Response to MANA’s REP MBA (Three-Minute Business School)

Good point in this article about having two reps in one territory. I experienced a somewhat different issue earlier in my career. I was a sales manager for a pump manufacturer. We merged with a sister division that sold two distinct types of analyzers; one to analyze water in water treatment facilities and the other used in labs to analyze protein, and moisture content.

When I inherited this sales channel it quickly became clear to me that whoever was in charge before knew very little about their markets, or selling through rep agencies. They had insisted on one rep, handling both products, for each territory. It was obvious by looking at the sales numbers for these reps that none of them covered both markets. All of them were good at one of the products but terrible at the other.

In discussions with them, they all related the same story, “We have been successfully covering our territory for years with product line A, then your company insisted that we take on product line B. We told them that our business does not take us into these other markets, but no one wanted to hear that.”

I approached the president of the company with my findings, as well as recommendations for splitting the territories. I had even done a rep search and found candidates for filling the gaps. Unfortunately, he was the president of the analyzer division and refused my recommendations.

Two months later, I accepted a position with a new company that had a much better appreciation and understanding of reps.

When transitioning my career as a salesman for a pump distributor to sales manager for a manufacturer, I realized that your relationships with reps and distributors can make or break your career. In the past 35 years in the pump industry, I have assisted many reps in finding new product lines that will increase their business. Some may think this crazy because it may take away time spent selling my products. However, I look at it another way, the stronger my rep’s company is, the better. This allows them to hire better salespeople, and provide more support to the customers. This is a win for me as well.

I have also had many job offers from other industrial equipment manufacturers because one (or more) of their reps had recommended me for an open sales management position.

Additionally, I have gone back to many reps I had dealt with in the past with other companies, and offered them the product line of my current employer. They have taken the line on mostly for the fact that they know me, and how much I appreciate them. They know I will support them in every way possible.

The pump business is a close-knit world and a good reputation with the reps and distributors in this industry is key to success.

Bob Limper, Director of Sales and Global Product Management
Zenith Pump Division, CIRCOR Pumping Technologies
Monroe, NC

Editor’s Note: For those who have not seen the e-mail newsletter that prompted Bob’s letter, it follows below:

“Can I have more than one rep in a territory?” The answer used to be a flat “No.” Now the answer is “Sometimes.”

Evlav Valve Company* manufactures solenoid valves used in a number of industries. V.P. of Sales Jane Morgan* needed representation in California. At first, she tried to recruit a representative for that geographic territory, but no single representative company sold to both the aerospace and power generation industries.

“I found great candidates to represent us who were very effective in the aerospace market who had no penetration into power generation, and great candidates in the power generation market who did not call on the aerospace market. This was so frustrating that I started to think about hiring a direct salesperson in California, but I realized that a new direct person would have no contacts in either industry, which would have been worse.”

“Then I had an idea. What if I went back to my top aerospace candidate and my top power generation candidate and asked each if they would accept exclusive agreements for just the markets they covered? As it turned out, both companies embraced that idea, and my aerospace candidate even told me that he already represented other principals on an ‘aerospace only’ basis.”

MANA has heard of other market-specific agreements working very well for both principal and representative, so when the circumstances dictate, a discussion of market-specific representative assignments can solve this kind of problem.

* Names have been changed to protect the privacy of those who share their stories with us. Details may have been added, removed or altered to better illustrate the concepts discussed in this issue.