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MANA’s membership is constantly asked to provide feedback regarding the association’s offering of products and services. It’s not surprising that when asked for their opinions, members refer to the steady stream of teleforums, rep-savvy legal counsel, Agency Sales magazine and the manufacturer seminars in complimentary terms. As examples, read what a few members value as their regular “go to” MANA services.

Paul Nielsen, Brainard Nielsen Marketing, Elk Grove Village, Illinois, explains that he became aware of MANA while in attendance at an ERA conference. “I joined MANA more than 25 years ago because the rep business and, it seems the electronic rep business in particular, is extremely competitive, changing faster than the rest of the world and demands constant innovation. I can use all the help I can get! ERA provides me with the detailed electronic industry oriented advice and outlook. But just as important, MANA gives me the broad, general rep operations overview. MANA also gives me ideas that come from other industries that are served by reps. It regularly gives me a few more fresh angles to look at today’s challenges.

“My favorite MANA services are Agency Sales and Charley Cohon’s periodic e-mails dealing with specific rep topics. Both are full of practical information, well written and cover a broad range of timely topics, many of which I have shared with my principals.

I have recommended MANA membership to other reps and manufacturers. MANA, combined with the association that serves your specific market (e.g., ERA and NEMRA), provides a selection of very useful information and guidance at a very reasonable cost. You would be crazy to pass it up! My only piece of advice is that, once you join MANA, use it. It’s great information there for the taking. Use it! None of us is smart enough to go it alone.”

Charlie Parham, Pepco Sales Company, Dallas, Texas, explains that his goal in joining MANA seven years ago was “not only to better myself and my agency but also to promote the rep model as a whole. It’s important that we communicate the rep business model to manufacturers and educate them to the fact that going to market with reps is the way to go.”

Parham, who in addition to his MANA membership is a member of the board of AIM/R (Association of Independent Manufacturers’/Representatives, Inc.), explains that MANA does a great job of producing and providing content that’s relevant to reps. “In the pages of Agency Sales I’ve benefited from articles on everything from succession planning, marketing and working with principals that have not only applied to my agency, but I’ve been able to share with my fellow AIM/R members.”

Parham points to a wealth of benefits for independent agents who belong to MANA, even if like himself they have the benefit of an industry-specific association like AIM/R. “I’m a plumbing, mechanical, HVAC rep and on a micro level, AIM/R is ideal for me. On the macro level, however, MANA is able to concentrate on content that we can’t in our industry. Their ability to share content, best practices and support reps in general, are just what we need.”

Scott Lehman, whose agency, the Lehman Company & Associates, Winfield, Illinois, serves the electrical industry, notes that a major benefit of his MANA membership is the fact that “I can learn quite a bit from those who are outside my particular discipline.” He cites the many MANA teleforums facilitated by Nicki Weiss and the association’s monthly magazine (Agency Sales) — “That I read front to back” — as beneficial. “I particularly like the cross talk from reps of various disciplines that I hear. It’s there that you can learn about trends in other industries that will eventually impact me.”

When he’s asked how Yorston & Associates found MANA and why they joined the association, Adam Yorston (who is profiled elsewhere in this issue of Agency Sales) makes the point that “MANA has been a part of our organization forever. What the association does is to pull together hundreds of people who have chosen the same career path. The benefit of that is that they can all learn from each other. Then there’s the various training programs that the association provides. Just as baseball or football players have to go through training, so do reps. And, MANA has been there to provide what we need. We also follow all of the discussions that take place in the pages of Agency Sales. My father Bill is a crazy Agency Sales reader.”

Those positive comments notwithstanding, since the last time Agency Sales offered an update of the association’s products/services, MANA has hardly been content to rest on its laurels. According to Jerry Leth, MANA’s vice president/general manager, one important area the association has given attention to is servicing the needs of special interest groups within the organization.

Special Interest Groups

To that end, MANA is in the initial stages of establishing a Professional Development Council (PDC), and creating groups to address the interests and needs of those involved in the aerospace industry (OEM Aerospace Special Interest Group — OASIG) and young independent manufacturers’ representatives (Young Professionals Special Interest Group — YPSIG).

PDC — According to Leth, “Our goal in working with a group of volunteers in this area is to ensure that MANA provides professional development resources for its membership that the membership wants — and not services that the association thinks it wants. We’ve already conducted a conference call with volunteers and determined that this is a much more effective means of planning to allocate services for members.”

OASIG — “The creation of this group is a prime example of putting together individuals who share common interests. Our goal is to provide a forum to share best practices and discuss solutions to common problems.” Just as the PDC group, the OASIG has participated in a conference call to get the ball rolling.

Initial steps taken by the Young Professionals Group are discussed in the profile of Adam Yorston that appears elsewhere in this issue of Agency Sales.

Just as Leth offered details of several MANA initiatives, the association’s President/CEO Charley Cohon noted the following: “Our outreach to academia to work on the ‘Why don’t business school graduates know what a rep is?’ problem took me to Columbia Business School in April and I was booked into Harvard’s Business School in October.

“In other areas:

• “We have added online ‘Lines Wanted’ and ‘Agencies for Sale’ to the association website to help our members proactively seek lines that best suit their needs or start the process of selling their agencies. In addition, we’ve also launched an ‘Early Bird Special’ for MANA rep members who renew their memberships three months ahead of their lapse date: A free $400 value three-month Standard ‘Lines Wanted’ ad (Limitations apply, consult MANA for complete terms and conditions).
• “We’ve added a twice-a-month ‘Rep MBA Newsletter’ for all members, with a separate track for reps and for manufacturers. MANA members will now receive these automatically.
• “We now send electronic ‘Member in Good Standing’ certificates each year to each member. To download a sample click on www.manaonline.org/member/unitedsalesassociates/cert.
• “We have upgraded the ‘Member in Good Standing’ web page for each MANA rep member. For an example see www.manaonline.org/member/unitedsalesassociates.
• “MANA’s Wisdom Council lists experienced reps who offer to mentor startups and lend an ear to any rep with a problem to discuss.”

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

Visit MANAonline.org
In addition to the services described in this article, there’s a wealth of information that the membership can obtain by visiting the MANA website. Included are details for:

• Special Reports
• MANA’s LinkedIn discussion page
• MANA’s presence on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook
• Networking with rep sister associations
• Premium Online Ads
• Professional Development Opportunities
• Member Toolbox
• Discounted Products and Services

Members are urged to avail themselves of all of these benefits and to make full use of their association membership.