What are most effective — detailed sales call reports or proactive communication on matters of true importance from agents back to their principals?

This is a subject that’s been the core of many discussions between agents and manufacturers — and it’s a discussion that never seems to go away.

Over the years as the subject has been addressed by MANA personnel, debated in manufacturers’ seminars, on the MANA LinkedIn discussion page, not to mention the pages of Agency Sales, a consensus has been reached.

From the manufacturing perspective perhaps these approaches — lifted from interviews with manufacturers indentified as those that independent representatives like to conduct business with — are fairly common:

• “If anything, I think communication remains the number-one challenge between us and our reps. We know that when the rep meets with a customer, there’s a great deal of information that’s important to share with us. Likewise, we have details on new equipment, products or new procedures in the company that we should be sharing with them.” — a commercial vehicle and industrial hardware manufacturer.
• “So often today the rep is ‘stretched’ more and more. Manufacturers expect the sales rep to enter orders, complete time-consuming monthly reports, not to mention frequent survey-type questionnaires, track jobs and then still have time for distributor calls, contractor calls, specification calls on engineers, and home builder calls for those product lines that apply. Commissions have not grown proportionately to the additional duties that the sales representative now performs.” — a manufacturer of water mixing valves and water temperature controls.
• “We’re believers in constant communication with the rep. We accomplish that by the normal methods of phone, fax and e-mail. We’ll also travel with them in the field and find out firsthand what their problems and concerns are.” — a manufacturer of brass valves and fittings.

And from the independent representative perspective, a common view is, “Regular call reports take time away from selling; they don’t cover important issues and are rarely acted upon — or even read for that matter.”

Agents Are Independent

The above points notwithstanding, Bob Cangemi maintains it’s still a subject that comes up. According to Cangemi, who heads Straight Up Consulting, Washington, New Jersey, a consulting firm specializing in sales training and procedures designed specifically for manufacturers of commercial building products, “If a manufacturer raises the subject of regular call reports, my first reaction is going to be ‘What’s the purpose of call reports and what will the manufacturer do with this information?’”

He continues, “Even as I question the value of call reports, the very subject might serve as a red flag for the rep. Maybe the manufacturer doesn’t understand that call reports don’t generate sales unless there is a well-thought-out action plan with proven results.”

Instead of the manufacturer trying to mandate regular call reports, Cangemi recommends that the manufacturer and agent establish some workable reporting guidelines that actually point to a common goal.

Here are some generic parameters that could be managed in a CRM program to help both parties. Each bullet should have a separate action plan associated with it.

1. Agree on following projects based on a value, i.e., $100,000 and higher.
   1. Action: Strength of specification should be considered. If the job is $100,000 but the architectural firm doesn’t have the ability to hold their spec, then you might reconsider chasing this one.
2. List formal project name, architect, construction manager and product type.
   1. Action: Contact CM to understand any potential cost concerns.
   2. Action: Obtain a list of potential installers or subcontractors that will include your material in their scope.
   3. Action: Find any consultants that are also responsible for product selection, i.e., mechanical engineers, façade consultants, daylighting consultants, acoustical consultant, etc.
3. List the drawing stage (Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents).
   1. Action: Find out if there is an owner rep responsible for budgeting the project at each of these stages.
   2. Action: work on developing a specification and check in with the architectural firm at each stage to get a copy of the specification or to see if any substitutions have been submitted.
   3. Action: What information do you want to provide to the architect and bidders at each stage? Sometimes too much, too early is not the best plan.

With this information and more, the manufacturer and sales representative will be able to focus in on projects and time their sales plans appropriately. A savvy sales manager will now be able to look for trends and customer relationships which can necessitate a valuable visit to the rep territory.

“The information that we’re speaking about here is information the manufacturer is entitled to. Remember this is a team effort,” he emphasizes.

Cangemi continues that “When consulting with my clients, whether they are manufacturers or representatives, healthy communication between rep and principal can only enhance the relationship. Neither side has all the answers, but each one can learn from the other.”

Violating the Barrier

Hank Bergson is someone who’s been as close to this discussion as Congemi. Bergson, Henry Bergson Associates LLC, Katonah, New York, currently conducts MANA’s regular Manufacturer Seminar. In that capacity, he notes that call reports are something that’s regularly covered during his sessions with manufacturers.

“There has been a great deal said about call reports violating the barrier between the rep being truly independent from the manufacturer,” Bergson explains. “But so much of what we’re talking about here is the mindset of the manufacturer vs. any legal considerations. Some manufacturers feel that since they’re physically separated from the rep, call reports are their way of controlling things. In order to make up for that separation they want minutely detailed information so they can be sure the rep is working on their behalf.

“With others I think it’s a little bit like having detailed reports on an almost daily basis will provide data that strengthens the sales manager’s position within the company.”

From a practical sense, Bergson, who was formerly the president of NEMRA, maintains the independent representative “has an absolute responsibility to keep his manufacturers fully informed about what’s happening in the territory. You keep him apprised so he can take action and react to and answer questions. By keeping him apprised, however, I don’t mean via call reports. Just tell him what’s important.”

For those manufacturers who believe call reports are important to the agent-manufacturer relationship, Bergson cautions, “The manufacturer who thinks for a minute that their reps are staying up late at night and writing everything that happened during a call, you’re kidding yourself. Added to that is the fact that whatever time the rep sacrifices to do it before he goes on the road or late at night at the end of the week is time and effort he should be expending selling to customers.”

Reports Never Read

Then there’s the belief commonly held by agents that call reports are seldom — if ever — read. “I don’t know how many times I’ve heard something like, ‘I put the words to the Michigan fight song in my call report and nobody called me on it.’

In addition to fostering a belief that call reports aren’t read, manufacturers who insist on them may have created an environment where their company is no longer one that is ‘fun’ to work with. And when that happens, it takes you out of the mix and reps begin devoting time to other lines.”

Bergson explains that after years of working with principals and agents and conducting the MANA Manufacturers’ Seminars, manufacturers in general have gotten over their need for call reports. “Quite frequently, manufacturers have a blended sales force. If they look at the reports from their direct employees, they’ll find they are equally ineffective.

“Here’s the real question: Do you simply want control over everything?”

Bergson adds that during the Manufacturers’ Seminars, “I tend not to emphasize the legal aspects of call reports. Here’s what you really want — a rep who communicates well and keeps you apprised of what you need to know. The rest of the time you want him out in the field in front of customers.”

Bergson concludes that “As someone who has managed direct factory people and reps, and who has faced the issue of call reports, the truth is that call reports contain some of the world’s greatest works of fiction.”

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