What you don’t know can hurt you. This is especially true when it comes to selling through independent manufacturers’ representatives.

Pro-Active Involvement

Building personal relationships with the reps is much more valuable than you might think. It is obvious that it is good to be friendly and to get along with your reps, but there is much more to a personal relationship with a rep. In some cases it is the owner of the rep firm; in others it is the field salespeople. Or it might be the inside coordinators and customer service people, or even the bookkeeper.

The more of the rep’s personnel that the vice president of marketing or sales (or both) or the president knows, the better. Also, field people like regional managers should be making it a point to know the rep’s people well.

In a very few cases, a manufacturer’s top executive can become a trusted advisor to a rep. In one case I saw this work to the advantage of both the rep and the manufacturer. In one case, the rep principals became advisors to the president of a very large manufacturer. This type of relationship is rare, but when one develops, it is very valuable to both sides.

The manufacturing leadership should make a point to audit the relationships their company has with each of their rep firms. If close relationships are lacking, the manufacturer has to ask why, as well as how to make the relationships more productive and closer.

The Lines — the Line Card

Do the key sales and marketing personnel really know your rep’s lines? Do they understand what those lines are all about? Do they know where your line fits in? Can you speculate on the total commission the rep earns from their top 5‑8 lines?

Note, in most cases the top 5‑8 will represent more than 80 percent of total commissions.

If you are their top line, it is easy to talk very freely and openly about their business, their plans and their efforts for your line. If you aren’t one of the top lines, you have to be asking whether there is real value in the relationship. You have to recognize that as good as this rep firm is, it may not be right for your line.

Figuring out your position with the rep firm and the extent of future potential is a major part of the job of manufacturing sales management.

If you are one of the other top lines, you have questions to ask also. How has the rep positioned your line? What customers of theirs are important to your firm? How do the reps plan to make your line grow with their customers?

Knowing the rep’s line card and understanding the positioning of your line is critical to future success.

Dealing With “Issues”?

Looking at a rep firm when there are problems or issues with customers is an important task. It is not always pleasant, but it is vital that manufacturing sales management knows and understands the reps’ approach to dealing with problems. Do they expect the principal to do everything when there are problems?

Quality of Representation?

In a rep firm with only two or three people it is easy to assess the quality of the sales personnel. But, if the rep has eight or more outside salespeople calling on customers you want to sell, it is a very different situation.

How does the manufacturer come to grips with evaluating the quality of representation in this situation?

Bottom-line: you have to know about each salesperson. You cannot afford to have anyone in the field who is not up to the standards you set with the rep principals.

When you are concerned or disappointed in a salesperson, you have to have a plan for getting the situation fixed.

And, the rep management must be responsive to your concerns and have a plan for fixing the situation.

Summary

1. Relationship with the key people in the rep firm.
2. Line card — what do they have and where does your line fit in?
3. Problems/issues — how do you work together for the benefit of all (customer, manufacturer and rep)?
4. Sales quality — how good are the field salespeople? If they aren’t good enough, what is being done about it?

It all sounds very simple, but only a few manufacturers are digging in and making things happen with their reps. There is an overwhelming tendency to blame the reps. This is an easy and very weak solution. Changing reps very seldom results in improved sales.

Making your rep system work is key to increasing sales and market share. Commitment to action is critical.

Good luck and good selling.

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