In the course of listing a menu of the reasons his company has gone to market with reps, one manufacturer let Agency Sales magazine know what really gets him enthused about working with his nationwide network of reps. “We never have to spend any time worrying about them getting out of bed in the morning and having them make sales calls. They do that all by themselves.”

He continued, “While we are totally committed to reps nationwide, we do have one small territory where we have a three-person direct-sales office that handles a few accounts. Even though they’re located near our headquarters, we constantly wrestle with the need to motivate our salespeople there. We worry about them getting out of the office, calling on customers and performing at the level we know they should. Comparing them to what our reps do throughout the rest of the country, the major area where they fail to live up to our expectations is in a willingness to get out in the field, make scheduled or even cold calls, and developing new business.

“In comparison, when I look at our reps, it’s a whole different ballgame. I don’t know, maybe we deserve some of the credit because we chose them well. There’s never a concern about them meeting their numbers. I think a large part of it has to do with the fact that reps are entrepreneurs, and they’re responsible for generating their own income. If their numbers fall, they don’t get the income they want and need. That’s motivation enough. It’s a pleasure to know that they get themselves up and out every morning and do everything that we expect of them.”

Cementing Relationships

Last month Agency Sales reported on a recent series of MANAchats devoted to the subject of rep councils. Those discussions brought to mind a conversation with a manufacturer on that very subject that took place a
few years ago.

While he was basking in the praise that he was receiving from one of his reps, the manufacturer in question was asked if he had a rep council. The question was asked because this particular manufacturer had been singled out by several independent reps as an example of a company that was receptive to the needs of reps and appreciative of their contributions. His answer to the question was somewhat surprising — “What’s a rep council?”

While that answer betrayed the fact the manufacturer didn’t have a council in place, a continuance of the conversation showed that he had regularly achieved the goals of having a council without actually instituting one.

Being a relatively small company, this manufacturer had a comparatively small rep sales force in place. Prior to contracting with any reps, however, a lengthy interview process would take place during which the manufacturer ensured that his and the rep’s business plans and philosophies were in sync. In addition, the manufacturer maintained that if he felt there was a bad fit between his company and the agency, he wouldn’t hesitate to make a quick change. But once the partnership was cemented and agreed upon, he was regularly in touch with his reps, either by phone or in person asking for their input for company decisions and keeping them informed on major changes. He added that over the more than two decades he’s used reps, there have been many occasions when a rep had pointed out something that wasn’t working or was a poor competitive move. When that happened, he never hesitated to make a change.

So, while there was no formal rep council in place, this still serves as an example of one manufacturer who values the opinions and input from his reps and isn’t afraid to admit he’s wrong — when he is.

Listening vs. Hearing

There’s a difference between listening to what is spoken and actually hearing what one side of the conversation is trying to communicate. That point was driven home when a manufacturer volunteered that his time spent in the field with one of his reps recently paid off in huge dividends. When the company, which sold via a hybrid direct and independent rep sales force, put a new national sales manager in place. To his credit the sales manager was fast out of the box to schedule territorial visits with his reps. He did that for a couple of reasons:

• Since he was new to the job, he felt that he’d better get to know the reps immediately since he would probably have more opportunities to visit with the direct salespeople in the factory.
• On top of that, since he was new to the position and to using reps, having only worked with direct sales in his previous position, he wanted to learn immediately what reps did, and how they operated in the field.

During his second field visit, he spent three days with a veteran rep who was candid about how the company worked with its reps. One of the failings he pointed out was that there wasn’t always someone at headquarters who would lend an ear to the rep’s problems, concerns and questions. Adding credence to his words, the rep pointed out how he had to regularly wait for answers to questions his customers had, and this put him at a great disadvantage vs. the competition.

To his credit, the sales manager’s immediate response was to appoint himself as the “reps’ champion” at headquarters. In that position he made himself available to the entire rep sales force and instructed his inside people to communicate with him anytime the reps needed something.

While he hasn’t gone so far as to create a rep council, he has encouraged the five agencies that work for him to communicate regularly on issues of mutual concern. His feeling is that when one of them has a problem, chances are another agency has already faced and solved the same problem.

When Rep Agency Ownership Changes

One manufacturer that recently experienced a transfer of ownership with two of her agencies reported that it wasn’t all that difficult to continue the relationships “owing mostly to the foresight and planning of the reps involved.”

She noted that in both cases the agencies’ previous ownership kept her in the informational loop from the very beginning of the planning process. “They let me know an approximate time frame when they were planning to leave the business. In addition, they made every effort to introduce me to the new owners and to allow us time to build a relationship before actually pulling the plug. And finally, they both asked my advice and sought my counsel during the process. As a result, we’re still doing business and selling a lot of products with both agencies.”

Why Continue the Relationship?

When a manufacturer was asked his thoughts on why he enjoyed lengthy relationships with many of the rep firms he started out with years before, he offered a game plan others might consider.

“In my opinion, an extended period of time working together can be achieved when the manufacturers and the rep have continued to work diligently at sustaining the relationship. Consider it like a marriage. If the little things go wrong, and you start nitpicking at every little grievance, then those little problems become big ones, and that can be the beginning of the end.”

Added contributors to the strong relationship, he continued, were mutual response and appreciation for each other’s problems, effective two-way communication, personal contact and a true sense of partnering.

Looking for Improvement

In the course of a lengthy conversation with a manufacturer on the subject of what he looks for in a rep, he zeroed in on two areas that were especially important to him: an agency’s professional image, and the agency’s willingness to spend time on the manufacturer’s entire line of products.

According to the manufacturer, “If I see that a rep doesn’t present what I’d consider a professional image about himself and his agency, then it causes me to doubt whether he’s serious about what he’s doing for a living. That professional image begins with how his phone is answered, how quickly he’ll respond to questions from me or his customers, all the way through to his website, familiarity with technology, and investment in the firm.”

On the subject of spending time on an entire product line, the manufacturer offered that he’s found that “some reps don’t spend as much time as they should with all the products in the lines that are offered to them by manufacturers. Part of the reason is that they’re only human, and being human they’re more comfortable with some products than they are with others.” The same manufacturer, however, offered that his concern often can be rectified through training. “As soon as we bring a new product to market, it’s a joint responsibility for the manufacturer to provide training that will improve the rep’s comfort level and it’s up to the rep to enthusiastically take advantage of the training that is offered to him.”

The Need for Follow-Up

In a recent interview with a manufacturer who boasts of years of positive experience working with reps, the manufacturer stressed how important the practice of following up was to him. According to the manufacturer, “Naturally, we’re as interested as anyone in getting orders from our reps, but there’s also something else that we’re especially interested in. Rather than just getting the order and leaving the customer’s office, we truly appreciate the reps who show a keen appreciation for checking back with the customer to make sure the order got there on time, and at the right price. They ask if the product met their expectations and let the customer know they are there to serve them in the future. Furthermore, if any customer problems develop at any time in the process, they let the customer know they are available to serve as their advocate, their consultant.

“It’s the reps who operate in that manner than we can say we’ve had the best relationships with over the years.”

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