Open Communication With Inside Sales Strengthens the Rep Bond

“We’ve always prided ourselves on the support our company has provided to our network of independent manufacturers representatives — that’s why when we began to hear some complaints, we paid attention.” That’s how one manufacturer was alerted to a weakness in his sales and marketing operation, and once alerted, he took quick action to correct the situation.

For years, according to this manufacturer, “We figured that our inside salespeople were doing all they could to support our outsourced sales network. However, over the course of two rep council meetings, the number and level of complaints began to increase. The major problem areas centered on communication — or the lack of communication. Our people weren’t letting reps know about happenings at the factory, and they didn’t always respond quickly enough with answers to questions. Our solution was to ask our reps what they wanted/needed. We immediately altered our course and haven’t heard a single complaint over the last several months.”

Making the Most of Field Visits

One of the most appreciated parts of field visits, according to reps, is the time spent in the car between sales calls. According to a number of reps, “This is the time we could speak with our regional sales managers about things that were going on back at the factory or solve problems that we’ve been facing in the field.” That appears to be the way it used to be. Several reps report that the intrusion of technology has stolen this valuable time from reps and their principals. “Now I’m finding that the second we get back in the car the manufacturer is on his BlackBerry or cell phone. He’s speaking with his co-workers back in the office or even participating in conference calls. Gone are the days when we could discuss what we’re going to face during the next call or de-brief each other after the last call. I resent the loss of this time and fear we’re never going to get it back.

“If there’s any one thing I could tell my principals when they come see me in the field is to ditch the electronic communications and pay attention to me and our customers. “They’ve already made an investment to spend time with me in the field, why not make the most of it? Just look back a couple of years to the time when we didn’t have all these electronic communication tools. We survived and thrived quite well. Let’s roll back the clock and — at least in this area — work the way we used to and pay attention to each other.”

Getting Attention When Attention Is Due

A common concern among manufacturers is getting enough of their reps’ time. To address that concern, you hear everything from paying higher commissions, to providing more support to reps, to increasing joint sales calls in the field. However, one manufacturer has come up with a tactic where less means more. By that he means, “I share the same concerns as other manufacturers do, but I counter that by making fewer demands on their time. But when I do contact them, I expect their attention. For instance, when I come out with a new marketing program or have a new product to introduce, I expect their attention. I think that because I’m not constantly on them, they respond. This approach has worked for me, and I’ve even had a number of reps tell me that when I make a special request — because they’re few and relatively far between — they’re more than willing to drop what they’re doing to attend to my needs.”

Sounding a Positive Note on Rep-Principal Relations

One rep decided to travel a positive road recently when he and a number of his peers got together at a rep association meeting. Perhaps driven by all the bad economic news, the majority of the reps started to complain about how poorly they were treated by their principals. The one rep interrupted the conversation to sound a much more positive note by detailing how good his principals were and how lucky he felt to be working with them. According to the rep, “From the very beginning of my relationships with the majority of my principals, they have been great to me. Their communication is timely and thorough. They answer questions and solve problems promptly. I never feel as if I’m being left out of the communication loop.

“If anything, they’ve gone out of their way to make me feel as if I’m a member of the company family. They do that at the same time they recognize the fact I’m not an employee and not subject to the same control they might exert over full-time employees. They also appreciate the fact I represent other lines. As a result, they know all my time isn’t going to be spent on their lines. Having said that, they want a share of my time, but they make it worthwhile by paying their competitive commissions on time and without errors.”

The Rep as Team Player

In the previous item, a rep refers to the importance of the manufacturer making him feel as if he’s a member of the corporate family. When that was mentioned to a manufacturer, he agreed how important that was and continued, “We’ve always prided ourselves on the feedback we receive from a number of our longstanding reps in that they feel as if we treat them as employees. I offer that as a positive. For instance, whenever we have them here for a plant visit, they’re on their own for the most part. There’s no need for them to ask permission to go anywhere or speak to anyone. If they have a question or problem, we leave it up to them to get in touch with the right person to get an answer or a solution. Likewise, we let our factory people know that they have to be at the reps’ disposal. They are here for a limited period of time. Let’s make the most of it, and let’s be forthcoming in our cooperation to get the job done.”

The Importance of the After Meeting

A number of rep associations have their annual conferences in the spring or early summer. Several of them invite manufacturers to attend and to take advantage of the opportunity to get together with their rep sales forces. Many times manufacturers will actually use this time to conduct their annual sales meetings. They figure since everyone is there, why not put some time aside, and save the time and money they would normally invest in a meeting at the factory or some off-site location. One manufacturer has taken it a step further by implementing a follow-up plan after the meeting to get the most out of these sessions. “Usually within a week to 10 days of these meetings I implement a set plan to insure I and my reps have made the most of these meetings. It goes this way:

• I communicate with all the reps who were in attendance and let them know how much I appreciate their participation.
• I provide them with a virtual checklist of the subjects we addressed and detail the timelines within which agreed-upon tasks must be completed — by them or me.
• Finally, I sort of ‘de-brief’ the members of my own staff as we rundown all the subjects we covered during the meeting.”

At the same time, the manufacturer lets the reps know that he’d like their feedback on the meeting, including what they thought went right and what could use some improvement. He adds that this approach is hardly a panacea, but it’s gone a long way toward improving relations with reps.

Goodbye to Blanket Solicitations

After years of experiencing little or no success in soliciting reps to represent their line, one manufacturer decided on a more focused approach. “Like many other manufacturers, we belong to rep associations that will allow us to join as an ‘associate.’ When we have a need for representation in a given territory, we begin by contacting the association executives and asking them for recommendations. They’re always careful not to recommend just one firm, but generally they’ll give us three to five for consideration. Next, we’ll ask around among the rep membership to learn what they think of firms in the given territory. Generally, once we compare the two lists, two to three firms will stand out. Then as we approach the firms to determine their interest, we’ll come armed with what we consider a very professional approach. We offer detailed information about our company, and offer any marketing information we might have. Then we talk about our plans for the future of our products in that territory. Our experience has been that once a rep firm determines we’re as serious about them and they ought to be about us, we can generally come up with a good match — for us and for the rep.”