Here’s the scene — you get a call from a rep friend in another market.

“I just had a call from one of my best principals. He asked for a recommendation in your market. They have terminated the guy they had. Of course, I gave him your name and number and referred him to your website. I think he’s anxious to talk to you. He’ll probably call in a few days.”

After you thank your friend, you think about “the presentation pitch.” You realize that others have large full-color brochures. Some have professionally developed power-point presentations. Some even have video on their websites.

Where do you stand? Regardless of what you have right at this moment, what else can you do?

Here’s an answer that I think you’ll like — the Killer One-Sheet! “The only product we have to sell is sales!”

With this fact in mind, what can you do professionally and legally to knock the socks off any principal that interviews your firm?

The recommendation — develop a Killer One-Sheet (KOS).

What is this? A KOS is a specialized tool to accompany a rep’s pitch for a new line or to continue a solid backselling pitch to existing principals.

The focus of the KOS is “performance.” How do you tell the story of your rep firm factually, professionally, dramatically? Telling the true story about a rep firm’s representation and continuing performance for its lines is the focus of the KOS. The KOS sells the rep firm’s selling aggressively and professionally.

What Kind of Stories?

The first tale of sales success = new line is a description of what they wanted when they hired you.

You don’t have to name names, but you do have to be very specific:

• Describe the products this manufacturer brought to you.
• What was their dollar volume in your territory when you were awarded the line?
• What was the basic market position of the line vs. the competition?
• If you can, name the key competitors.
• How was the market divided/shares of market in your territory when you took on the line? To illustrate this, a pie chart works very well.

Describe your start-up with the manufacturer. What training did they provide? How well educated did your team feel?

What other support did you receive from the manufacturer? Did the manufacturer provide training for your inside people? If so, how was that process implemented? If the manufacturer did not train your inside people, what did your team do to educate all members of your inside sales and support personnel?

Initial Promotion

What did you and the manufacturer do to announce to the market that your agency was now the rep for this line?

How did you organize the geography of your territory? I suggest using a map of your territory with each territory within the territory called out. It would be very effective to have each salesperson provide a comment about the situation as they found it in their territory with this new line.

Manufacturer Point of View

It would be especially effective to have a direct quote from the manufacturer, perhaps the sales manager, regarding why they chose your firm and how they expected to work with you to develop the territory, increase share of market, and increase profitable sales.

How long ago did you take on the line? What are the specific results — sales, share of market, market penetration stories.

Second tale = development of unique, innovative sales tools with one or more lines, gaining incremental sales.

Talk about a special activity for this line. You might choose a new product introduction or a new promotional program from the manufacturer.

Describe what the manufacturer did to build sales from the manufacturer.

Finally, mention current plans. How big is the line for your firm after ___ years? How significant is your rep firm for the manufacturer after ___ years?

Finally simply say, performance counts — that is the secret of the Killer One-Sheet. This agency stands for performance.

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