Tell your customers and your principals how your business works.

© Marina Zlochin | stock.adobe.com

The rep business is very different from other service businesses. Yes, reps are looking for orders. Yes, reps call on different types of customers. Yes, reps are in the middle between the customer and the manufacturer.

The problem is that there is very little information disseminated to the public or in business schools about reps. Somehow reps seem to slip through the cracks. They are lumped in with “salespeople.”

Also, the selling “process” is neither widely understood nor appreciated.

Multiple-Line Selling

The idea of multiple lines being “represented” by one salesperson is not easily understood. The concept that there are real advantages to multiple-line-selling is not something that most people get.

Sell Within Your System

When a sales manager or regional manager comes to visit with a rep firm there is often very little understanding of the rep’s business. In many cases the factory person does not know anything about how the rep’s business works. The individual salespeople who represent their company are a bit of a mystery to the manufacturer’s personnel.

In most cases the factory person has not read the contract their company has with the rep company. In most cases the factory person does not know much about the financial or performance criteria that are in place between the factory that he or she represents as an employee and the factory that the rep represents as a contracted outsourced seller. In most cases the factory person has little or no knowledge or appreciation for the history between the factory and the rep firm.

All of this does not make for a successful working relationship between factory personnel and the reps.

What will make the relationship between manufacturer and rep work better?

• The rep’s profile — the first time a factory person visits the rep he or she should be given a copy of the rep’s profile and walked through it to gain a complete understanding of the rep’s territory, approach to business, and market position. This assumes that the rep firm has an excellent profile.
• Line card — again on a first visit, the manufacturer’s personnel should be given a total overview of the rep’s lines and how they fit together into a solid multiple-line selling package.
• Customer review — the rep personnel should walk the manufacturer’s personnel through the customers and give them a good overview of their operations, what they buy from the rep, and other opportunities, especially with their factory’s products.
• Forecast three to six months — the future sales of the individual manufacturer’s product is key to any visit with a factory person. The rep should be thoroughly prepared to discuss their forecast of sales for the manufacturer. Looking forward and discussing what the rep sees is a critical part of the relationship. The rep is the eyes and ears of the manufacturer.
• Issues — do any issues exist with customers? If so, how should the rep and the manufacturer move forward?
• Other issues, problems and concerns — is there anything else not discussed as a part of the five items above?

Summary

The care and feeding of the rep’s principals is a big job which requires a lot of time and careful thought. This article is designed to get the rep firm leadership focused and advancing thought about the way they work with every manufacturer on their line card. Making an aggressive, highly professional alliance with the manufacturer’s personnel is a great way to build success and make the working relationship work.

Remember you are backselling at all times when you are face to face with personnel from your manufacturers.

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