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“Do you have the courage to run your business?”

Being the owner or leader means something special, but you have to recognize it.

Managing a Rep Business Is Different

Running an independent manufacturers’ rep business is a bit different than other businesses. Managing a team of rep salespeople is definitely like herding cats. Having a really productive team that is consistently able to exceed the expectations of your manufacturers doesn’t mean that you can ignore your management responsibilities.

When business is at its best is the time when you — the leader — have to exert yourself to build the foundation for the future. And, often it is your most successful people that require the most leadership.

Teaching Salespeople

Teach the salespeople to be more than salespeople. The best salespeople have the best customers either because they made them the best or because they were assigned to them and they have maintained their status as top customers.

Regardless of how the best customers got to be that way, every top customer requires more from the salesperson who is responsible for them. What does this “responsibility” mean?

The first thing it means is planning. Each top customer has to have a detailed plan developed and executed by the salesperson who works with them.

What kind of plan?

The Customer’s Planning Process

The plan for the great customer should have detailed analysis of the planning process that the customer uses. Are they a well-organized marketing and sales company? Are they open to innovative marketing, advertising and sales promotion programs brought to them by the rep firm and the manufacturer? Are they just well-established and reliable for their customers? Are they creative? Do they have a good sales force? Is the rep firm able to work with the customer’s customers? Do the customers’ inside people rely on the rep firm for service and support? What is the overall relationship between the customer and the rep firm?

After all of these items are reviewed it is time to move to the specifics of the rep firm’s major lines with the customer. How does the customer market the substantial lines the rep’s manufacturers offer?

Digging into the way the key customers work seems a bit outside the normal rep responsibilities. I am suggesting that it is very much in those responsibilities. The successful rep who is building major business with the major customers needs to know all about how the customer works.

Does the customer have a solid planning process? What does the customer’s management expect of its salespeople?

Bottom Line for Future Profits

This is where the rubber meets the road. Can a salesperson insinuate their way into the management of the customer?

Getting “a seat at the customer’s planning table” is the ultimate goal for a major account salesperson. This is the most important task for a salesperson who is responsible for a customer that is one of the most important for the rep firm and in turn, the manufacturers that the rep represents.

Backselling Power Begins at the Planning Table

Too often the rep is not considered that important to the manufacturer. The rep may be considered a “necessary evil” or just a minor part of the manufacturer’s business. In order to get the manufacturer to recognize that the rep is earning their commissions and that the manufacturer truly needs the rep firm happens when the rep solidifies a seat at the customer’s planning table. This creates a major opportunity to sell back to the manufacturer and get them to understand the value of the rep’s services.

When a rep is installed in the customer’s planning the rep has the insight that puts him in a key position to find ways to do more and more business with the customer.

To get to this special point, the rep firm’s planning process must be organized, structured and demanding of each salesperson who works with one or more key customers.

Taking the time to dig into the detail of the customer’s business pays off, but it takes time, exceptional effort and most of all leadership.

Are you ready?

Good luck and good planning.

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