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 manager and sales rep manager for a West Coast manufacturer reaches way back for a biblical verse to stress how much he and his company value the contributions of their reps: “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.”

While acknowledging that without the continued contributions of their rep oxen his company wouldn’t be as successful as it is, he admits that he’d “be shocked if manufacturers or reps said friction didn’t exist in the relations between the two.”

At the same time, however, he explains that his company has a staff of 12 inside people supporting a network of 60 reps from 25 independent rep firms. “If friction ever develops within that framework, it basically revolves around a question of who is serving whom.”

He goes on to say that “We’ve been in business around 15 years. At the beginning when we were fighting to gain a foothold in the market we only had a few reps. We worked hard to show them we could meet their needs. The reps were ‘rock stars’ to us. We were here to do what they needed to be successful. If they said ‘Jump,’ we responded ‘How high?’”

As time passed, he continued, “We’ve grown a lot. We’ve probably begun to exert our will on reps more than in the past. This has caused the rep to adapt to a changing environment. On top of that, everyone is busier today than they’ve ever been. The questions might be asked:

• ‘Are our inside people always at the reps’ disposal?’
• ‘Are we always there to call them right back with a smile on our face?
• ‘Are we expected to drop everything we’re doing because someone else doesn’t plan well?’”

Looking for a solution, he wonders “Are there some best practices to follow to ensure we’re all rowing in the same direction?”

MANA Best Practices

He continued, “MANA has done a great job providing best practices, and the association’s President and CEO Charles Cohon constantly stresses how important it is to provide quality products, to remain competitive, to pay reps accurately and on time. These steps will all work to lower the potential for friction, and if you’re not following them a strained relationship will only get worse.”

He adds that he and his staff have worked diligently to generate a level of high trust with its reps. “We’re always having sales meetings at our factory or industry conventions, and we also make use of a rep council. We’re constantly showing our reps we’re trying and working to partner with them to serve the market together.”

Adding his perspective to this subject, Todd Reuland, director, DragonGate I Consulting Ltd., Hong Kong, admits that “Yes, I have encountered friction both as a sales manager for a manufacturer and as a rep.”

As to why the situation exists, he maintains we can point to several issues that contribute to the problem: “On the manufacturer support staff side:

• House accounts being handed over to a rep.
• Inside support staff has ‘preconceived opinions.’
• Inside support feels the rep should be doing more.”

House Accounts Being Handed Over to a Rep

He continues, “When you have an inside support staff (inside sales) who have been handling one or more house accounts for a long period of time, it is hard for them to let go. When house accounts are contributing to high monthly or annual sales, the inside staff take pride in that, and they take credit for that.

“Because many inside support people have never been on the outside, or even visited the house accounts, they cannot and do not, understand why these accounts need a rep calling on them on a regular basis. They don’t understand the dynamics of what a rep brings to the table. They don’t see the ‘value’ the rep brings. They, in all sincerity, believe they can handle the account from their office with a computer and a phone even if the customer is on the other side of the country. Thus they are baffled when the account is lost to competition.”

Preconceived Opinions

He continues, “Many times when the inside support staff receives a purchase order from the rep’s office, it is their job to list that rep as being the one to receive commission on the sale. The inside staff many times are very involved in placing the commission rate along with the PO into the manufacturer’s ‘system.’ Thus they know how much money reps are making.

“Because the inside support staff have no idea what a rep does, they cannot understand the amount of commission the reps make. They don’t feel it is justified. They feel that they do as much or more than the rep does. After all, they write up all the paperwork, draft quotes, etc. So they ask ‘What is the rep getting paid for doing?’”

He adds that this also falls under “The rep should be doing more!’”

What the Rep Thinks

Reuland then addresses the rep perspective:

• Reps don’t feel they are receiving quotations on time.
• Reps don’t feel they are receiving technical support on projects.
• Reps feel that some, or all of the inside support staff, are under qualified for the job they are doing.
• The rep also has “preconceived opinions.”

Reps Don’t Feel They Are Receiving Quotations on Time

According to Reuland, “I see more manufacturers taking the quote write up process in-house. Some principals want the reps to go through the company catalogs, draft up the quotes in their offices, and send them into the principal’s inside support staff.

“Recently I have seen manufacturers/principals moving away from this practice so that the rep can spend more time in front of the customer. When manufacturers have sales managers with good skill sets, the sales manager will in most cases recommend that much of the ‘paperwork’ be done by the inside support staff.

“If management agrees, they make the necessary changes so that the reps hand off the ‘paperwork’ to the inside staff. What follows is a slowdown in quote turnaround time. Oddly enough, this is viewed by the rep as ‘incompetence’ on the side of the inside staff.  However, in a lot of cases the inside support staff feels this to be unfair and they ‘fight back’ by taking longer to provide the rep what he needs. Now you have a two-way resentment, and both sides feel it.”

Reps Don’t Feel They Are Receiving Technical Support on Projects

On the subject of providing reps with the information they need, “Many reps have a world view that differs a lot from the inside support staff’s world view in regards to ‘getting the sale.’ As a result, many times the rep and the inside support staff have two different lists of priorities:

• The rep wants to close the sale.
• The support staff want to do what they believe is their priority.

“At times, the rep forgets that the manufacturer has, say, 30 other rep offices that he’s working with. And they don’t think about the manufacturer’s overall objectives. Those objectives might have the manufacturer putting their inside support staff on projects they deem important. If those projects take time away from some reps, in the eyes of those reps they are not getting the support they need. It is easy as a rep to forget that the principal has other territories to deal with besides your own.”

This subject leads to the next issue of reps feeling that some — or all — of the inside support staff are under qualified for the job they are doing.

Reuland maintains that “When the rep is not getting the ‘service and support’ he thinks he needs, he will many times have the belief that the inside support staff are underqualified.”

The Rep’s Preconceived Notions

He continues, “Reps feel that some inside support people are power hungry, and they have pet accounts they want to control which interferes with the rep’s activities.

“The fact is reps have favorites. They perceive that only one or two inside support people are worth their salt. If the rep seems to get the best service from a specific inside support person, he will write off the others without seeking to find out the ‘why of it all.’

“And on both sides, there is gossip. The reps talk among themselves, and the inside support staff talk among themselves. On both sides they bad mouth each other.”

While acknowledging the real-world problems that exist, Reuland does offer a possible solution.

“I believe that the inside support staff should attend a rep council meeting to get an understanding of what takes place on the ‘outside.’ In addition, each inside staff member should make sales calls in the field with the reps. Just visiting a customer with the rep — even if they remain silent — can really open their eyes. Just experiencing the dynamics of what takes place is an eye-opener. They begin to see that the rep knows a lot more that they thought he did — and that the rep knows the product more than they thought he did.

“Additionally, the rep needs to spend a week working in the manufacturer’s inside support department. He will begin to get an understanding of what the inside people know; he will see that they handle more than he thinks they do. The rep will learn about the company culture and see how it affects everyone in the company. And how it drives them. It will remove what was planted in the rep’s ear via gossip as well.

“These two groups — reps and inside staff — are mutually dependent on each other. Many times — a lot of the time — they don’t see that. They must work as a team. But to be a team, they must believe their counterpart has value. I believe that the manufacturer — through the sales manager — must initiate the process of building a team. And a good sales manager cannot be one-sided.”

The Problem Exists

Given the acknowledgment that the potential for friction can and does exist between manufacturers’ inside staff and their reps, it’s really not that surprising that reps by and large tend to agree with manufacturers on the existence and severity of this problem.

As an example, a recently retired West Coast electrical rep wholeheartedly agreed with many of the points made by Reuland. “Friction can result any time you have people working together and there’s a failure in communication.”

Speaking specifically to a couple of the points Reuland made, the rep noted, “If there’s some difficulty when a house account is shifted to a rep, the inside person shouldn’t take it out on the rep. Rather, he should consider who actually made the decision (e.g., the manufacturer) and not let tension develop. On the matter of the inside person believing the rep doesn’t do enough to justify his large commission check, I’d say that’s just a matter of that person not seeing the big picture. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from inside people that ‘Every time I want to speak with the rep, he’s at lunch.’ The rep does a heck of a lot more than just go to lunch and it’s important for the inside person to consider all the tasks the rep performs.”

As to whether the rep should perform some sort of educational function in order to provide the inside person with that “big picture,” the rep noted “That’s not the job of the rep in the field. If there’s some sort of education that should be performed, I’d say that’s up to the agency’s management to communicate with manufacturer management.”

He concludes by endorsing Reuland’s idea that allowing the rep and inside sales personnel to meet each other can go a long way toward avoiding problems. “One thing that really helps is if the manufacturer allows their inside people to travel to the field or have the rep meet face to face with their inside contacts when they visit the factory. Let’s face it, you’re both trying to accomplish the same goal — you’re both trying to get the order. If you build a personal relationship with the person you’re dealing with, you’ll have a hard time thinking that they’re an idiot.”

Understanding Each Other’s Role

The partners of an agency that serves the safety equipment industry were quick to offer their views on this subject. According to one partner, communication is a key to avoiding problems. “Too many times there’s some confusion as to who owns the account. Who’s responsible for selling and serving the customer? When friction raises its head, too often it’s because the manufacturer feels he’s being pushed out of the picture. Next is that matter of communication. Manufacturer management doesn’t always communicate to its staff who and what we are. We’re members of the team, but all too often we’re really something else in their minds.”

Actions speak louder than words was the admonition offered by another partner. “Manufacturer management can say all the right things but when they send a memo or have a meeting that excludes their outside sales staff, that really sends a message that we’re something other than what we ought to be. If there’s a positive trickle down of information throughout the entire organization then the inside guys truly know who we are and what we do. Then there shouldn’t be any problems between the two of us. It’s all about the message that leadership sends down the chain.”

The third agency partner offered that “Sometimes we get a bit lazy when it comes to communicating our role in the sales and marketing process. We enjoy great relationships with great manufacturers. Having said that, we do make an effort to take the time to fully explain our role.”

Education and Communication

It’s appropriate that Hank Bergson offers a final word on this subject. For several years, Bergson, Hank Bergson & Associates, has been conducting the MANA manufacturer seminar (the next one of which is scheduled for October 10-11 in Chicago. Visit the MANA website — www.MANAonline.org for detailed information.). He is also the past president of NEMRA (National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association) and naturally has spent a good deal of his professional life working with both manufacturers and independent reps.

When asked if this question of friction arises during the manufacturer seminar, Bergson is quick to note, “This is one of the first subjects we address in the seminar. We do that because quite frequently friction can be caused because manufacturer management hasn’t done the job of explaining to its inside staff who the rep is. The message has to be that the rep is an integral part of the company. He’s the guy who brings in the business and pays their salaries. The result is that too many inside people don’t really know who the rep is. Is he a customer, a distributor, or just some guy looking for information? The truth of it is he’s much more than that. There should be an appreciation for that special relationship that has been created between the manufacturer and the outside sales force. Reps should be treated as if they’re employees of the company.”

Next, Bergson endorses the notion advanced earlier in this article that reps and manufacturer inside people should have opportunities to meet face to face with the goal of creating a personal relationship. “We highly recommend that manufacturers provide the opportunity for their inside people to meet with reps when reps visit the factory or during the course of sales meetings and industry gatherings. Steps should be taken to ensure they’re able to meet in business and social settings all with the goal of building a long-lasting personal relationship. That’s how they can really understand that they are both part of a team.”

Finally, Bergson stresses how this is all about communication and education. While he maintains the manufacturer has the responsibility to educate its own people as to the role and importance of reps, he also says that “There are a lot of reps that don’t adequately explain to their own people who the manufacturer’s inside people are. Those inside people are the reps’ lifeline.”

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