Agencies’ quest to locate and hire competent and hopefully successful outside salespeople remains a constant. If there was any need to have a reminder of the importance of that ongoing process read the interviews with agency heads that appear in this issue of Agency Sales. At the same time, it’s worthwhile to take a look back almost 10 years to an article that appeared in this publication (May 2009) entitled “In Search of the Right Salespeople.”

In that article, Mike Norton of AxiomOne, a company that provides diagnostic and evaluation tools to assist in the hiring process, detailed some … Read the rest

As Kurt Kroemer and his partners in CEP Sales Inc., Zionsville, Indiana, looked to the future, what they saw was a good deal of uncertainty. “Faced with the prospect of half the sales force anticipating retirement in the next couple of years, not even counting what plans I might have, we had to make some decisions. One of the decisions we could make was to simply do nothing and just let the agency peter out. Another path we might take would be to try to sell the agency to someone. The latter course obviously takes a great deal of planning

Jerry Ballard offers that he’s happy to share his thoughts on the process of hiring salespeople for his agency and communicating what works and what doesn’t work. “I’ve been hiring and training salespeople for 40 years. I get a little better at it with each mistake I make. I could write a book on my mistakes, but only a pamphlet on my successes.”

Ballard, who heads Energy Equipment, Inc., Midlothian, Virginia, explains that “We have two rep lines and 10 specialty distributor lines. To be successful with our distributor lines, our outside salespeople have to think like a manufacturers’ rep … Read the rest

A real-world guide to data sharing for reps and manufacturers.

Call reports, sales reports — reports, reports, reports.

I think we can all agree reports can be useful. Visibility, benchmarks, sales numbers — you name it. There’s a lot to be gained from effective and accurate reporting. There’s intelligence to be gained and strategies to be formed.

But time in front of a spreadsheet is time away from the road. Manufacturers want numbers. Reps just want to sell.

Where’s the balance?

Well, You Can Start With the IRS

After all, a manufacturers’ rep is an independent contractor. And performance requests, … Read the rest

Think Your Way to Success

There are plenty of people in the workforce who do “something,” but not so many who do what needs to be done. And this is both a problem and an opportunity.

Success depends on being among the few others count on to get the job done right — and that takes thinking. Here are questions that can serve as a guide to thinking your way to success:

• “What if this isn’t what my customer needs?”

What if I’m trying to force it, attempting to make it work — and it isn’t? Most of us tend … Read the rest

Pat was not happy as she left the meeting with a long-term customer, or should I say, former customer.

“Pat, we have done business together for a long time,” her customer started, “but we have decided to go in a different direction this time.” The customer went on to say how ABC Company, one of Pat’s biggest competitors, worked with them to integrate ABC’s solution into the customer’s systems, resulting in faster inventory turns with fewer shipping errors, and they were able to demonstrate how this will increase margins and profit for the customer.

The ABC Company’s salesperson sold value.… Read the rest

Customer service is all about listening. According to Bernard Ferrari, author of Power Listening: Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All, good listening is the key to developing fresh insights and ideas that fuel success.

Organizations choose front-line employees for their social poise, their outgoing personalities and their ability to communicate well, meaning their ability to talk well. And they train them in what they can and can’t say and what they can do to help the customer. Finally, their performance is evaluated by how proactively they manage and resolve problems or calls.

It isn’t hard to understand … Read the rest

This month’s article is the eighth in a serialization of the author’s life and career as an independent manufacturers’ representative.

Reprinted with permission from The Reputable Rep, Success in Sales and Life, by Sig Schmalhofer.

The Reputable Rep

Relationships

The reputable rep, like the distributors and contractors in his market, has both a financial and personal interest in the people he or she does business with. Reputable reps can be the glue that cements factory-customer loyalty.

In theory sales is pretty simple: communicate the right way with the right people, and you’ll make sales. It’s in practice that most people complicate the issue. So how do you keep it simple?

Assuming you’re selling something where someone has to deal with you for any length of time, in other words, you’re not selling batteries at Walmart, you need to get several points across:

• You care.
• You’re trustworthy.
• You understand their problem.
• You’re competent and can solve their problem.

That said, effective communication begins with mindset. First, you must be completely sold on and have confidence in … Read the rest