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The growing impact of artificial intelligence, the importance — or lack of importance — of written sales reports, and knowing when to cut the cord with a principal were major topics of discussion during a MANA single-person agency special interest group chat early this summer.

Can AI aid the independent manufacturers’ rep? That’s how the discussion of AI was kicked off and the group was quick to offer their thoughts:

• “One thing it can do is to produce a business plan in under a minute. Having said that, the more information you provide, the more accurate your business plan is going to be. But my concern is what about the information that’s contained in your business plan? Where is that information going and who is using it?”
• “AI can help when it comes to writing follow-up letters.”
• “I use AI to create blog posts and other marketing-related materials.”
• “After I put in my own two cents, AI gets me off of my writer’s block.”
• “I use AI as a template to get my brain moving. It can be very valuable to use internally in your organization.”
• “AI can also help when it comes to putting videos together. Ultimately, it can act as a form of assistant for you.”

One rep described how one of his manufacturers had been using AI: “I generally rep very small manufacturers. There’s one company I’ve been speaking with for the past 12 months. After many discussions, they let me know that they were thrilled they could send me their signed contract that was generated by AI. After going over their AI-generated effort, it dawned on me that since they were relying so much on AI, they really didn’t have a full understanding of what was in the contract. After I received their version, I was curious and decided I would try to generate an AI contract myself. I was fascinated with the speed with which the contract was generated and actually what came out wasn’t half bad. As a matter of fact, it was better than the first contract I signed more than 30 years ago.

“What I finally did was to have my attorney help me put a contract together and sent it to them, and that’s what we’re going with.”

Prior Articles

It should be noted that earlier this year in the April and May issues of Agency Sales magazine, the association’s former President and CEO Charles Cohon, discussed the subject of artificial intelligence and its anticipated impact on reps. In two columns Cohon noted that “AI will increasingly be adopted for roles that don’t require face-to-face contact. Reps will evolve and refocus their resources on roles that do require face-to-face contact.”

When the subject of discussion turned to manufacturers’ requirements that their reps promptly provide email or other forms of sales reports, one rep offered, “I completely understand the importance of providing sales reports indicating progress of lack thereof in the territory. The bottom line is if you don’t provide such information, then your manufacturers are going to start nagging you and the relationship is going to deteriorate. As a result, what I’ve always made it a habit to do is to proactively communicate with my principals to let them know anything of importance that’s happening in the field. In addition, in all my contracts I have made sure to include a clause that says that I will provide principals at least once a month with an email or phone communication on a need-to-know basis. On top of that, at any time they should feel free to call me if they need any sort of update. I make sure this appears in the contract to let them know that if I don’t send something in writing I will communicate with them verbally.”

World Without Email

As a complement to the discussion related to sales call reporting one rep recommended that his fellow reps consult a book entitled, A World Without Email, by Cal Newport. In the book, available on Amazon, the author maintains, “We have become so used to an inbox-driven workday that it’s hard to imagine alternatives. But they do exist. Newport makes the case that our current approach to work is broken, then lays out a series of principles and instructions for fixing it. He argues for a workplace in which clear processes — not haphazard messaging — define how tasks are identified, assigned and reviewed. Each person works on fewer things (but does them better), and aggressive investment in support reduces the ever-increasing burden of administrative tasks. Above all else, important communication is streamlined, and inboxes and chat channels are no longer central to how work unfolds.”

Terminating a Principal

In a prelude to discussing when a rep should consider terminating a relationship with a principal, one rep offered the following: “For three years, I didn’t sell a single piece of equipment that one of my manufacturers had. But in all honesty, he didn’t sell any of them either. Ultimately, they brought another piece of equipment online and that one didn’t sell either. But suddenly, after six years, one of their products took off. It’s an understatement for me to say that I’m glad I stayed with them. This company had made a tremendous difference in my life.

“Looking back, I can recall the time when I thought of terminating these guys, but I stuck with them. This shows that we run into any number of companies whose sales aren’t that great, but something tells you they’re worth staying with. The ones I’ve decided to stay with are the ones I felt some sort of shared energy with. I know it does take time sometimes. And we don’t always have the six years I had to give to them. But sometimes it just pays off.”

This anecdote begged the question among the group of “When is it time, or what do you have to consider, when it comes to deciding to terminate a line?

In response it was offered what one rep encountered: “What brought us to this decision was a combination of things including:

• Quality went down.
• Prices went up.
• Lead times became extended.
• Our customers began telling us we had better get a new supplier.
• And, bottom line they just didn’t seem to care anymore.”

Time management was a final subject that was addressed by the group. This topic was kicked off when one rep made the observation that “There’s simply not enough hours in the day for me to get everything done. Being a single-man operation, I don’t have the use of an assistant as I did in the past. As I result, I’m finding that it’s not unusual for me to work 60-70 hours a week.”

By way of advice, a second rep offered, “In my more than 20 years as a rep, there have been ebbs and flows to the business. Some of the time I’ve had a good deal of time on my hands (and that’s never been something I’m happy with). Other times there is just too much work to get done.

“In the past I’ve prided myself on my ability to respond immediately to customer needs. That’s just one of those things I did. However, over time I’ve determined that in the course of business it wouldn’t have made all that much of a difference if I didn’t respond until 10 or 11 the next morning. So, I’ve resigned myself to respond a few hours later, and that’s allowed me to complete more important things than concentrate on some things that aren’t all that important.”

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