As a rep, when you think of marketing you probably think of your customers first. After all, they’re the ones who place the orders that bring in commission checks. How many of you realize though, that marketing your rep firm to your principals might be far more important? Think about it — how often do you hear in this business that it’s the only field where you can get fired for doing too good of a job? When the commission checks start getting big, there’s a feeling back at the principal’s office that you’re making more money than they are. And then the resentments start — growing and festering until the line is lost.

This is a marketing problem. “Don’t those guys realize that there’s a correlation between my commission check and how much business I’ve brought them?” you ask. No, they don’t. Not unless you tell them. Along with that, you also have to tell them how much it costs you to bring them that business. If you don’t, they assume that all the money they send you goes into your personal account, for the Mercedes, the yacht, and the country club membership.

You also know that a professional manufacturers’ rep can beat the pants off a factory-direct salesperson because you get the opportunity to help your customers with multiple solutions to their problems, whereas the poor factory guy gets stuck with only one product line. Marketing is reminding your principals of this fact in case they are thinking of going direct. Oh, and don’t forget to remind them that selling is about the relationship you’ve created with the individuals at the customer’s place of business. It’s not about the relationship between the customer’s company and the principal’s company.

By now, I hope you get the message. If you are a professional, you bring great value to your customers and principals, but it’s up to you to market this value to your principals.

Speaking of marketing, MANA’s also trying to improve the way we market our value to our members. The new look of Agency Sales is just one of the many ways we’re doing this. Hope you like it, and don’t be bashful about giving us feedback.