enough about the products they’re selling, we’ve decided to concentrate on only eight lines for everyone’s benefit and all made in America. After 35 years in business, with three warehouses, two delivery trucks, a buy-sell program, outside salespeople located in Arizona, Southern and Northern California, and three people in our office, having eight lines will serve everyone better.

“We’ll be able to better cover California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. We’ll be the experts, we’ll be able to teach and support our lines much more efficiently than trying to support 20, 25 or 30 lines like many reps today. We feel we’ll be leading a change within rep organizations to become better and more complete reps in the future.”

Dropping or Losing Lines

Talk about change! Among the more tumultuous events that can occur in an independent representative’s life is when they either lose a line, or when they decide on their own to part ways with a line that they’ve worked with for years. And, that’s exactly what The Jones Company has done.

By way of explanation — and at the same time adding credence to the words “change isn’t always easy and it isn’t always hard” — Bob Jones, CPMR, president, says, “In making this change I don’t know if I can say we’re right, but we are convinced it’s the right path to follow. Before we did anything, we ran all the numbers. In doing so we determined which lines are best for the future growth of the company. In addition, we spoke with all of our employees, asked each of them about the lines they work on, how much time they devote to each. We asked if they had issues with any of the lines and which lines caused problems.”

He explains that the agency is no stranger to this type of change in business practice. “We’ve done this before and it worked for us. After Greg and I had finished our first year of CPMR, we sat down and made the decision that we simply were working with too many lines. At the time we may have represented about 20 lines. In one afternoon we eliminated 50 percent of our lines and 35 percent of our income.

“Sure, then as it is now, this is a tough decision but what it does is to free us up. It allows us to change as a business. Now we’re able to conduct more open houses, work more closely with our principals and customers. In addition our outside people will become the experts on our lines and our inside people will get to know our lines better and are better prepared to answer questions. Basically we’re not going to be chasing our tails for a line that may result in a $113 monthly commission.”

Changing to Survive

What has just been described, according to Maud Purcell, executive director, The Life Solution Center of Darien, Connecticut, is the importance of individuals and business being open to change. “It’s a simple matter of survival. Consider for a moment, the individual who might have symptoms indicating a health problem. By failing to go to the doctor and changing the way they live, they might be facing a fatal illness. So too is it with businesses that fail to recognize symptoms and don’t change.”

Purcell, a consultant and psychotherapist, who is a regular newspaper columnist, continues that “Some people come into this world better able to change than others. Some of that ability is inherited, genetic or simply a matter of brain chemistry. Individuals who are most successful are those who embrace change.

“That brings us to independent manufacturers’ representatives who, because they are entrepreneurs and work independently, are probably more accepting of change than others. They work on their own time, set their own routines, therefore, they can change on a dime, make a change and face the results of that change.”

Interestingly, Purcell supports the thought that when a change is made, the individual must give up something — or even go through some sort of a grieving process. An example of this might very well be the experience of The Jones Company cutting the number of lines that they represent. Upon making such a change, the company gave up half its lines and 35 percent of its income. However, a measure of the company’s ability to embrace and benefit from change is seen in the positives it realizes by making such a change.

Others might follow suit in the interest of survival.

For more on change and how two independent manufacturers’ representative agencies have employed change to their benefit, please read the two case history articles that follow.

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