You have heard it all before, right? How about mentoring?

MANA offers many forms of rep education in the pages of Agency Sales magazine, from presenters at MANA local seminars, at rep conferences such as Keystone and CAPSIG, during Certified Professional Manufacturers’ Representatives (CPMR) classes, and at local networking chapter meetings. Have you taken full advantage of the resources MANA provides to its members in the area of education, and more importantly, have you shared them with fellow reps?

As owners of professional sales organizations, we owe it to our principals, our customers, and our profession to constantly improve upon the services we provide. MANA can help! Our profession has faced many changes over the years, and MANA has been there leading the way in educating both reps and principals.

What is the state of our profession? Statistics show that our outsourced method of selling is still very strong and in great demand, but the number of start-up rep agencies is in decline. Let’s help our profession and share our experiences and knowledge with other reps getting started! If you started your own agency, you may remember those first couple of years when it was more work and less commission.

I have been “mentoring” a new rep for the past year and a half, and I can tell you that the majority of advice I share comes directly from what I have learned from MANA. Whether it is shared territory development costs or contract termination issues, the message has been getting out to many manufacturers, making it a little easier for a new rep to get started. So I ask each of our members to seek out and help a new rep as they start their business, you have a lot to share and you will make a difference for them and our profession!

By the way, I just got a call the other day from the rep that I have been mentoring, and his commissions for the month just hit five figures. We both were excited!