Instead of believing what he was hearing from many of his reps as the reason why they couldn’t or wouldn’t attend any of his regularly scheduled training sessions, the manufacturer decided to turn a critical eye on what he was offering.
“I’ve been having my reps come to the factory with regularity so I can bring them up to speed with our newest products and applications and provide all of us with an opportunity to compare marketing intelligence. This year, however, more and more of my reps are telling me that with the economy so bad, they can’t afford the time out of the territory. I had convinced myself that what I was offering was truly of value to both of us. So as the excuses continued to mount, I thought I had better do something about it and take corrective action.”
What he did was to ask several of the reps who refused to attend the last session to be totally honest with him. “In almost one voice they said that what I was doing for them was outdated. When I let myself be completely objective, I had to agree with them. All we were doing was repackaging the same stuff year after year — that’s what really turned off the reps. I pulled my team together and completely revamped what we were providing them. When I let our reps know of our new program, they were all enthusiastic. As a matter of fact, we’ve got complete sign-ups for our next scheduled session.”
The Need for a Rep Champion
One manufacturer new to working with reps learned to his surprise that his inside sales staff weren’t providing all the assistance that the reps needed. It wasn’t hard for him to figure out as the number of desperate calls he received from his reps continued to mount. “Their most common complaints were that they weren’t getting the information they needed and wanted from the inside people. After hearing all the complaints I could handle, I convened a meeting and learned that many of the inside people actually resented the freedom the independent reps had. They admitted that they had become accustomed to giving orders to our former salaried sales staff and having those orders obeyed without question. When I heard this, the first thing I did was to re-educate the inside staff as to the reasons we decided to go to reps. Then I appointed one of them who appeared to be most receptive to my message as the ‘rep champion.’ He then became to the go-to guy for our reps whenever they have complaints. I did this about six months ago, and the results were dramatic.”
The Importance of Communicating in a Down Economy
A manufacturer explained that he was hardly surprised when one of his reps went the extra mile to provide him with an overview of why sales in his territory were down this year. But the manufacturer came away impressed with the rep’s candid views and his optimism for the future. The rep wrote, “Even though my sales are about at the same level as they were a year ago, I consider this a positive. This year approximately 20 percent of the businesses I sold to are gone. With the 80 percent that remains, however, my volume for your product line is just about at the same level as before all those companies disappeared. Why? It’s because of my agency’s hard work on your behalf. Having said this, there are indications that other new companies will be moving into my territory in the months to come. All signs are positive for next year. I just thought it was important to let you know what’s going on.”
Finding Business in a “Dead” Zone
A manufacturer was certain he had all his bases covered in that he had representation in just about all of the major industrial areas he had interest in. So he was more than a little surprised when completely out of the blue he received a call from a rep asking to represent him in a virtually “dead” area. Feeling he had nothing to lose, the manufacturer said, “Fine,” and the two signed to work together. “What I didn’t know, however, was something the rep was aware of. Because of his contacts in the territory, the rep knew that a major manufacturer was slated to move into the area, and that represented a tremendous potential for our product line. When the manufacturer made the move about 10 months later, the rep was already well-established, and since then he’s become one of our top reps.
“If I have any advice to offer other manufacturers, it’s if someone calls to represent them in even the most remote area, listen to him.”
A Case for Continuity
When one of his long-standing direct salespeople left for another position in the industry, a manufacturer took a moment to reflect on the subject of continuity in the field. “We’ve been working with a hybrid sales organization for quite some time,” he said. “It’s worked well for us and we have few complaints. One of the major differences, however, occurs when we have a change in the sales force. When a rep firm makes a change, such as merging with another firm or adding or subtracting from their sales team, there’s little impact in the territory. That’s because the agencies we work with have been in place for years, and their brand remains strong and constant even after changes occur. With a direct salesperson, however, there’s an immediate reaction. If we’ve been lucky enough to have a direct person in place for five or more years, the customers really feel it when he moves on because that salesman has worked long and hard on building relationships. Then to compound the problem, if we run several salespeople through a territory over the period of a couple of years, we have little chance of maintaining relationships.”
Praise for the RSM Field Visit
Reps don’t always react positively when one of their principal’s regional sales managers ask them to make plans for joint sales calls. One manufacturer, however, couldn’t help but pass along the “report card” he received from a rep on his RSM. According to the rep, “The sales manager was very up-front when he told me not to be wary of selling other lines that I represent — when the opportunity presented itself. But the main purpose of his visit was to make appointments with especially good customers for his products and with prospects that I’ve been having difficulties with. It was his opinion — and I agree with him — that that was where he could do the most good. His goal was to cement relationships with good customers and do whatever he could in order to sell tough customers. He was true to his word. During the course of our three days together, he never dominated meetings and he always deferred to me. I came away thinking ‘he can come work with me any day.’”
Field Visit Strengthens Ties
Another positive trip to the territory was reported when a manufacturer decided to use the field trip as an opportunity to get the new sales manager’s feet wet. “When our former sales manager was promoted, we moved the number-two person into his position. The new sales manager had worked (primarily over the phone and at industry meetings) with our reps but had little if any real face-time with them. When we announced his promotion, the first thing we did was to send him out on a two-week, four-agent trip. The time couldn’t have been better spent. Existing relationships were made stronger, and our support of our reps continued as if no change had been made.”
Getting off to a Fast Start
Naturally we were pleased when a manufacturing company new to working with reps announced that it was joining MANA. That’s not all the company did to acclimate itself to reps and reps to itself, however. Here’s what else they did: “When we contract with a rep, within a week of signing on the dotted line, someone from sales and someone from engineering visits the rep for at least two days. We’ll spend the first day going over details and the second day in the field visiting customers. If they want us to stay longer, we’ll accommodate them.”
The manufacturer reports that their approach not only established solid relations with new reps immediately, but the reps bring in business a lot faster than they might if he didn’t work as closely and quickly as he does with them.
Know When — and How — to Part Ways
A manufacturer reports, “As one independent rep firm continued to successfully grow in its territory, it became more and more difficult for them to serve our relatively small business. To his credit, as soon as he recognized it was becoming a problem to give us the time he had in the past, he sat down with us and brought us up to speed. He let us know it was no longer profitable for him for represent us but what he’d like to do was to stick with us until we found new representation. On top of that, he provided us with three recommendations for reps in the territory that they felt would be an ideal choice. After interviewing all three, we went with one of them. When all is said and done, the rep couldn’t have been any more professional in his approach. We parted as business friends and remain friends to this day.”
