Last month a conversation with a manufacturer covered the benefits of conducting employee evaluations. The manufacturer didn’t leave it there, however, and continued by addressing the benefits of conducting such evaluations with its network of independent manufacturers’ representatives.

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According to the manufacturer, it’s common in his company when conducting employee evaluations to have the employee also fill out a form evaluating strengths, weaknesses, goals, etc. With this company, one of the firm’s regional managers completes the same exercise with the rep agencies in his territory. The relatively short form covers the expected areas of performance. Both the regional manager and each of his reps complete the form prior to an annual evaluation meeting. It’s at that meeting that each sees what the other has written. While the manufacturer emphasized that over the 10 years he’s being doing this, there hasn’t been any major divergence of manufacturer-rep opinions, there have been a couple of valuable opportunities where their views differed and they were able to discuss them fully. “This proved to be extremely beneficial in that we were able to head off any serious difficulties down the line.”

Rescheduling Rep Council Meetings

Time and again reps and their manufacturers emphasize the value they see in rep council meetings. Effectively run council meetings are a boon to communications and do much to improve relations between manufacturers and reps. However, one manufacturer recently described how his company changed the scheduling of its rep council meetings in an effort to improve focus on the tasks at hand.

According to the manufacturer, “We detected a bit of a problem when we were scheduling our annual or semi-annual council meetings to run concurrently with our annual sales meeting or a large national trade show that most of us attended.

“Here’s what was happening. We found that the council meeting began to take second place to the larger event and the council meeting was hardly as effective as it could and should have been.”

To improve matters, the manufacturer moved the meeting to a time of its own in order to avoid distractions. “For the past five years we’ve found that our reps were being torn between two masters and they were serving neither one very well. Because their overriding concern was to get the most out of the trade show, they expended all their efforts in preparation for it. When it came to the council meetings — that ran at the tail end of the trade show — it really just became an afterthought. They were worn out and really didn’t have any time to properly prepare. To combat this we began scheduling our council meetings at a neutral location when there would be no distractions. We’ve made it plain to all members that we’ve seen the error of our ways and if we’re going to run a council, we’ve got to do everything to make sure we run it properly.”

Attracting Reps’ Attention

Judging by recent conversations with both manufacturers and independent manufacturers’ representatives, more and more manufacturers are seeking the services of reps. While that’s a positive for reps, a negative appears to be that many manufacturers express frustration with the fact they can’t find the right rep for their needs. It would appear that many of the good reps already have enough lines and are reluctant to take on more just to fill out their line cards. Input from a number of reps indicates that there are some steps prospective principals can take to get a rep’s attention. Here’s what one rep who regularly receives solicitations from manufacturers has to say: “It’s highly unusual if we don’t receive several contacts from prospective principals each week. However, I’ve got to admit that we are not going to make a move unless we’re truly attracted to the manufacturer’s ideas and future plans. As an example, we recently had one manufacturer approach us armed with a marketing survey that clearly pointed out the potential business in our territory. That effort showed us that they were more prepared than most to go to battle and we were more than happy to join forces with them. I’d advise other manufacturers to follow that example.”

It’s a Family Affair

Manufacturers have long touted the benefits they accrue from making the effort to have their reps feel like they’re members of the corporate family. One manufacturer with a long history of working with reps explained his philosophy: “The reps that we’ve worked with the longest have always told us that they feel a bit like employees. They go on to say that doesn’t mean they feel we have control over them, but rather that they know all of our personnel and have the run of our facilities. On top of that, they don’t have to ask our permission to go anywhere and do anything. If they have a question that needs answering or a problem that needs a solution, one of our people is always at the ready to take care of them.

“In addition, whenever we have an open house at our headquarters, we send an invitation to every one of them that we think can make the event. To further that level of involvement and communication, we expect each of our reps to visit our office at least once a year. When they do that, we fully inform them regarding any changes that have taken place. We believe all these efforts pay off in the end.”

Manufacturers Pull Common Thread

Recent interviews with a number of manufacturers, each of which boasts lengthy tenures of working with independent manufacturers’ representatives, developed a thread that was common to all of their relationships. Manufacturers were asked the relatively simple question: “What recommends you as a manufacturer that reps would want to conduct business with?” Their answers exposed practices that each of them recommended.

• Always live up to your contractual agreements.
• Strive to keep reps in the loop when it comes to any changes in operations, whether it involves products, new programs or personnel.
• Always pay accurately and on time.
• Work overtime to provide the support (e.g., advertising, trade show participation, sales literature, etc.) that reps need in order to get their jobs done.

And finally, make every effort to treat their outsourced sales force as members of the corporate family.

A Positive Take on Relations

Late last year at an industry-specific rep association meeting, four reps made up a roundtable discussion focusing on relations with principals. At the outset, the conversation took a negative turn replete with a number of complaints covering how manufacturers unfairly treated their reps. It didn’t take long, however, for one rep to turn the discussion in a positive direction. According to the rep, here’s why he was so positive about his relationship with the principals he’s aligned with:

• “I’ve been lucky in that my principals don’t expect anything to happen overnight. They allow for adequate sales and market planning to produce realistic results.”
• “In general, their communication with me has been excellent. They quickly answer my requests for information and assistance and the make sure that I’m always included in the information loop on matters of importance.”
• “They understand how I operate and appreciate the demands I have on my time. What happens is that they don’t expect me to be selling their products exclusively all the time. As a matter of fact, they understand and fully support the value of my synergistic approach to the marketplace.”
• “They operate on a personal basis and extend themselves so that I feel as though I’m a real member of their team.”
• “Communication has always been important. From day one my principals have communicated to me exactly what they expect from their reps and they’ve never varied from that course.”

The Goal — Improve Relations

In a recent interview with a manufacturer that focused on how to enhance relations between manufacturers and their independent manufacturers’ representatives, a manufacturer went on at length with his thoughts on how to work well together. According to the manufacturer, there are a few areas where work needs to be done in order to improve working relationships.

“For instance, going into the relationship, I would hope that more reps had a knowledge of how our business works from the moment an inquiry comes across our desk. When I refer to knowing about our business, I believe the rep ought to know how we operate from top to bottom. If that willingness to learn about our operation is present—and that’s something we’re more than happy to help the rep with — it can only benefit both sides.

“I’ve found that many times reps will express a desire to hit a home run right out of the box. If they’ve taken the time to learn about how we operate, however, they’ll go about their business in a different manner.”

He continued by noting that this understanding of how the manufacturer operates is enhanced by realizing the importance of starting off the relationship with a visit to the manufacturer’s facility. “The plant tour sets the foundation for the rep’s knowledge of our product line and of how we operate. That knowledge can only be established by the rep coming to us, not the other way around. The message we communicate to our reps during these plant visits is that we believe in the business, we believe in the contribution our reps make, and we’re committed to supporting them in the territory.”

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