It’s critical that independent manufacturers’ representatives market themselves to existing and prospective principals just as if they are a product or service. That was just one of the important bits of advice offered by John Haskell (aka Dr. Revenue) during a MANAcast earlier this year.

According to Haskell, “When dealing with principals, the first thing the rep has to do is to think of themselves as a product. It’s important that they think that way. They’ve got to build themselves a business profile and a marketing plan that makes them look desirable to manufacturers.”

Haskell, a frequent contributor to Agency Sales, maintains that the business profile is “simply a single sheet of ‘self puffery’ that provides an outstanding presentation of your agency. The profile goes through all the elements that make your agency special.” He stressed that such profiles must be of high quality and include a call to action describing how you conduct business. “This is all about describing what makes your agency special. A failure to present this in a professional manner results in you approaching potential principals with your hands tied behind your back. Think of it as a catalog that can also be posted on your agency’s website.”

If creating an agency profile served as a starting point for how an agency should market itself effectively, he didn’t stop there. Among the other areas reps should focus on were:

• Communication

“Most manufacturers don’t want call reports — although some do. What’s obviously important is that they want to hear from their reps with regularity. They just want to know what’s going on in the territory. To meet that need, it’s important for reps to send the information to the ones who actually want it. It’s absolutely critical to not get into a situation where they say, ‘We never hear from those people in Chicago.’”

And when communicating that information to your principals, “It’s got to be done in a professional manner. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard from principals complaining that their reps don’t know how to spell. It’s not uncommon for them to tell me how many misspellings they see in weekly emails from their reps. By communicating professionally you allow your manufacturers to know and respect you and all the people in your agency.”

When it comes to communicating via email, Haskell urged reps to limit the subject matter to a single topic. “Don’t ‘scattershoot’ with too many subjects. Reps should always take a look at the emails before they’re sent to ensure that they are accurate and professional. We can’t afford to look bad in the eyes of our principals.”

When it comes to communication, he continued, “What it all comes down to is that your manufacturers simply want to know what’s going on in the territory.” To illustrate that point, Haskell recalled the experience of one of his clients who was interviewing for a line of office products. In the course of the interview, the rep let the principal know about a bulletin that he sent out regularly to his principals alerting them to changes in the territory. “Upon reading one item, the prospective principal said, ‘I didn’t know that.’ To which the rep responded, ‘You would if you worked with us.’ He got the line.”

Before leaving the subject of communicating, Haskell mentioned the importance of phone calls. “I know today that it’s hard to get people on the phone, but it’s important to make every effort to touch base personally and there’s no better way to do that than with a phone call. You should schedule a call to your key principals at least once a month. Maybe it’s just to chat to let them know what you see and hear and alert them to what opportunities there are out there; or to touch on any problems you might be having with people or products. You want to be careful, however, not to let these calls turn into complaint sessions. Just fill in your principal with what’s happening and what they should know about.”

• Backselling

For years in the pages of Agency Sales, Haskell has been touting the benefits of reps backselling their value to their principals — and he wasted no time in addressing that subject during the MANAcast.

According to Haskell, “Without a doubt, backselling is the most important part of your tactical plan to build and grow your agency.”

To illustrate his point, he recalled his experience with an agency in the food service equipment industry in Ohio. “After they had lost a key line, I visited them and addressed the subject of how they could do a better job for their principals. We realized that there must be a full-on written plan for backselling up the channel to the principals. In that plan should be information including what they’ve done to build the business, how they get results, and detailing their accomplishments. It’s really just a description of how they work for their principals and what they do for them.

“Obviously, to properly execute the process of backselling, you’ve got to talk to the people who are important within the principal’s organization. Let them know all that you do whether it’s opening a new account, solving a problem, taking business away from a competitor, etc. In the course of a year, there should be a file of all your communications to them that describes your successes, challenges, etc. What it comes down to is a principal won’t know all the services you provide for him, unless you tell him. You don’t have to beat them over the head, simply talk to them with regularity.

“What will result is that when they speak to others, they’ll be proud of your efforts and be sure to recommend you to others. I’d say that you should get one additional line a year based on your principals recommending you to others. Just think about that for a moment. Did that happen to you last year? If not, how are you going to change things this year? What kind of a job are you doing right now with your top lines? How hard are you really working to build your business with your principals?

“If you effectively backsell, you will effectively build your business.”

• Success Stories

Don’t hesitate to let your principals know about your successes in the territory. “Put out bulletins or newsletters that describe your successes. I know you can’t quote exact figures, but you certainly can put out a one-page sheet on your website that describes what you did for a major transformer manufacturer, for instance. It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, it only matters what you’ve done for your principals.”

• Planning

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a regional manager or a vice president of marketing, make sure whoever it is has a seat at the table when you do your planning. Let them know how you plan for the future and work together with them to forecast the business for their line. Remember, there’s no point in keeping secrets.”

• Rep Councils

“Rep Councils are ideal for letting principals know what you’ve done in the past and what you can do with them in the future. Always be prepared for your rep council meetings and be smart about the remarks you make. Don’t always complain, because you can hang yourself in a big hurry.”

• Lead Follow-Up

“Failure to follow up with leads provided by your principals can be a real landmine. Be quick on the trigger with your lead follow-up and make sure you let your principals know what you’ve done.”

• Synergistic Selling

When the subject of the MANAcast turned to the importance of manufacturers making visits in the field with their reps, Haskell pointed out that “These visits are the absolute best opportunity to engage in backselling. An important part of that message, however, includes educating principals to the benefits of synergistic selling. When principals visit, don’t simply drag them around to see the best people you call on. Ahead of time acquaint them with your agency profile, provide them with a detailed itinerary, and let them know that when you visit a customer, you’re not going to be talking only about their product line. Remember everybody wins when a rep walks in selling more than one line. Principals have got to understand multiple-line selling. If they don’t, then you’ve missed a valuable opportunity.”

• Line Maintenance

“Be careful about having too many lines on your line card. Any line that represents less than two percent of your income, isn’t worth the effort.”

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John Haskell recently wrote Multiple-Line Selling: How to Make the Right Moves, which is available in the member area of the MANA website (www.MANAonline.org). In this book he has created an assemblage of 30 articles from his series in Agency Sales, the magazine of the Manufacturers Agents National Association (MANA). Over the years he has addressed nearly every topic relevant to running and managing a successful rep group. The articles are devoted to rep performance and rep firm management.

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