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Following his attendance at MANA’s manufacturer seminar last fall, one manufacturer was thankful that he was able to take corrective action before any damage had been done. According to the manufacturer who was right in the middle of making the move from a direct to an outsourced sales force, “I thought that by making the change I was going to be able to kiss goodbye all the planning and budgeting that I had to do with my directs.”

He noted that when he brought up this subject during the seminar, he learned very quickly that wasn’t the case. “I learned right away from some of my manufacturing peers that even though I might not have a direct sales force, I couldn’t ignore the budgeting for the sales process. Obviously, reps will handle the details of their own businesses, but it remains for the manufacturer to support the rep sales team — and that brings with it some of the same budgeting and planning you had with your own direct staff.

“As an example, how about trade shows, sales literature and advertising, not to mention a professional presence on the Internet? Then there’s always the field trips to schedule to work with reps in their territories. These and other expenses have to be planned and budgeted. If you don’t budget for them, a great deal of the effort your reps expend will be watered down by a lack of solid follow-up.

“If nothing else, I learned that budgeting for sales is as important when selling through reps as it is when you sell with a salaried sales force. In fact, most reps are more than willing to provide you with guidance as you perform your budgeting. Remember, many reps actually got their start in corporate sales departments, and many of them were senior sales executives, with budgetary responsibilities before they started their own agencies.

“If I had any advice to offer other manufacturers in a situation like mine, I’d say that as long as you’re working with reps, take advantage of the opportunity and ask them for advice.”

The Value of Networking

Association and industry meetings remain fertile ground for any manufacturer looking for guidance on how to work more efficiently with their rep sales force. Here’s one manufacturer’s experience: “Owing largely to a number of retirements among the reps I’ve worked with for years, I was charged with recruiting several new agencies to help us with our rapidly expanding business. It was at that point, while attending a number of regularly scheduled industry meetings, that I sought the advice of some of my non-competitive peers. I can’t thank them enough for the advice they offered including the following:

• “Obviously the factory visit remains an important part of getting your reps comfortably acquainted with your operation. During the visit it’s critical to make sure that their duties and your expectations are clarified. You can never over-communicate, and completing this task from day one will head off problems down the road. Be sure to take the time to review all of the company policies that relate to the sales function and make sure the rep becomes familiar with how you invoice, collect, provide technical support, etc. Also during that visit, ensure that reps are provided with the opportunity to meet face-to-face with as many of those people that they’ll be dealing with on the phone.
• “Staying with the factory visit, if more than one of your reps takes part in the visit, establish a means by which all of your reps can communicate with each other. Naturally, the establishment of a rep council is highly recommended.
• “And finally — and perhaps most important — be sure not to waste time in the beginning of the orientation process. Begin it immediately and the best way to do that is to kick off any orientation with that aforementioned factory visit.”

Pay for Services Rendered

If anything is not a surprise, it’s that as manufacturers’ staffs have shrunk. Many of the marketing tasks previously performed by those staffs have been passed along to reps. Having acknowledged that fact, one manufacturer said he’s well aware of the pressure this puts on reps, and he’s hardly surprised when reps complain. Here’s his response to those complaints: “If one of my reps brings this to my attention — and several have — I’m going to readily admit that this is a subject that has to be addressed. Furthermore, if I learn that a rep was complaining about not being compensated for something he was doing, I would go to him and let him know that he hasn’t been taking advantage of the relationship we’ve worked long and hard to establish. Rather than complain, here’s what I’d want to happen — I’d want both of us to put our cards on the table, consider how the situation is currently being handled and then solve our mutual concerns. Simply said, it’s all about engaging in two-way communication.”

Face-to-Face Contact vs. Technology

It’s inevitable that whenever Agency Sales conducts an interview with a manufacturer or rep, the subject of the impact of technology raises its head. At the same time, neither side minimizes the continued value of face-to-face contact in the sales process. For instance, here’s one manufacturer’s view: “There has been a virtual tidal wave of technological advances that have impacted the way we conduct business. But even in the face of everything from e-mail, voice mail, iPhone and the Internet, the face-to-face contact that our reps provide to our customers is probably more important today than it has ever been. Look back just a few years and consider the technological innovations that have changed the way we conduct business. Many of those changes may have made us and our reps much more efficient and productive; but at the same time, they’ve conspired to make us much more dependent upon machines. That’s why when a rep shows me that he’s maximizing his time in front of the customer, I will always be impressed and convinced that reps are the way we want to go to market.”

Relationships Always Count

While the previous item emphasized how important face-to-face contact is for both manufacturers and their reps, another manufacturer took that a step further when he stressed how important strong relationships were between rep and manufacturer. “When it comes to establishing a partnership with a new rep firm, there are two things we look for — relationships and length of tenure.”

He continued, “Replacing existing reps has never been one of our major concerns. We’ve got a network of reps that goes back close to 50 years in some cases and I’d even go so far as to estimate that the average length of service with us comes in around 25 years.

“There are times, however, when we do have to replace a rep firm for one reason or another. When that occurs, we ask our remaining reps if they can recommend someone in the territory for us. That’s why our long-standing relationships are so important. We’ve found that through our reps’ networking activities over the years that the reps get to know each other and can recognize the qualities that will make them effective.

“Another good source for us is the MANA RepFinder® and recommendations we find through our industry-specific rep associations. Once again, it all comes down to relationships. If they are firm, we know we’re going to be successful.”

Learning Lessons From Sports

After enduring a mixed bag of results working with independent reps, one manufacturer admitted that he looked back at his modest athletic career from high school through college and drew from some of his experiences to improve his relationships with reps. “I was a modestly successful athlete playing both baseball and basketball when I was a lot younger. One thing I learned from my experiences, however, was that in a team environment, no one person can accomplish everything. Sure, there are exceptions like Tom Brady in football and LeBron James in basketball, but in the real world everyone has to chip in for the team to be successful.

“That’s what I was thinking about when the relations between my company and one of our rep firms became a bit frayed. When I looked at the situation, I had to admit that I didn’t do as much as I should have to create the team environment that was called for. What we had from day one, was an ‘us vs. them’ environment. Part of that grew out of my organization’s lack of openness and communication. As a result, I had convinced myself that I didn’t have time to do anything to improve the situation. By making that decision, however, things only got worse. Near the end, one of our reps explained to me that he felt this just wasn’t going to work and we’d be better off parting company. While in that instance I had to agree with him, I’m determined to move ahead because strategically working with reps looks like it would be ideal for me and my organization. But it can only move forward if we eliminate the adversarial environment and work together. And, that’s something I’m committed to doing.”

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