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Earlier this year when TV reporter Ted Koppel took a quick look at the past, he brought to mind how much our world — and really by extension the world of reps — has changed in a relatively short period of time.

In a poem Koppel put together for the CBS “Sunday Morning” TV show, he points out that there was a time not too long ago when we all depended on roadmaps to chart our way before there was GPS available in our cars. Or, how about the fact that today when conducting research instead of consulting our trusty encyclopedia we click on our favorite search engine; or, instead of taking the family to the local movie theatre, we simply download a movie from the comfort of our living room?

The veteran CBS newsman’s ruminations about past and present brought to mind two articles that appeared long ago in the pages of Agency Sales. First, close to 20 years ago, in an article entitled “Reps’ Coping Strategies for the 21st Century,” association members were reminded — as they should be today — that “MANA has long preached the mantra of ‘be prepared,’ for change. An important part of being prepared is being armed with a wealth of coping strategies to employ in the face of perceived threats to our business well-being.”

The article then went on to point out what were then (20 years ago) challenges to the rep way of going to market. It’s worthwhile to review those threats and consider if they are as concerning today as they were then; or is this just an example of the more things change, the more they remain the same?

For example:

Well-documented efforts by some customers to move reps out of the picture are viewed as attempts to have the rep’s commissions for their own. Some customers figure if the rep is eliminated from the equation, then the money saved by not paying his commission can logically go to them in the form of lower prices. What they’ve forgotten here is that the rep’s service and “value add” still have to be provided by someone, and if that is the case, is the manufacturer willing and able — via his direct sales force — to provide the same level of service that the professional independent manufacturers’ representative did?

In the face of that challenge, most of the customers who go through the “ban-the-reps” phase learn to value the services that agents provide and revoke their policy in time.

Some reps bemoan the fact that technological growth and the change it begets will threaten their long-term relationships with principals and customers. Others refer to this as “high-tech replacing high-touch.”

The same high-tech innovations that seemed to threaten the existence of field salespeople until recently also have contributed vastly to improvements in sales productivity. Rep owners’ incomes are up, even in the face of downward pressure on commission rates.

With the propensity of many customers to downsize their organizations, more and more responsibilities have been placed on the shoulders of those who remain. As a result, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for the rep to get that valuable “face time” with his customer’s buying influence. Many call this the “Voice Mail Blues.”

If voice mail makes it difficult for you to get in to see your customers with a basket of eight to 10 complementary products, pity your poor direct sales competitor, who has only one line to sell. Reps have an inherent advantage now.

As principals request and/or require more and more services from their reps — often with no adjustment in the rate of commission — the rep is finding that his selling time is being affected. The more time he spends complying with his principals’ requests for market data, product studies and other information, the less time he can devote to his job — selling.

While it’s true that principals have tried to shift some of the marketing activity from headquarters to the field, the really smart reps have negotiated payment for these extra activities and have made themselves even more valuable (and more difficult to part company with).

Then there’s the growing concern of the impact mergers and consolidations among rep firms and foreign competition will have on business.

For every rep who loses a line as the result of a merger of two companies who now have two agents in the territory and need only one, there’s one who picks up a line. If you’re the best rep in the territory, you win!

And, the threat of foreign competition can be counterbalanced by the old saying, “If you can’t beat them join them!” If you are representing a high-labor-content commodity product today, your only salvation may be to go to work for the low-cost producer of the product who is likely to be in a third-world country.

Ultimately, that long-ago article made the point that for the rep of the past, present and the future, the best way to meet these and other challenges is to strive to become the complete businessman. Continuing education is the key to this strategy and it’s one that goes beyond the traditional academic environs. And, isn’t this as true today as it was then?

With degree in hand the manufacturers’ representative is still not necessarily the business person he or she should be. What must be accumulated is a knowledge of engineering, accounting MIS, management, psychology, human resources, teaching and communications. These skills cannot be acquired and mastered without effort. Thankfully, there are many options available to the rep including seminars and other training programs available from MANA and industry-specific sister rep associations.

Communications Challenges

If that first article stressed the need to be and to stay prepared to grapple with change, a good 25 years ago reps were similarly advised to constantly get their arms around one of the most important areas that impact their businesses — and one that has undergone monumental change — communications tools.

In an article entitled “Developing an Integrated Agency Communications System,” reps were advised to regularly conduct a telephone system checkup. Today, that advice sounds like an understatement as reps are faced with a never-ending wave of innovations to their communications systems. Here’s just some of what that article focused on 25 years ago as the article advised reps to start with the basic communicating machine in their office — the telephone:

• “Do you have enough phones?
• “Do you have too many?
• “Do you have one line?
• “Do you have more than one?
• “Do you have several extensions on one line, or do you have extensions on several or all of your lines?
• “If you make many calls out of your calling area, do you use one of the cost-savings systems such as WATS?

“The chances are that your telephone system just grew as your agency grew, and that you are either overloaded with lines and equipment, or you’re operating on the short side.”

After mastering the intricacies of their telephone systems, reps were then urged to move on to an evaluation of their cellular phones, two-way radio communications, and fax machines. If any of those tools sound like those that were used in medieval times keep in mind what one rep recently reported when he said he hadn’t received a fax in more than five years — and in fact, he was unaware that he even had ink in his last remaining fax machine.

For just a hint of what the present and future hold when it comes to communications tools available to reps, a quick visit to www.cnet.com can be counted on to provide a preview. Whether it’s laptops, tablets or sophisticated — not to mention expensive — iPhones and Androids, the goal posts are constantly moving and it’s incumbent for reps to keep moving with them.

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