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When a manufacturer with a history of working with a network of independent reps asked an audience of reps how he could best motivate some of his reps who he claimed were underperforming, there was no shortage of responses.

Kicking it off, one rep asked in return, how do you gauge that they are in fact underperforming?

After posing the question, the rep continued: “No doubt, there are some people who are underperforming. However, as I consider many of the reps I personally know, reps are driven to make as much money as possible. If they can’t make that with your company because of any number of problems or concerns, they will do it with another. All principals fight for my time and unless I see the possibility of a big-time payoff in the future, I tend to work with those who can provide the quickest and largest return on my investment, which mostly is made up of my time. There is one other thing to consider. The rep business is the only business I have been in where you can almost be assured of being fired if you do an outstanding job. What is your history of retaining your reps? Have you terminated the high performers so you could make their accounts house accounts or put a factory man in the territory? In short, look at what you are doing to motivate them and assure them that if they are truly successful you will not remove them from the territory or cut their commissions.”

That wasn’t the end of the discussion. Another rep asked for a bit more information so that he could guide the manufacturer: “It may well be in your best interest to provide a little more information than you have already. For example, are your reps underperforming based on historical levels of sales or are they underperforming as the result of some arbitrary sales goal issued by the company? Additionally, it may be good for you to list the ‘excuses’ and perhaps give them the title of ‘field market intelligence’ provided by the sales force. If you can do this and re-present the question, I believe that the answers provided may prove to be quite useful.”

Finally, another rep was a bit more critical when he responded to the manufacturer that perhaps, “If you have to ask that question, you don’t have a grip on your job responsibilities. What is the starting point? Where and what are the industry trends? What is the product mix? What are the product’s price/performance ratios? What is the overall marketing plan?

“Sounds as if this might be another doomed, archaic company. Can it be salvaged? So many questions.”

A final contributor noted that “Money isn’t always a good motivator. It is certainly part of the benefit that comes with the profession we enjoy; however, I would like to add that clear and regular communication on both sides is very important. All aspects of the relationship must be clearly communicated and regularly revisited for a rep to be motivated.”

Tips for Building the Team

A manufacturer began his conversation with the following: “I want to build a team of independent sales reps and my desire is that it be a real win-win for both of us.” Having said that he asked a prospective rep what he thought the three most important aspects of the rep-principal relationship were. In response, the rep offered:

• Trust — “Having been both a rep and a manufacturer I can tell you that the single most important factor in developing successful relationships is trust. One problem with that is that trust is hard to sell. Unless you have an ongoing reputation as being a trustworthy manufacturer, it will be difficult to convince a rep that you will honor your word and your contract for representation. You’ve got to build trust into your contracts — and stay true to your word.”
• Communication — “Communicate with your reps. Tell them what you expect from them and what they can expect from you. And tell them what is going on within your company. Be sure to include the good and the bad. If you are having a banner quarter, tell them. If you are having delivery problems, let them know. Remember, we are your partners.”
• Training and Education — “Have your inside sales and support staff (applications, engineering, service, accounting, etc.) been educated to any degree on the role of the rep? Some adjustment and education upfront can be a real lifesaver when first starting out in this new relationship. It’s not rocket science, but a small tweak here and there will result in huge payoffs.”

In conclusion, the rep added: “You must also conduct an internal selling job on top management and staff so that they understand the importance of what it means to be working with your reps. Sometimes resentments will develop if you don’t constantly stress to your internal team that the reps are also on the team.”

Learning From the Past

Google “walk in another person’s shoes” and you probably won’t be able to locate an attribution for that quote. However, we gave considerable thought to those words recently when a manufacturer recounted some of the valuable lessons he learned from his early years in sales as an independent manufacturers’ rep. According to the manufacturer, “When I started my career in sales as a rep, I was probably just like everyone else. I remember that I complained about everything from writing sales reports to having to entertain visits from the home office. Tasks like those took away from my time with customers and I resented it. I especially resented the insistence on the part of several of my principals that I provide them with sales reports. I had little or no faith that they actually read them and experience showed me that they rarely — if ever — took any action based on what I had communicated to them.”

That’s why he maintained, “When I found myself in the manufacturer’s chair, I would make it a habit to level with my reps. Take the subject of written reports, for example. All that’s really about is communication. If a rep takes the initiative either by email, phone call or anything else and just regularly keeps me in the loop regarding the important things that are happening in the field, I’m never going to raise the subject of sales call reports. Nobody likes a surprise and neither I nor my reps can afford to keep secrets from each other.

“When I made it a priority to communicate this philosophy to my reps, they couldn’t have been happier. The good ones — and that’s what I have — go out of their way to let me know what’s going on in the territory.”

So too is it with what might be considered a sticky subject for some reps — field visits. “I’m not going to leave my office and travel with a rep if there’s no reason to do so. If the rep lets me know he could use my presence or some personal input from the factory is needed, then it’s a no-brainer. I’m there. No questions asked. Otherwise, I’ve got more than enough work on my own in the office.”

Expanding the Team

Echoing much of what the rep-turned-manufacturer offered in the previous item, another manufacturer recently contacted Agency Sales and in the course of a lengthy conversation, offered his thoughts on how his company was going to cut way back on its direct sales force and expand its rep network.

Beginning the conversation, the manufacturer explained, “Over our years of working with reps, we’ve learned valuable lessons that indicate we know how to accomplish this move and we know it’s the right thing for us.”

Here were some of the manufacturer’s strategic highlights:

• Executing a strategic plan — “We’ve learned that it’s important for us and the rep to work with a mutually agreed-upon strategic plan. Such a plan spells out expectations and allows each of us to work off the same page. We’ve made it a habit to have these plans updated at the beginning of each year, and we and the rep review the plan on a quarterly basis.”
• Conducting due diligence — “Maybe it’s an example of learning the hard way, but nothing can replace a personal visit to the rep prior to signing an agreement. That means meeting at their place of business, learning how they conduct themselves, seeing how they cover the market, and getting to meet all their key players. This approach has rarely, if ever, failed us.”
• Rep Councils — “If strategic plans are critical to the rep-manufacturer relationship, so too are well-thought-out rep councils. Our rep council meetings are intimate, small groups created to really draw out feedback from reps. They’re hardly the same as sales meetings — which at one point we used interchangeably. In our more than three decades of working with reps, councils have proven to be invaluable in cementing our relationships. We’ve started our efforts by working with outspoken, top-performing reps, and we let them know from the start that we wanted them to be honest with us. Their feedback has proven to be invaluable and their efforts saved us from mistakes and constantly pointed us in the right direction.”
• Field visits — “If there’s one thing that really annoys a rep, it’s that surprise visit in the field from a manufacturer. That’s why we never do that. Instead, our reps can expect two-three months’ notice before we appear in their territory.”
• Regular praise — “You’re always going to have your top-performing and less-than-stellar-performing reps. Our practice has been to heap praise on those top performers and never make a public proclamation concerning someone that is not necessarily carrying their weight. More times than not, those that aren’t bringing in the numbers will look at the top performers and hopefully learn by their example.”

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