The easy access to product information that customers currently enjoy has led directly to a rise in the effectiveness of a solution sales approach to the industrial safety products market. That’s the view of Alex Williams, who heads The Integral Group, Conroe, Texas.

Alex Williams heads The Integral Group in Conroe, Texas.

According to Williams, “As younger generations have taken over the decision-making roles among our customers, we are seeing a shift to more of a solution sales approach. As that shift has taken place, step one for us is still gaining the trust of the customer and having them like you, but after that it boils down to how you can help them solve their problems. This is accomplished through listening first, but it’s more than just letting them speak. It remains for us to engage with the customer. The more that we can learn about our customer, the better we can serve them in a meaningful way through providing solutions to their concerns.”

He adds, “Industrial safety is a relatively young industry. We continue to see a leap in innovation and understanding of keeping people safe on the jobsite. Standards and best practices keep improving and the products we represent are ever evolving. This makes the solution sales approach very rewarding.”

Williams points to this move toward solution selling as one of the major changes he’s experienced during his career as an independent manufacturers’ representative.

Growing Up Around Reps

The MANA member’s career as a rep began a little more than 11 years ago when he joined the agency that he now heads. “I’ve virtually grown up being exposed to reps and what they do. I’m a second generation rep myself. My father, Hershel, was one of the three founders of our organization in 1999.

“Prior to joining the agency I was working for a small distributor of firefighting equipment in operations and inside sales when I was approached by my father to join the group as a territory rep. As I look back at my career, it was probably my destiny to become a rep. At the beginning I always thought I would wind up doing my own thing. As a second-generation rep, I knew the ups and downs of being part of an independent rep agency. I started out on a pure commission basis making less money than my job at the time. With that said, the opportunity to earn more for my family could not be ignored.

“I began covering one of the most competitive but potentially lucrative markets in the country for industrial safety. When I began the sales were not where I needed them to be. Obviously, there was a lot of work to be done. The first year was the most challenging and progress was slow. Even though I was developing relationships with distributors and uncovering opportunities with end users it was a little bit like running in gravel. The needle just wasn’t moving. The second year is when I finally started seeing my work translate into sales growth with our factories. After about five years in the territory sales had tripled and have grown steadily ever since.”

Now with more than 11 years under his belt, Williams still covers his same original territory. He notes that even in that relatively short period of time “One of the major changes I’ve seen is that there’s more emphasis today on the sales solution approach than ever before. Sure, the relationship component remains very important. If customers don’t like you and can’t relate to you, it’s very difficult to move forward. That’s why building relations and trust are so important.”

Building Relationships

The question remains, however, how does a rep build those critical relationships? “We’ve done so very naturally over time and I think it really boils down to not wasting your customers’ time. When we come in for an appointment, we have to know their motivation and have a solution ready before we walk in the door. I think when they know I’m walking in to make their lives better, they’ll invite me back next month. Obviously, it’s hard to get your foot in the door initially, but when you show you’re coming in with value, they’ll welcome you back.”

Staying with the subject of building relationships, there’s always the concern with overcoming or getting through the traditional gatekeepers that often serve to keep you from the customer decision makers. “With safety products especially there can be difficulties to overcome to get to the customer. We call on a number of refineries and with them there’s no just walking up to the front desk and asking for an appointment. Thankfully with us it’s our reputation that allows us to get to the people we need to see.”

Principal Relations

If it’s relationships and trust that keep the customers’ doors open to The Integral Group, Williams explains how the agency has achieved success with in its relations with principals. “Most of our principals are acquired through word of mouth. We continually work on having an outstanding reputation with our manufacturers. They all talk with other manufacturers in the same industry, good or bad. We want them raving about their relationship with The Integral Group. This can only be accomplished if we are deliberately focused on all our lines. This is why we prefer a low infrastructure (the agency’s personnel number seven individuals), but also a low line count. When my team is in the field, I want them bringing up every line at every appropriate opportunity. We also strive for a constant line of communication with our principal managers. Living up to the name Integral means that we want to be an Integral part of the organizations we represent. We don’t want to be perceived as outsiders or contractors with any organization we represent. We want to be a part of their team.”

Continuing with a discussion of rep-principal communication, Williams adds that he’s certainly aware of the trend of upper management asking for call reports from their reps. “I look at that as something like them trying to scratch an itch because they’re not out in the field as we are. I’d maintain that it’s the job of a manufacturer’s sales manager — who manages us — to communicate that type of information to upper management. The fact is our sales manager hears from us every day and they know exactly what’s going on in the field. If you — the manufacturer — want sales reports, they should be generated by the sales manager because he or she knows what’s relevant.”

One-Stop Shops

Asked if there are any major concerns that keep him — as the head of the agency — up at night, Williams responds with a thought shared by many reps: “I know that all reps have to contend with this — as large companies acquire manufacturers, they are creating a one-stop shop approach and hiring a direct sales force. This severely limits the space for independent rep agencies. We see this happening and when it does, it’s difficult to have a line card that doesn’t have conflicts. It’s a little bit like cooking rolls in a pan. As they rise they begin to bump into each other. That’s something we have to avoid as we work to achieve a synergistic line card free from conflict.”

Finally as he looks back over his career as a rep, Williams offers a thought on whether he would have done anything differently. “Regarding line choice, I think we may have made decisions based on the wrong criteria in the past. Our sixth sense is often underutilized. There have been opportunities to work with manufacturers that look good on paper but the culture of the organization made it difficult to develop a collaborative bond. I ran a profitability analysis picked up from attending CPMR that compares gross commissions to the amount of time spent with each line. I approached this objectively, but still found that our least profitable lines were the ones where that level of trust and partnership was missing. In that particular year we cut two lines that represented about 15 percent of our revenue but we still had a growth year because we could focus on the companies with whom we had a more collaborative relationship. The net result was a much higher satisfaction rate among the principals, more sales and less stress.”

He adds that one major step the agency took in the right direction was continuing its membership in MANA. “It’s a bit ironic, but through a bookkeeping error we had allowed our membership to lapse. When we discovered that, we rejoined. The resources that the association offers have proven to be very valuable to us. We regularly make use of the information we find in Agency Sales, use the online RepFinder® directory and avail ourselves of the association’s legal resources.”

The Integral Group

The Integral Group was founded in 1998 by Herschel Williams, Kurt Eichelman and Chuck Bandfield. The group’s primary function is to serve as independent sales representatives for manufacturers serving the safety and industrial markets. Current distributor customers consist of safety and industrial distributors, and specific OEM accounts. The group’s diversified end-user customer base ranges from — but is not limited to — petrochemical processing, oil and gas exploration and production, government, power generation and distribution, communications, transportation, construction and electronics.

The agency offers more than 100 years of combined experience in the safety and industrial markets. Each of the founders was previously successful managing his own independent agency.

In 2005, Herschel Williams purchased the ownership interests of Eichelman and Bandfield and became sole proprietor of Integral Sales, LLC. Chuck Bandfield remained with the company. At the beginning of 2018, Alex Williams purchased The Integral Group to become sole owner.

• Territories covered: Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas & Mississippi
• Branch offices: Hawkins, TX; Carrollton, TX; Galveston, TX; Seabrook, TX; Baton Rouge, LA
• Website: www.tigsafety.com

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