One of the many things Rick Campo, CPMR, learned when he opened his agency’s doors more than 23 years ago was the difference between a good and a bad rep.

Campo, president of West-Tech Materials, Costa Mesa, California, explains that one of the first steps he took before opening his agency was to identify and interview top-performing independent manufacturers’ representatives. That wasn’t enough for him. From there he moved on to interview a number of less-than-top-performing agents. The information he garnered from those interviews pointed him to his ultimate business path.

According to Campo, “Here’s how I began the process. I spoke with a number of people who knew some reps. Starting with those they thought were top performers, I took them to lunch and then ran through a number of questions I had prepared ahead of time. I was interested in everything they had done in their careers from starting an agency, to what their challenges were, and how they defined a good rep. Once done with that, I moved on to those that were a bit less successful.

“Interestingly several similar traits for good and bad reps emerged from the conversations. First, among what I would call the good reps, they all worked extremely hard. They developed and maintained strong relationships with principals and customers. After all, those two make up a rep’s professional life.

“The less successful reps, on the other hand, always have someone else to blame for their failures. They blame others at the same time they don’t follow up on leads, or communicate with customers and principals.

“It was obvious that the good reps were proud of their hard work and their successes, while the poor performing reps weren’t accountable for their shortcomings.”

Starting a Career

Campo, who founded the agency in 1992 and joined MANA in 1997, took a fairly circuitous route to become an independent agent. After earning a BS in Metallurgical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York, he went on to gain more than 20-years’ experience in engineering, development and sales of specialty materials and components for electronics and medical applications. Prior to starting West-Tech Materials, he was an engineer with Texas Instruments Metallurgical Materials Division where he held positions as engineer, business development specialist, marketing specialist and sales engineer. His product development experience includes precious metals, specialty metals engineering, metal stamping, plastic insert and reel-to-reel molding, cold heading, precision machining, laser processing, soldering technology and chemical etching.

With that as background, Campo explains how and why his start working in a family business selling fruit and vegetables in Boston’s North End now finds him heading an agency

“Even when I started working with family, I always loved math and science. That led me to my college degree and the beginning of my career. At one point, someone I had previously worked for who was then the president of another company told me I ought to be a rep. He encouraged me by saying his company would use me as a rep. Three other companies followed suit and I was on my way.

“One of my first steps was to put together a business plan, and MANA was a huge help with the information they provided.” He adds that he still has those documents from MANA. From there he conducted the aforementioned good rep-bad rep interviews and proceeded.

Electronics to Medical

Campo explains that while the agency’s original product offering was electronic only, the move into the medical industry came about by being in the right place at the right time. “One of my electronic principals had a division in Switzerland that dealt with the medical industry. I was introduced to the vice president, who wanted me to sell his product line in Southern California. From there we moved on to another medical customer in Minnesota. I would say we were very fortunate.” Today the agency has moved from 100 percent electronics to the majority of its business being in the medical industry.

To serve the electronic and medical industries today, West-Tech has offices in Southern and Northern California, Arizona and Tijuana, Mexico. Serving those territories the agency has three inside, five outside salespeople, and three sub-reps.

As he looks back over his agency’s 23-year history, Campo offers a few observations concerning a number of changes he’s experienced during that time:

Communication — “I’m a stickler when it comes to communicating with my principals. As a result, I don’t have a single principal who asks me for call reports — because I always let them know what’s going on in the territory.”

MANA — “MANA was the first organization I contacted for assistance. I joined the association when I opened my doors. From that first contact I got any number of brochures, articles and books on how to start and grow a rep firm. I’ve kept all of them in a three-ring binder and refer to them often.”

Flexibility — “One of the major changes I’ve seen in the rep business has been our increased involvement in a number of activities that are not directly related to sales — and for which the rep is not compensated. At the same time, I would maintain it’s important to remain flexible in relationships with principals and constantly be aware of the need to bring value to those relationships.”

Contracts — The challenge of getting long-term contracts from principals is something Campo is currently dealing with. “The typical rep firm agreement is one of 90 days. That’s what we’ve traditionally lived by. I’m working like crazy right now to develop long-term contractual relationships.

“Ideally an agency wouldn’t want a single principal to represent more than 35 percent of his business. My largest principal right now has exceeded that level over the past five years of my business. The challenge for me is to keep that business and obtain a long-term commitment from them at the same time I grow their business and increase the percentage of business for my other principals that I represent.” He adds that this remains a challenge for him with all his principals.

Technology — “I’m not a dinosaur when it comes to working with technology. If anything, I will enthusiastically embrace technology because I can see its positive impact on a business. It’s amazing to me how younger people make it look so easy.”

Another positive aspect of a rapidly developing technology in Campo’s view is that of social media. “Social media might have been something I initially dismissed, but I can’t discount its importance to the business. I’ve developed so many contacts on Facebook and LinkedIn and it allows the agency to have a much broader exposure that it might normally have.”

Due Diligence — “Conducting due diligence is important for anything you do in your business. When it comes to working with principals, a critical part of your due diligence is to determine how receptive a principal is to the concept of working with a rep organization. I recently just refused a principal because I determined they didn’t understand what it took to work with reps.”

Best/Worst Decisions — After thinking for a moment, Campo explains that since beginning his business, his best and worst decisions both involved hires. “When I was ready to make my first hire, I checked with local colleges looking for a person who had the complete skill set I was looking for. At the same time, a friend of my wife’s who was working in daycare contacted me. She didn’t have the needed computer skills, but I sensed she had the ideal personality and was a hard worker. I sacrificed the skills I was looking for on a resume for the person I really wanted—and needed. Then, on her recommendation, I brought on my next hire. Finally, we hired her daughter. What’s resulted is that we have a very close-knit group in our organization.”

Conversely, at a different time when another hire was made, “Even though the person I hired came with some red flags, I stuck with him for too long. The negative impact of making such a decision can be very draining on the entire organization.”

Campo adds that an important thing he’s learned when it comes to hiring is “not to be afraid to make the effort to add quality people. That will only allow your company to grow.”

Pioneering Work — When it comes to taking on a line when the principal has no business in the territory, Campo says, “I’ll do pioneering work, but it comes with a cost attached to it. I’m very leery of making a commitment to a principal in those cases, unless they’re willing to participate in the effort.” He adds that the agency has had experiences when retainers or shared territorial development fees have been paid for the first two years, “…and we’re still working with them today.”

Finally he offers this bit of perspective on what it means to be an independent manufacturers’ representative: “It’s important for reps to realize that their partnership with a principal is a two-way street. Having said that, it’s important for us to constantly sell ourselves to our principals. We’ve got to make them aware of the value we bring to them. At the same time, a rep is only as good as the principal and the products and services that the principal provides. In the end, I let my principals know that they won’t be as successful without me because I do a great job. But I also let them know I won’t be successful without them.”

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