Nine years ago, Agency Sales visited S. Williston Sales Company. This year as the East Greenwich, Rhode Island-based agency marks its 15th anniversary, Steve Williston, the agency’s president and CEO, took the opportunity to recall several of the agency’s challenges and milestones. At the outset, Williston notes that the agency’s passion and efforts to succeed have firmed up the agency’s position as it serves the HVAC industry in its territory.

According to Williston, he learned the independent manufacturers’ representative trade in the HVAC/R industry from his father, a respected rep in the northeast region, which includes Upstate New York and … Read the rest

Whether you are already committed to the independent manufacturers’ rep business model, are switching from direct sales to rep-based sales or are just starting to build your sales force, there are many factors to consider.

Here are five of the most important factors to consider when choosing a rep company:

1. Synergy between the rep’s lines and your products and/or services.
2. Reputation and longevity in the territory.
3. Number of existing lines.
4. Number of outside and inside salespeople.
5. Long-term plan.

Let’s drill down a bit deeper.

Synergy

“The interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce … Read the rest

MANA offers rep and manufacturer members opportunities to network and share concerns in teleconferences and MANAchats.

Dealing with customers they’ve never met in person and making face-to-face contact with customers in a post-Covid world dominated a MANA teleconference conducted by the association’s “A League of Their Own” (ALOTO), MANA’s special interest group for women.

Two of the discussion participants detailed what they described as unusual — but successful — relationships with customers with whom they never had an in-person sit-down meeting.

The first rep detailed, “I had been soliciting one customer for more than three years, but I had never … Read the rest

Test how your personal reputation stacks up.

In marketing terms, your company’s net promoter score indicates your customers’ willingness to recommend your products and services. Bringing this concept closer to home, ever wondered how likely people are to recommend you personally? For example, would your supervisor go to bat for you to support you receiving a pay raise? Are your competitors hearing about you from your customers and considering offering you a job? The likelihood of these kinds of recommendations is based on what I call your “Trust Equity Score.” The higher your trust equity, the more inclined people will … Read the rest

It’s a story as old as Hollywood — a teenage movie star eventually turns into a washed-up drug addict with a collection of orange-jumpsuit photos.

It’s also a story as old as professional sports — a star athlete is arrested for punching an autograph seeker in the face.

We commonly see celebrities behaving badly in public, and because of that, the word “celebrity” can have a negative connotation. Nevertheless, society is obsessed with fame and fortune. In fact, some people do outrageous things just in the hope of achieving celebrity status.

Viral social media videos and reality television shows have … Read the rest

A strong personal relationship is one in which the customer fully trusts and likes the architectural sales representative (ASR), whether they are a direct hire employee or an independent manufacturers’ representative.

The customer is interested in a partnership that is equally valuable to him and to the manufacturer the ASR represents. For any product or group of products, the customer is willing to give most or all his business to that manufacturer.

There is a perception today among many in the commercial architectural products marketplace that personal relationships in selling are less important today than in years past. Information is … Read the rest

Recently I met with a new sales rep who’s been in sales for a little over six months.

He’s made two sales; he should be closer to 30. I started by asking how many sales calls he’s been making, how many proposals he’s presented, what he’s been saying, and what his overall process has been. It didn’t take long to identify his problem.

Keep in mind that most prospects are simply trying to get rid of you. The average executive has 52 hours of work on their desk and gets 200 to 300 emails a day along with 25 to … Read the rest

As an executive coach and business owner, I know balancing everything in today’s economy can be hard. Unfortunately, you can’t hit a pause button when leading an organization. We must find a way to win despite the odds. Here are a few tips to help keep you on track and in control.

Leading in a Turbulent Economy

First, let’s be clear about one thing: just because it feels like the sky is falling, it doesn’t mean you have to be buried by it. As a leader, you’ve got to slap on your superhero hat and create a way to make … Read the rest

Slack Technologies conducted a survey a few months back that found 43 percent of middle managers feel burned out. You may be one of them. There were a lot of reasons given, but one of the biggest concerns was being caught between corporate return-to-office policies and the employees who complain that they don’t see the need.

As much as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has indicated that there seems to be a considerable shift back to office work since the beginning of 2023, this is not true across all industries. More important, it is not just about whether a … Read the rest