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A manufacturer that joined MANA during the last year was looking for a way to support its newly created rep network’s efforts in the field.

Publicity came to the rescue. In researching how best to communicate its message to prospective customers, the manufacturer located a national trade publication devoted to its industry that was more than willing to publish an article on how this company was introducing its niche product to a new market — via independent manufacturers’ representatives. The only restriction was that this had to be a how-to article, not a commercial. The manufacturer jumped at the chance and is now reaping the publicity benefits from an article that appeared in the publication late last fall.

To get the job done professionally, the manufacturer contracted the services of a freelance writer and put him in touch with its reps and some end-user customers.

The message here is that there are any number of trade magazines (print and online) serving every imaginable industry. More times than not they are looking for articles addressed to their readership. Keep in mind that whatever is submitted shouldn’t be overly commercial. If that’s your intent, then take out an ad. But if you have a genuine message, you’ll find a receptive audience — and such an article does a lot to back up the efforts of your rep sales force.

Backing Up the Reps’ Efforts

History and experience show that good chemistry between a manufacturer and its reps can only be developed in a team atmosphere. A key ingredient among all good teams is support for each other — that is, the manufacturer provides the kind of backing the rep needs to get his job done in their field, and the rep reciprocates by professionally and successfully serving the manufacturer in front of customers. Keeping those thoughts in mind, here’s what experienced manufacturers provide and their reps know they can continue to count on:

• Availability when assistance is needed to close an order — Likewise when assistance is needed to complete the purchase, immediate access to factory personnel is invaluable.
• New product information, including literature and advertising support, as needed — Whether it’s with product samples, or when they aren’t feasible, plenty of new product literature, fully arm the rep so that he or she can communicate the value of your product to customers and prospects.
• On-time quotation and delivery information — Like so much of what is involved in the rep-manufacturer relationship communication is the key here. When the rep needs assistance on a quote or there’s any change in delivery dates, let the rep know right away so he can pass the needed information along to the customers.
• A steady stream of needed information — While the rep is an outsourced service provider, for him to truly realize his potential and feel like he’s a member of the team, he must be kept in the information loop. There’s nothing worse than having information about your company being circulated in the field and the rep is the last one to know. When anything of any importance has occurred, keep the rep informed — in advance if possible.
• Factory personnel at the ready to assist the manufacturers’ representative whenever needed — The hallmark of the rep’s value with customers can be seen in his ability immediately to provide solutions to customer problems and answers to their questions. Often this will require input from the factory. How better for the rep to stand tall in front of the customer than by his ability to access needed information in a timely manner?

The Wisdom of Letting Reps Do Their Jobs

During the course of a recent rep council meeting, one manufacturer took some time to explain his philosophy when it comes to qualifying sales leads for reps. According to the manufacturer, “I don’t believe in qualifying leads for my reps. What I do instead is to just pass along all the information I have concerning a prospect. By doing that, my feeling is that the rep knows his territory far better than I do. After all, isn’t that why I chose to work with reps in the first place? Doesn’t he know the level of business activity and who the best contacts are? As a result, I’ve grown to trust my reps to take the proper action when I forward a lead. He may take no action whatsoever, or he may immediately follow up. I simply leave any action up to him. He’s my eyes and ears in the territory. If I tried to qualify and follow, I’m sure I’d make any number of wrong decisions.”

Long-Term vs. Short-Term Decision Making

At a rep association meeting earlier this year that was attended by its manufacturer members, one manufacturer described his personal belief on how important it was to take a long-term perspective on business relationships, rather than just trying to achieve short-term objectives.

Here’s how he described his thinking: “When it comes to establishing business goals, I’ve always been a believer in working toward long-term objectives. That’s the only way to stay in business for the duration. Looking back I can recall one time we didn’t do that and we ultimately paid the price. In our goal to quickly get as many feet on the street as we could, we signed on a rep that made an excellent initial impression. And our immediate impression was borne out when he brought in $11-million worth of business within the first 18 months of our relationship. What we didn’t realize at the time, however, was that in achieving that apparent level of success, he was beating a path of destruction that we had to pay for over the next couple of years.

“His communication to us and our customers was filled with errors and misstatements, and he almost seemed to go out of his way to alienate some of the more important decision-makers at some of our customers’ locations. As a result, some of our customers were driven away and our reputation in that territory suffered. We didn’t realize our mistake until too late. We should have taken more care at the beginning to ensure we had partnered with a rep who truly appreciated what we were trying to accomplish in that territory.”

The Face-to-Face Interview

After a couple of false starts when it came to selecting reps to work with, one manufacturer reports that part of the fault resided in underestimating the importance of the personal face-to-face interview. “Like to so many other manufacturers, we began our search by making use of MANA’s online directory or relying on referrals from some of our other reps or non-competitive manufacturers. But that alone didn’t bring us the success we were looking for. We finally decided we had to spend more time and effort when it came to meeting personally with potential reps.

“We took the personal interview for granted. That’s changed entirely. Now we look at everything, the potential rep’s appearance, his enthusiasm for us and our products and his interest in how we conduct business. We also take pains to make sure we share goals. We don’t want reps who are just interested in the monthly commission check. We’re truly seeking out partners who see our line of products as a valuable complement to what they’re already selling. Since we’ve changed our approach, our batting average with new reps has gone up considerably.”

Making a Change More Effectively

In the middle of an interview detailing how one manufacturer made the successful change from a direct to an outsourced sales force, a manufacturer described how looking internally helped them make the move. Here’s what happened: “We had conducted an in-house study to determine the most cost-effective way to bring our products to market. In addition, we communicated with other non-competitive manufacturers in our industry to learn from their experiences. What we decided to do was ask several of those who were about to become our former direct salespeople if they had an interest in becoming reps. Since they knew the product, the territory, and the customers we intended to sell to, they would be the ideal candidates for the job. Fortunately for us, many of them took us up on our offer. As it developed, they had our product line in hand and we were able to provide them with references for other manufacturers’ lines. What resulted was that each of the salespeople who decided to become reps were able to start with more than one line in hand. In addition, we provided them with a retainer for their first 18 months in business. This served to tide them over until they became more established.”

The Ears Are for Listening

One manufacturer was especially grateful for not only a number of articles in Agency Sales magazine that advocated the use of listening skills when it comes to selling, but also for gaining input from their rep council. According to the manufacturer, “Our rep council has become very effective in communicating to us the benefits of listening to what they have to say. Here’s why that lesson is so valuable — if I knew everything there was to know and could do a better job in the field than the rep, then I’d be doing it myself. But the fact is experience has shown me that reps are a critical part of my marketing and sales efforts. They’re the experts in their respective territories and they’ve done their homework when it comes to learning about me, my company and my products. As a result, when I get together with them — either in a group or separately — I have learned to make it a habit to spend the majority of my time simply listening to them. Believe me, it’s paid off big time.”

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