Years ago in the pages of Agency Sales magazine, a MANA member reiterated the oft-repeated simplistic view of what independent manufacturers’ reps do for a living: “Many people believe reps just make sales calls and follow up.” At that time, by describing the full range of products and services his agency provided, thankfully he went on to illustrate how wrong that description is.

While that rep did a good job of making his case, the three principals of Sales Solutions, Inc., have gone several steps further as they describe their initial attraction to the rep profession and how today they … Read the rest

Manufacturers and their networks of outsourced sales professionals (i.e., independent manufacturers’ representatives) don’t agree on everything. One area where they’ve found common ground, however, is the potential for friction between manufacturers’ inside support staff and the reps working in the field.

Manufacturers and reps interviewed by Agency Sales for this article point to several causes for the potential existence of friction including these:

• Lack of understanding of each other’s role.
• Lack of appreciation for the role each performs.
• Failures in communication.
• Existence of pre-conceived notions.
• Perception that each side should be doing more.
• Lack of a personal connection.

The marketing … Read the rest

“Don’t fall into the trap of thinking like a customer. If you do, you’re done!” This warning has been pounded into the heads of salespeople — and it will follow them until their last day on the job.

Changing the Sales Narrative

Why is thinking like a customer dangerous? It’s the noxious notion that leads down the dark and dismal path to serious trouble — lost sales. If you dare to let yourself think like customers, you may be distracted from your mission and become overly understanding and sympathetic, even finding yourself walking in a customer’s shoes.

Yet, successful salespeople … Read the rest

There is a reason why McDonald’s continues to enjoy such huge revenues. Could it be that there are more than 31,000 McDonald’s restaurants around the world in 118 countries? That is partly the reason; however, I believe the fact that they sell nine million pounds of their delicious French fries per day is an even more important element.

What they really do well is ask, “Would you like fries with that?” McDonald’s worldwide excels at add-on sales. I realize that others have also gotten on the “add-on sales” bandwagon, yet McDonald’s consistently performs year after year.

What Would it Take?… Read the rest

“If you are not willing to learn no one can help you. If you are determined to learn no one can stop you.” — Zig Ziglar

I believe that learning is the fundamental activity in a successful and purposeful life. I have spent much time and money since 1979 learning about everything related to customer service. The result has led me to position myself as the leading service strategist and expert in the world. I have been given endless opportunities to learn, and I realize that the more difficult the situation, the more likely I am to learn and take … Read the rest

This is the 12th in a number of articles serializing The Sales Force — Working With Reps by Charles Cohon, MANA’s president and CEO. The entire book may be found in the member area of MANA’s website.

With the economy strong, Troothe and Bigglie continued to jockey for position in the flange market. Troothe’s sales force continued to improve at Bigglie’s expense, but so slowly that Harold and Jim sometimes needed to remind each other of the strengths of their management system. As it turned out, it was at a meeting called by Joe Troothe during a slump in the … Read the rest

Does your company have raving fans?

The term “raving fans” has become part of the business lexicon ever since Random House released a book called Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles 15 years ago. The book was intended to help companies improve their customer service. The authors’ central message was that you need to go above and beyond, because “satisfied customers just aren’t good enough.”

That book is part of a breadth of publications designed to help companies and individual professionals do a better job of pleasing customers. In fact, we often hear executives spurring their employees to … Read the rest

Earlier this year Tom Hopkins shared a post on LinkedIn that resembled what I have said so many times. He said, “The art of selling involves two jobs: job one is to reduce sales resistance, and the other is to increase sales acceptance.”

Many readers left comments about the importance of relationships as a means to preventing resistance from going up.

I left a comment that said, “Thanks Tom. Most salespeople fail to lower resistance because they lack the self-awareness to understand what it is that they might say or do, or how they might act that would raise resistance … Read the rest

Recently I was speaking with an agency owner about the lack of success of his two most recent hires.

When I asked how many hours they were putting in, the answer was, “About 45 or 50 per week.” Keep in mind, these agents are in their 20s, are new to the industry and relatively new to sales. In other words, not only do they have to spend time learning about an industry they know next to nothing about, they also have to learn how to sell, in addition to learning the ins and outs of the new company they work … Read the rest