One of the most valuable bits of advice that came from a MANAcast on the subject of “Hiring Salespeople for Your Manufacturers’ Rep Firm” was that “one size hardly fits all.”
Phillip Ferrell, president of Agri-Sales Associates, has more than 36 years of selling experience.
By that, MANA-member Phillip Ferrell meant that when an agency is faced with the task of filling a sales position, there’s no one approach that is going to fit the needs of all agencies.
Ferrell, president of Agri-Sales Associates, which employs 20 salespeople, explained that by and large, his agency has followed fairly traditional steps when it comes to filling vacancies. “However, your approach to finding new people really depends on how you view the task, what you’re looking for, and how you go to market. We’ve employed a variety of approaches when it came to hiring salespeople. Having said that, it’s important that reps be willing to adapt to the new technologies and use various new avenues to recruit.”
Ferrell, a long-time MANA member, has more than 36 years of experience selling farm supplies, animal health products, pet products, lawn and garden products, and hardware items and has been with the agency for 30 years.
Ferrell explained that his agency still makes use of typical help-wanted ads, and in the past those have produced a great deal of responses. In addition, he’s made use of ads in industry publications geared for the agricultural channel. “An additional method we’ve employed is to contact local colleges and universities. We’ve made it a habit to stay in touch with the college deans and professors. In doing that we sell ourselves as being a professionally trained sales source and we’re not in need of entry-level job occupants. We also stay in touch with alumni who are industry leaders. At the same time, we’ve had opportunities to visit campuses to personally speak with students, especially those who we feel are the up-and-coming industry leaders.”
While emphasizing how important it is to visit with prospects in person, Ferrell goes on to stress how everything today has gone digital. “We make use of the MANA online RepFinder® and use other online services that are focused toward sales careers.”
In conducting a recruiting search, he went on to emphasize how important it was to stay focused on the agriculture channel. “What we’re looking for are people who live our industry lifestyle. We want people who have been raised in our industry or who have studied the industry.”
In addition to the various online services, Ferrell points to the value of social media as a recruiting tool. “Everyone is on social media today. LinkedIn especially is a great place to place ads and vet prospective candidates.”
Having cited many of the recruiting tools his agency has made use of, Ferrell continued by noting that “Our greatest success in recruiting candidates to work for us has come from personal referrals. Basically, when you talk to people there’s always someone who knows someone.” Among the sources for referrals that he cited are customers, other companies, whether they are manufacturers, rep customers and other rep firms. “We’ve found that for us it’s always been an easier path to find someone by looking for individuals who know and live our lifestyle.”
When he was asked to expand about what he means by the agricultural lifestyle, Ferrell explained, “We live in the agriculture business. That means we’re familiar with cattle, poultry, equines, etc., and it’s easier for our reps to understand what we’re doing if they have experience in those areas. We’re looking for people who are used to working in our business, those who live it. For us that’s an indicator that they have the potential to be serious about the job. If they’re familiar with our lifestyle, they can sell themselves and they can then sell products. That’s a really important filter for us when evaluating a candidate.”
Then there is some recruiting that takes place at trade shows. “We participate in a good number of events and therefore have many opportunities to meet with different reps and prospective candidates. In the end, however, there is no secret sauce when it comes to recruiting. You have to make whatever you do fit your business model. Your ultimate goal is to find the best candidate that fits your culture and lifestyle. This format has worked well for us. Over the years, we’ve had little turnover, other than by retirement. But, when we’ve had to fill a position, we’ve had a great deal of success with our approach.
The Interview Process
If that is how Ferrell and his agency approach the recruitment of prospective candidates, next comes the execution of the actual in-person interview process. Even before that first in-person interview, however, Ferrell cited the importance of the job applicant’s resume. “The resume serves as your first introduction to the candidate. We use that as a filter and that allows us to assign priorities to various candidates. What we’re looking for in the resume are indications of their experience, lifestyle, and culture. Along with the resume is the cover letter. I maintain that if someone is not willing to provide you with the background you normally find in a cover letter, then that is an indicator for us that they’re not serious about applying for the job.” The cover letter tells us that they can sell themselves and if they can sell themselves, then they can sell a product.”
After filtering candidates by looking at their cover letter and resume, Ferrell moves on to conducting due diligence on a prospect. He emphasized how important this was by saying “We want to do that right upfront to allow us to get a better feel of the candidate. We’ll contact all their references, past employers and check them out socially including what their activities are on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can get a good feel of who they are and what they do by gauging how active they are on social media. Once we get all that done, then we’ll begin the personal interview process.”
He continues by saying “Basically we ask a candidate to tell us about themselves. We want to know about their likes, dislikes, why they do what they do and why they’re leaving their present position. Part of the process is to be sure to ask open-ended questions and let them talk and hear what they have to say. At the same time, we make every effort to sell them on who and what we are. In the end what you’re looking for is a good fit for both of us. Remember if you have to go through this process again, it’s not desirable. A lot of problems occur when you don’t make the best hire — for yourself and the candidate.”
In closing Ferrell emphasized that “What you’re looking for are people who want to go to work for you and do what you do. Experience is a key and you have to make sure that they know the area and understand sales. If they possess those attributes, you really flatten out the learning curve. Being a rep is very rewarding and there are any number of opportunities for people. I’ll have to admit, however, that even if the job is performed properly, it can be difficult; but, at the same time it comes with great rewards.
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