First came an email from a MANA member asking for some advice about reimbursement for expenses they incurred while helping a principal man a trade show booth. In this case, there was no reimbursement.

Next was a conversation over breakfast with another association member who related his agency’s experiences over the years. “When a principal, especially one of our top lines, requests that we be in attendance at a trade show, we’re there. And there’s generally no reimbursement. It’s just expected that this is part of our job — and if we’re interested in maintaining a good relationship with the manufacturer — and we are — we know what we have to do.”

And finally, a retired rep noted, “As a rule, when I had my manufacturers’ representative business, my principals reimbursed me for expenses if I worked a booth with them.”

Since all of these experiences are fairly recent — and different, it seemed like a good idea to learn what others are doing when it comes to compensating reps for their time spent working with principals at trade shows.

Who Pays

First up, a bit of research found this question-and-answer response from several years ago in the pages of Agency Sales. In answer to the question: “Who pays the expenses when agents are required to complete booth duty at a trade show?” the following information was forthcoming:

“If a manufacturer requires an agent to do booth duty at a show held in his or her territory, the travel expenses are most often the responsibility of the agent. If you bring agents in from other territories to work your show, however, you (the manufacturer) usually pick up their expenses. After all, the show is not in their territory, and it will be of little direct benefit to them. Keep in mind if your agent has 10 principals, they are forgoing 90 percent of their ability to generate commissions while spending 100 percent of their time at your trade show booth, sales meeting or other requested endeavor on your behalf. Taking this thought into consideration, the effect on the agency’s overall income can be readily understood.”

Then, when the trade show participation question was asked at a MANA manufacturer seminar, the following response was offered: “This can be a thorny question. In general, a manufacturer should expect his or her agents to take part in trade shows held in their territories. However, the main problem with trade shows is that often manufacturers expect their agents to travel to other territories and to participate in the shows. Most manufacturers resolve this issue by picking up all the expenses for agents who must travel out of their territories to take part in a trade show. And they frequently soften it even more by limiting the time the agent must spend out of the territory. Remember, the agent is not selling only our line. He’s selling the lines of a number of other manufacturers.

“When the agent is out of the territory, he is not making calls on your behalf, and his efforts for his other principals come to a temporary halt. If the agent represents 10 lines and five of those principals expect the agent to spend a day or two at different shows, the agent’s time in the field is greatly reduced.”

Finally, the following points were made: “Agency people from the territory in which the show is being held are seldom paid anything more than their expenses. However, those asked to work the booth from other territories are usually compensated on the basis of some schedule related to their loss of income for taking part in the show.

“It’s not uncommon for some manufacturers to try to combine a trade show with a national sales meeting and to try to set all agencies to attend the meeting — and to do booth duty. Fortunately, this forced labor system is almost a thing of the past. Although when such an approach is combined with a system that compensates the agencies for time spent, it can be a good way to get everyone together productively.

“Not all trade shows are national, however, and more and more shows are being held regionally and locally. And the people being asked to run the shows are the agents in these territories. It seems that most manufacturers are picking up all the costs related to the show — the exhibit, the space rental, etc. — and they are paying the transportation and expenses of the agency in the territory to man the booth.”

Manufacturers’ Views

Bringing thoughts on this subject a bit more up to date, manufacturer members of MANA’s Wisdom Council were asked their views on this subject.

According to Nate Metz, Mark One Manufacturing, Minster, Ohio, “When it comes to asking reps to help out at trade shows, we look at the relationship between the rep and our company as a two-way partnership. And, we’re looking for every opportunity to maximize that relationship. Remember they (reps) only get paid if they provide work for us, and we are more than aware of the high cost when it comes to acquiring a customer. That’s why we try to do as much as we can for the rep on the front end.

“We operate with a philosophy that if our reps bring us an opportunity to display our products at a trade show, we’re more than happy to do so. On top of that, we’ll pay all the bills that are entailed with that participation. The company even goes so far that if a rep comes to us at the last opportunity to sign up for a show, we’ll still pay for it. On the other hand, it might be a bit different if they didn’t let us know about a show, went ahead and participated and only told us about it after the fact. Then it might be different story. We certainly want the opportunity to approve their participation beforehand.”

When asked if he’s ever requested that a rep leave his territory to take part in a trade show, Metz explained that he could only think of one occasion for that and when that occurred “We worked with a rep in one of our territories and brought him into another territory where we had no coverage — and, we paid his expenses.”

He added that his reps have always been enthusiastic and willing participants in trade shows. He jokingly adds that “I’d like to think it because they want to be around me, but realistically it’s because they want to build the business. Most of our reps are very anxious to work the shows.”

Todd Reuland, DragonGate I International Sales, Hong Kong, explained, “I can say that in my experience on the manufacturing side with Reuland Electric Co., when we exhibited at trade shows, the rep/reps whose territory the trade show was in were asked to work the show. In every instance the reps made contact with new potential customers — and that was the payoff.

“I know today that reps in the United States are doing things differently. They are asking for retainers when taking on a virgin territory with no existing customers. And I believe that’s a wise decision.

“I’d add that if a rep is taken away from his territory and losing time in front of the customer because of trade show attendance, I believe compensation should be negotiated prior to the show. Remember, employees of the manufacturer are earning a salary, the rep is not.”

Bob Limper, Zenith Pump Division, Circor International, Inc., Monroe, North Carolina, explained, “We only exhibit in three major trade shows a year and invite our reps to attend. Typically we staff the booth with our own people (regional managers, product manager, sales manager, and possibly some senior application engineers). Almost always the rep who is local to the show location will attend, but usually they have other principals exhibiting at the show and try to spend a little time at each of their principals’ booths. I cannot recall during my 37-year career ever asking a rep to assist in manning our booth. However, there have been many times when they have asked to help out.

“In many cases, it is the reverse; our rep is exhibiting in a smaller, local show and asks if we will help support him with demo equipment, and possibly the use of our regional manager. Sometimes we will co-op with them and a couple of their other principals and book three or four booths in a row, all under the local rep’s name, but with each booth having the identity of the manufacturer. This provides the local rep a larger presence while also giving each manufacturer a strong presence as well.”

To further explain his company’s philosophy, Bob Limper included a clip from the company’s representative contract with regard to advertising:

1. ADVERTISING

5.1 The Independent Sales Representative shall market within the Territory the authorized Products in their authorized Markets. All marketing, advertising and promotion of the Products made by the Independent Sales Representative shall contain a reference to the name of the Manufacturer.

5.2 All costs of marketing, advertising and/or promotion within the Markets in the Territory shall be incurred solely by the Independent Sales Representative. The Manufacturer may elect to share costs in its sole discretion and only upon advance written agreement.

5.3 The Independent Sales Representative shall provide the Manufacturer with timely advance notice of its intention to participate in any conferences, fairs or exhibitions promoting the Products in order to accommodate the Manufacturer’s ability to participate if it so elects to do so.

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