On the subject of the type of communication one manufacturer desires from its manufacturers’ representatives, one manufacturer appears to have landed right on top of a true winning formula.

Instead of asking for regular reports from the field, this manufacturer has asked its reps to only communicate when there’s something important to report. “The rep’s performance in the field shows us whether he’s doing a good job for us or not. If we were to push for regular reports, then that only muddies the water and to be perfectly honest, if we’re deluged with regular call reports, we’re not going to read them — not to mention take any action on them.”

Where this approach has benefited the manufacturer — not to mention the reps — is that “Whenever we ask for a report on the competition or some sort of a territorial marketing report, we’ve found that our reps are more than happy to comply. And, as a matter of fact, they furnish it to us quickly and accurately. What this shows us is that if we approach our communication requests in a professional manner, the rep knows how serious we are.”

Reps as Merchandisers

When he was asked whether merchandising had become a “lost art” among reps, a manufacturer answered, “Not with my reps.” He carried it a step further by explaining that the ability to merchandise his products for the distributors who comprised his customer base was high on his list of criteria to consider when hiring a rep. “Since the merchandising ability is so high on my list of priorities, I generally check with my distributors to determine whom they would recommend. Then I make a visit to the distributor’s counter area to see for myself if their rep does a good job. Finally, when I interview the rep, I’ve got a wish list of merchandising questions/problems that I run by him. I’ve followed this process for the past couple of years and haven’t made a decision I regret. All of my reps are among the best when it comes to merchandising.”

Learning From Mistakes

In the midst of describing some serious mistakes he made while working with reps, the former national sales manager for a manufacturing company admitted that “Because I was relatively new to working with an outsourced sales force, I thought all I had to do was sign reps, sit back and watch them sell, and then pay them a commission for their work. Boy, was I ever wrong!”

Now in a similar position with another company, the sales manager swears he won’t repeat his former mistakes. Furthermore, he swears not to allow the rest of his management team to misuse the rep sales force. “One of the first things I’ve communicated to my organization is the need to get and keep the rep’s attention. There’s a couple of important ways to accomplish this goal, and unfortunately, this is something I’ve learned the hard way.

“First, since once again we’re looking to impact a new territory with a new product offering, there has to be a reason why the rep wants to cooperate with us. We can do that by offering him a higher commission for new sales to new customers.

“Second, I want to go overboard with the type of support we offer our reps. That means product samples, prompt and accurate answers to their questions in the field, attendance at industry trade shows, advance advertising for our products in the national trade press, etc.

“And finally, we’ve got to anticipate their training needs. By training, I mean not only for our reps, but for their customers. If the need arises, we’ll make trips to the field to help the reps explain our products.

“In my opinion, what this all comes down to is implementing a team effort, and the first team (reps in the field) isn’t going to accomplish anything unless we back them up.”

There’s No Rushing Results

A rep recently contacted Agency Sales to ask what he could do to explain to one of his principals that some sales simply can’t be rushed. According to the rep, “The principal is super anxious when we are in the process of bringing in a big sale. We can understand their concern. They are a relatively new company, and they need all the sales they can get quickly. But we know that on average it takes about six calls in order for us to go from an initial contact to an actual sale. It’s not a number we picked from a hat. We have tracked our business carefully and can document the stages that we must go through before a sale is ours. Sure, there are times when more than one step can be handled in a single call, but any attempt to telescope the process most often leads to our not getting the order. We have kept careful records and all of our salespeople are trained carefully in the process of closing sales based on our data. We have told the sales manager of the principal about this, but I guess he gets heat from the owner to make as many sales as quickly as possible.”

By way of advice to this rep, we directed him to the wealth of articles on the subject of backselling that has appeared in this publication. In addition, it was suggested that he invite the owner of the company, or the sales manager, to accompany them on some of their calls. It seemed to be a sure bet that once the principal’s executive personnel were made aware of the rep’s efforts, some of the heat would be taken off.

Something Learned Over the Years

A manufacturer who boasted of more than 20 years working with reps offered these wise words to fellow manufacturers: “Most of my manufacturer friends tend to judge their reps’ performance almost exclusively on units sold and profit margins. Sure, they are major elements, but don’t forget to include other factors including market and territory development. Early market and territory development may show lean sales, but the potential that the agency has established should be considered. The agents should be able to tell you, though, what you might expect in the future from their developmental work.”

Always Pay Attention

When a manufacturer first opens a territory and appoints an agency, he probably wants to get as much business as possible as quickly as possible. Your rep wants his efforts to result in commissions and you want to justify your decision by pointing to all those sales.

However, here’s the rub — there comes a time when the rush to bring in new business can result in a lack of attention and a loss of current business. It’s not an uncommon dilemma. A manufacturer recently pointed out that he seeks his new agents’ input on these questions early on. He wants to know how the agency sees both the territory and the relationship. Does he or she see it in terms of building slow and steady business, or in terms of jumping in and trying to get as much business as possible while paying less attention to the initial customers? If you are not in need of immediate revenue from a territory, consult with your new agents about this. Let them give you the information you need to make reasoned decisions. After all, you don’t have a giant-sized nut to crack that you would have if you had a salaried salesperson in the territory. You can afford to cash in one of the real strengths of agency selling — the ability to build and hold on to solid customers.

Look to the Future When Choosing a Rep

When it comes to putting together their outsourced sales team, “most manufacturers don’t get it.” That’s the view of one manufacturer.

“What they don’t do is to look at the relationship from the agent’s perspective as well as their own. They seldom try to determine what the agents’ needs are going to be in the relationship. This goes for the basics, such as commission payments, factory support and advertising, to questions that few manufacturers ever ask their agents. For example, I always ask a prospective agent where they want their agency to be in five and 10 years. This tells me something about their needs and goals. And it tells me something about how they are looking at us as part of their plans. When I see how we fit into this equation, I have a lot more to go on when making a decision on which agent candidate to appoint. This doesn’t mean that all agents have to have lofty goals for us to appoint them. If, for example, a territory is small and not growing dramatically, an agent who tells me that they want their agency to be pretty much where it is now in five years, is realistic and, other things being equal, I’d appoint them. On the other hand, if an agent in a rapidly expanding territory tells me the same thing, I might be less inclined to consider that agent.”

This is an interesting notion and one that is worth thinking about the next time you are interviewing agents.

Look to the Higher Levels

A manufacturer who has long been an advocate of making calls with his agents told us of a wrinkle that’s worth passing along. “Most salespeople, whether they are agents, or direct salespeople, are seldom able to penetrate their customers’ organization beyond the level of the individuals who buy or use the products being sold. We all know how helpful it can be for salespeople to at least be on friendly terms with those in general management at upper levels. A few years ago, we came up with an approach that seems to get us there. Our joint calls with agents are not only made with our top marketing people, but they often include key top management, including our CEO. Needless to say, these calls are planned very carefully to give the customer the opportunity to bring in his top people. Actually, they seem to want to do this. Some seem somewhat intimated by meeting our CEO without having their key people with them. And, of course, this has worked to our advantage. I guess you have to have the kind of CEO that we have who knows that nothing happens until someone sells something. But maybe you can train the bean counters to have a broader outlook too.”

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