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Sales are what it is all about, but how good is your independent manufacturers’ rep firm at selling the selling?

We all know that the rep business is all about selling; but, the way your firm does it can be a neglected topic.

How good are you at backselling all aspects of your business?

Organization and Management of the Sales Process

Do you have a sales manager? If not, how do you manage the sales force? How are your salespeople held accountable for all aspects of their business? We recognize that most rep salespeople are either 100 percent commission, or very dependent on commission splits with the firm. In looking at the salespeople’s income/commission are they truly motivated and driven by the income they get from reaching their sales targets?

Furthermore, how are those targets developed and monitored? Day in and day out are the salespeople managed and organized to drive toward their targets for individual lines and individual customers?

Salespeople Planning for Their Territory

How does your firm organize the planning process? Is each salesperson responsible for building and implementing an annual plan for each significant customer? By “significant” I mean any customer that provides five percent of the total commission income from each line for that particular salesperson’s territory. That means there can’t be more than 20 key customers for each line. Probably there are as few as 12-15 customers for each of the lines that produce over five percent of the individual commissions in the territory. Planning should be done for each of these customers and each of these lines.

In addition, there should be plans to achieve specific goals with lines that have potential to be over five percent. The rep firm has to recognize the responsibility it has taken on when acquiring a good line. The ramp up to “proper volume” should be carefully planned and executed.

The individual salesperson’s accomplishments with new lines should be carefully monitored.

Performance Reviews

What is your rep firm’s system for performance reviews? If there is a sales manager, he or she should have a prepared form and a consistent, disciplined approach to performance reviews. No salesperson should go longer than a year without a very comprehensive review. The reviews are essential, although the rep firm works on a commission system and the salespeople are generally independent agents, they are still employees of the firm and should be held accountable for their performance in every aspect of being a rep.

Backselling the System for Managing the Salespeople

One of the strongest and most visible parts of the rep firm’s backselling program is keeping the manufacturers informed about individual sales personnel’s performance. Keeping the sales managers and VPs at your principals informed about success stories in each territory is vital. When manufacturer personnel travel with salespeople, there should be time for the leadership of the rep firm to review the firm’s systems for managing the sales force and for discussing individual performance.

Problems can’t be swept under the rug. If the factory has a problem with a salesperson, it should be out on the table with the rep firm management. Nothing should be out of bounds: if a salesperson doesn’t communicate, if the salesperson’s style irritates the manufacturer’s people and so on. This is essential to maintaining the flow of information and communication between reps and the manufacturer. Regardless of the person or the issue, it should be brought out and discussed openly and honestly.

Bottom Line

The field visit is a critical opportunity to get issues out before they fester. It is the right time to review how the rep firm is doing in depth, by salesperson, by customer, by product line and by anything else that is of importance to the manufacturer.

Backselling rep sales successes, addressing issues and perceived weaknesses are critical to maintaining healthy, prosperous relationships between reps and principals.

Having a solid sales management system goes a long way to protecting the rep firm from jealousy, concern and doubt by a principal. The rep firm should always be out in front selling its selling and successes.

Good luck and good selling both your customers and principals.

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