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Manufacturers should be teammates with all their independent manufacturers’ representatives. When a principal wants a rep to take on their line and there is little or no business in the territory, it shows great respect when the principal offers to pay the rep — for a period of time — to pioneer the line. This is simply practicing the “Golden Rule.” The manufacturer would not expect to have one of their direct employees go to a specific territory to work to create business and then not pay that employee. So why would they treat a rep differently?

There are several ways to compensate the rep for doing the pioneering work:

• One is to guarantee the rep a specific amount of money each month for a specific number of months.
• Another is to pay the rep a larger amount of money the first couple months and then decrease the monthly payment for a few more months.

The key point is that the manufacturer totally understands that they are paying money to a professional salesperson that lives in the territory, knows what to do without very much time spent from the manufacturer; and, the rep knows who to show the products to because the rep has great relationships with his customers. This is money well spent by the manufacturer.

As a manufacturers’ rep for more than 35 years, I have many choices in what manufacturers I work with. When I — or my fellow reps — are asked to pioneer a line, we expect to be paid for what we do. There is not a lot of incentive to pioneer a new line when we already have several other lines that provide us compensation every month.

The key things I look for in companies I represent, and I believe most of my fellow reps look for as well, are the following.

Integrity

Is the manufacturer totally transparent with me? Does the manufacturer really want me to make money and sell a lot of their products? Pioneering is part of this integrity equation and the manufacturer should pay a rep for their professional skills in pioneering the line. Does the manufacturer tell me the truth? Does the manufacturer hide things from me? Am I informed every time an order is placed from my territory, or does the manufacturer try to hide orders from me so they do not have to pay me? To build a business together there must be total integrity from both the principal and the rep. When there is total integrity, wonderful things happen for everyone.

Loyalty

It is fantastic to represent manufacturers that really care about all of their reps. Of course, this is a two-way street. The rep must be totally loyal to the principal. When the manufacturer offers to pay money to the rep for pioneering, this shows incredible trust and loyalty. It is great if the manufacturer offers to pay the rep for pioneering vs. the rep having to ask for money to be received for pioneering. It is not a deal breaker if the rep has to ask, because some principals may be new to the rep-manufacturer relationship. There must be honest communication so both parties realize the benefit of having the rep conduct the pioneering work. The manufacturer is getting great value by having a professional salesperson and the rep is getting great value by being paid fairly by the manufacturer to do this work and both parties know that by working together, they will both be major winners in the long run and hopefully have a long-term mutually beneficial business relationship.

Communication

Reps need to know what is going on with the manufacturer’s business. There must be regular communication from the principal to the rep keeping the rep informed about new people that work at the principal’s office, new products getting ready to be launched and much more. When a manufacturer is paying a rep a pioneering fee, there must be regular phone calls between the two parties so that the manufacturer is confident about what the rep is doing and that the money the principal is paying is well spent. The rep wants to feel good knowing that he or she is doing a great job and making the principal happy by doing a great job pioneering the line and doing great work for the money he or she is receiving from the principal.

Cooperation and Teamwork

As a rep, I really appreciate being part of a team. I like it when a principal gets involved in helping me sell specific projects. It’s incumbent upon the manufacturer to add value in the sales process. Too often reps are “left out in the cold” to sell the products of the manufacturer with no sales help at all from the manufacturer. I encourage all manufacturers to regularly ask each of their reps to tell them about specific projects or specific clients that they would like the manufacturer to help with. This is so easy for the principal to do. Often it just takes a phone call from someone at the factory to call the client and let them know they are working with the rep to provide great service to them. Think how impressive this is when a client receives a call from someone at the factory saying they appreciate their business and they want to know what they can do to provide even better service! When a rep is pioneering the line and a factory person helps in the sales process, this goes a long way in building good customer relationships. The word will get around the territory quickly that this manufacturer supports their reps. When a factory person helps in the sales process, this will also go a long way in building a great partnership between the rep that is conducting the pioneering and the manufacturer. Reps need someone at the factory to talk with to figure out how to handle some issues or how best to go about selling a specific project or acquiring a specific client. The more time the manufacturer spends actually helping the rep sell the products the manufacturer makes, the better the relationship will be between the rep and the manufacturer. Reps naturally work harder to sell the lines of the manufacturers that cooperate with the rep and truly act as teammates with the rep in the selling process.

Pioneering is a critical part of the sales process, and when the manufacturer and the rep have honest communication about pioneering fees, this will be the start of a great business relationship.

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