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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 been able to get in the door to see them. I was able to speak with the president and their sales manager several times on the phone and provided them with sample products, but there was no face-to-face meeting. They told me they’d look at the product and get back to me, but they never did.
“I always followed up with them but never really made any progress. When I finally heard from them, they asked if I could confirm pricing, which I did, and finally, I got an order from them.
“In my 25 years of being a rep, this is the first time I ever got an order without meeting the customer. After getting the order, I followed up asking if everything was good and, ‘Do you need anything else?’ After hearing nothing, I asked, ‘Is no news good news?’ Then I asked, ‘Since you gave me an order, I’d love to come in, meet with you and put a face to the voice.’ But they still didn’t want to see me.”
A second rep offered a similar story: “I was doing some injection molding work for a customer and my experience was that they didn’t have the time or interest in meeting with me in person. It’s weird, but I just got a second order from them for $300,000. I spoke with their sales manager on the phone and he told me not to take it personally. They’re not changing and they’re not budging in how they do business with me. Maybe this is just a sign of the times and this is how things are going to be done in the future.”
A New Way of Conducting Business
Another rep voiced the opinion that this represents “a new era and a new way of conducting business. For me, this is rather shocking. I don’t think it’s the norm at this time, but based on what I’m hearing, I do believe more and more businesses may go that way.”
Participants in the teleconference said that they felt this lack of in-person contact was probably a hangover from the COVID-19 experience. “In the East especially, there are still so many people who are working from home that it’s difficult to get in touch. I have had some luck getting inside some smaller companies, but it’s more difficult with the larger ones. They just don’t seem to want anyone to visit. You may be able to get an occasional person to meet you for lunch but by and large, it’s just not like it used to be.”
Exacerbating an environment where it is difficult to get in touch with customers, according to the reps, is the fact that during and after Covid many buying decision makers have changed positions. “I’ve found that when someone new joins a company it’s difficult to get in touch. I’ll call and many times there’s no longer a receptionist to direct your call. It’s up to you to find some sort of a device (e.g., LinkedIn) to locate the right people you have to speak with.”
Despite the challenges that were described by participants in the MANAchat, one rep offered an optimistic view of the business landscape: “Despite everything we have to deal with today, I believe we’re on the verge of a second Industrial Revolution in this country. And, for reps like us with years of experience, we are in a perfect position to take advantage of it. We are experienced, we know what we know, and we’re going to be very successful in the future.”
Becoming an Emotional Favorite
“Your reps have to trust you; they have to understand that you have their best interests at heart.” That was the crux of the discussion that transpired in a second MANAchat, this one devoted to how a manufacturer can achieve “emotional favorite” status with their reps.
One manufacturer taking part in the conversation explained, “If the manufacturer doesn’t understand the dynamics of the relationship between himself and his reps, they’re doomed to failure. Here’s what has been the guiding force for us — if you don’t lay the foundation for a good relationship on day one, then in reality that’s going to be the start of a downward slide for you. I’ve had more than six years of experience working with reps. During that time my expectation has been that they will go out and establish distributor and customer relations for us.”
He went on to explain that to ensure a strong relationship from the beginning, “We start off with a very comprehensive initial training session. We’ll devote an entire day to getting our sales staff around the table with our reps in order to break bread with them and warm up the relationship. Without that type of face-to-face beginning, it’s just not going to work.”
Reps Are Different
A second manufacturer offered, “You’ve got to realize that every rep you work with has a unique personality. That means they each have different needs. I’ve found that when it came to signing on the ‘good’ reps, I had to make a real effort when it came to convincing them to work with us. Once I’ve done that, and we’ve agreed on joint expectations, then things worked out quite well.”
Two suggestions that were offered to ensure a good relationship between manufacturer and rep were offered in the creation of rep councils and the importance of conducting visits with reps in the field. According to one manufacturer, “We’ve learned over the years how important rep councils can be. When properly constituted, the reps on the council offer solid suggestions and solutions to problems.”
Bottom line, the manufacturers taking part in the MANAchat agreed that if your reps trust you and believe in you, the relationship is going to work and you’ll have a leg up in achieving that emotional favorite status you’re looking for.
In describing how far that emotional status can go, another manufacturer noted that “I’ve got three of my reps that even though they are retired, they still stay in touch, and we’ve remained friends for years.”
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