All too often when the subject of communication between independent manufacturers’ reps and their principals comes up the focus is immediately turned to call reports. That shouldn’t be the case. At least that’s what one retired manufacturing executive emphasized in a recent conversation. According to the former national sales manager, who left his position with more than 30 years’ experience working with reps, here’s what impressed him about reps that took a proactive approach to letting him know what was going on in the territory.

“Here’s one thing that always got my attention — the rep that let me know when he just got his arms around a major order. If anything, that provided me with what I needed to know about the rep’s abilities and attributes. Believe me, there’s nothing more impressive than what I see on the bottom line and it’s up to the rep to give me a heads-up.”

“With the proliferation of tablets and phones that take pictures, why not let me know immediately when they see a novel application for my product in the field? Isn’t that the best indication that they’re out and about in the territory visiting with customers and prospects?”

“I’m not afraid of complaints or negative feedback. If the rep isn’t proactive in letting me know what’s not right with what we’re doing, how can I ever make corrections?”

“Never let up on telling me about the benefits of the rep’s synergistic approach to marketing and sales. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been impressed by a rep letting me know how my product line opened the door for him to sell another manufacturer’s products. When he tells me that, I know the situation will be reversed and an unanticipated door will open for me.”

More on Synergy

Continuing on the subject of the benefits of the reps’ synergistic approach to the market, manufacturers continually report how much they value that attribute. According to one manufacturer, “When we look at the rep’s line card, we can tell immediately what doors he’s going to be able to get through in order to successfully make a sale. As a matter of fact, we won’t even look at a rep if his products are dissimilar to our own. Our thinking is that in the pressure-packed environment we all work in, the rep needs every advantage he can have to maximize his time in front of the customer. If he can make the customer’s job easier, by representing products that go together, then we know he’s the one for us.”

He continued with a cautionary note: “There’s more to compatibility than just products, however. You’ll also want to keep in mind that the rep you consider is working in a territory where a good number of your customers are located and that he knows how to sell customers who are compatible with the product that you manufacture.”

A Rep-Only Entrance

While a manufacturer was honest enough to admit it was late to the game when it came to putting a rep-only portal on its website, he went on to describe how this latest effort at communication with reps was a culmination of its years-long effort at keeping reps in the loop. “Reps have overwhelmingly accepted this rep-only portal. At the same time, however, they’ve always been complimentary of the spectrum of communication efforts we’ve employed. As a result, we can point to an unusually long tenure with the majority of our reps. The main reason we’ve stayed together so long is that we’re in constant touch with each other. Since we have any number of communication tools at our fingertips, we’re right out in front when it comes to letting our sales force know everything they need about the company, new product release, personnel moves, etc. Proof that our approach is effective can be seen in the fact that our reps reciprocate by taking the initiative to let us know everything important that happens in the field.”

The Beauty of Big Checks

When the subject of terminating reps after they’ve done too-good of a job was introduced to a panel of manufacturers, the discussion took a turn that should be welcomed by any rep. Here’s how it went: “A fair rep earns a fair commission. A good rep earns a good commission. And finally, when it comes to great reps, those are the ones to whom manufacturers write very large checks.”

In all fairness to the group of manufacturers that were tackling this subject, the majority agreed with the president of one company who noted that “I maintain that it’s the rep who has established relations with the customer. It’s our job to assure him that we value his effort and communicate to him that all we’re interested in is him earning as much as he can. Translating what that means, the more he earns, the more we earn.”

Gratitude for Field Visits

A manufacturer recently related the subject of what he called a candid conversation with one of his reps that told him he was on the right path with his outsourced sales staff. According to the manufacturer, who had long been an advocate of conducting field visits with his reps, here’s what one of his reps had to say: “The rep maintained that he truly appreciated that we take the time to make sales calls with him. The only caveat that he offered, however, was that plans be made well in advance and consideration paid to his busy schedule. But overall he maintained that he appreciated it when we take time to travel with him. He said that showed how interested we were in him. One thing he said that really stuck with me was ‘This shows that you really care about our problems and what we run into in the trenches on a daily basis.’”

Defining a Role

Just last month a manufacturer sent Agency Sales a poster he has on his office wall that defines what he looks for in a rep. He maintained the words that follow have guided him for more than 30 years of working with reps.

Qualifications: Strong selling skills, territory knowledge, contacts, and a conversant understanding of the technology related to our product line.

Defining the rep’s role:

• Find and qualify new accounts in the priority industries and applications that we serve.
• Understand the prospect, its products and organization, position in its marketplace, management style and method of decision making, vendor requirements, etc.
• Identify decision-makers and influencers and build long-term relationships with them.
• Anticipate and identify customers’ needs, both stated and unstated.
• Deliver the company message, employ the corporate strategy, and overcome objections.
• Gather and analyze competitive information.
• Orchestrate the selling process.
• Align customer’s and principal’s long-term goals. Become the advocate for the prospect to the principal, and vice versa.
• Anticipate future requirements and respond accordingly.
• After the order, continue to re-examine customers’ needs regularly and strengthen company’s positon.
• Remember, the company with the best technical solution does not necessarily get the order. But a company with strong engineering, sales and marketing skills is tough to beat in a competitive situation. Having a local representative who can be face-to-face with the prospect, has strong personal skills and be able to communicate and work well with people is a major asset.

What is Value-Add?

A manufacturer came away from a conversation with one of its top-performing reps with what he called, “An understanding of the term ‘value-add’ that I can live and work with.’” Here’s how his rep defined it for him: “Your value-add can be how your business is operated; how your product is developed, manufactured or marketed; or elements that go into your product or service that are of significantly higher quality, value or durability than that of your competitors. In addition, your value-add can even highlight or be something that your competitors have, but they have failed to explain or make known to their or your customers.”

The Value of Staying Together

Over the past several issues of Agency Sales, we have been profiling a variety of manufacturing firms that go to market with independent manufacturers’ reps. Among the many attributes that these manufacturers shared is the fact that they all boast of very long tenures with their reps firms. That fact got us interested in pursuing that topic a bit further with one manufacturer. According to the manufacturer, “Our rep firms and we have worked long and hard at sustaining the relationships we enjoy. I’d say it’s a little like a marriage. If the little things go wrong and you start picking at each other, then those little problems become big ones and everyone suffers.”

He continued by saying that some of the other elements he could point to that supported the relationships he boasted about were mutual response and appreciation for each other’s problems, effective two-way communication, personal contact, and a true sense of partnering.

Say No to Part-Time Help

When a manufacturer spotted an item in a sales publication (thankfully it wasn’t Agency Sales) about hiring part-time and temporary sales personnel to bolster the efforts of full-time salespeople, he passed it along to us with the following admonition: “Temporary sales personnel take much too long to ramp up to the point where they can be effective. They need product training as well as training to gain a familiarity with our company culture. Independent reps, on the other hand, know the territory, the customers and the product better than anyone. Since they already possess the expertise and sales experience, they can hit the ground running, take no time to train and represent a fixed cost for us.”

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].