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The majority of reps relish the opportunities presented to them by being their own boss. With that appreciation for independence, however, comes the realization that there are many challenges that accompany being an independent manufacturers’ rep.

Several of those challenges were emphasized in the course of a MANAchat that was conducted over the course of three days earlier this year devoted to a discussion of what reps like least about their jobs. High on the list of challenges facing reps were:

Dealing with principals who don’t appreciate what the rep does for them — “I love what I do for a living and I’m glad I chose to work as a rep. I’ll have to admit that the huge majority of manufacturers that I work with are fantastic. However, there are some that don’t treat us as partners and that really bothers me. I’ve probably had the greatest problem with the larger principals where you have a lot of churn among their personnel. They don’t know or care about what the rep does and no matter how great their products are, you just can’t work with them.

“When we have a situation where we’re committed more to the success of the relationship than the manufacturer, the relationship isn’t going to last. We need the principal to succeed and we’ll do whatever we have to in order to ensure their success. But then when they miss the boat by providing poor quality products, unreliable deliveries, or lack of marketing support, it’s just not going to work out for either of us. It’s not unheard of where there’s a ‘My way or the highway’ attitude. When I encounter that attitude, I sever the relationship.”

Unrealistic expectations — A number of reps voiced the concern that “All too often, we’ll sign on with a manufacturer and they expect the magic to happen overnight. Too many manufacturers think that the minute they provide you with sales sheets, you get an order. That’s hardly the way it works. In the housewares industry in which I work — and other industries — many customers only review products once a year. Once that review is completed, then you have to wait a whole year for another opportunity. I try to educate the manufacturers I work with concerning what transpires among customers and let them know that it’s going to take a while, but not all of them appreciate the time it takes to get an order. We have to let them know that it’s our job to build a foundation and then take it from there. The short-term mindset is that you can turn the ship around immediately. That’s simply not the case. We’re not short-minded. Having said all that, I know sales managers are feeling pressure from their end, but that’s where education is critical. We have to let them know that it can take six months to a year to get an order, and then during that time frame we’ve invested a great deal of time making sales calls and following up.”

Dealing with manufacturers who offer little or no marketing support — Here’s how one rep described his experience with this situation: “My number-one issue is dealing with principals that have no marketing program and provide no sales leads. Here’s their approach to doing business with a rep: ‘Hey it’s your territory. Go get them champ.’ They absolutely bring nothing to the party.”

A second rep offered his experience with this scenario when he explained: “We have to deal with a situation where our principals provide a good deal of marketing materials, but they are of very poor quality. Bottom line, their marketing efforts detract from what we feel is an excellent product offering. To meet this challenge — and I feel this is something we should not really have to do — we build our own sales materials. We’re not going to wait for someone else to send us their stuff. This is something we don’t get paid to do. We don’t want to have to do this all the time but to adequately meet our principals’ expectations and the needs of our customers, this is something we’ve taken on.”

Joining in the chorus dealing with manufacturers such as these another rep described how he attempts to address the situation at the starting point of the relationship. “With regard to principals that provide inadequate marketing support, we make every effort to vet them before we’ll even take them on as a line. One of the first things we do is to go to their website and see what type of information is downloadable. If there’s nothing on the website, we determine if they have any videos or point-of-purchase displays. If there’s no strong marketing program, but they have an excellent product line, we’ll overlook their shortcomings. Longer term the problem occurs that if they have nothing that can communicate properly with prospective customers, then the customers are going to burn up our website looking for information. And that’s going to present a problem for us that we don’t necessarily want to deal with.”

Punishment for earning too much in commissions — Here’s how that scenario generally develops: “You build a line and generate sales for the principal. The principal sees how well the orders are coming in and they decide to cut the rep out and bring in their own sales team. Here’s the best way we’ve found to fend off that problem. We follow what MANA has long preached in terms of backselling to our principals We constantly let them know all that we’re doing for them. On top of that, we make sure that we have a good solid written contract that spells out all the terms of the relationship.”

According to one rep, “Complaints about reps earning too much begin because with many manufacturers — especially the medium to small ones — everyone (including the office receptionist) knows how large the checks are that are being sent to reps.”

What often accompanies complaints about the size of the rep’s check is the difficulty the manufacturer faces in terms of cash flow. “They bemoan the fact that they haven’t been paid yet by the customers. As a result, they don’t have the funds to compensate the rep. Here’s my response to that: They’re supposed to be prepared and they have to budget to pay the rep regardless of whether they’ve been paid by the customer. We’ve got bills to pay just as they do.”

Another rep offered the perfect reaction one of his manufacturers had when complaints began to crop up regarding how much the rep was making. “When that happened with one of my principals, he let everyone in the company know that ‘I don’t care how large the check is, or how much the rep appears to be making. Why wouldn’t we want to send them large checks? What that means is that the larger the check we send, the more orders they’re sending to us. We both benefit.”

Overcoming the difficulties in getting to meet face-to-face with customers — Ever since Covid reps have been reporting the difficulties they face when it comes to meeting in person with customers. Reps in general report that during the pandemic, many customers refused to let reps into their offices and complemented in-person meetings with Zoom and other remote meeting processes. According to one rep, “Things have changed quite a bit and don’t seem to be getting back to the way they used to be. On my end, it’s become much more difficult to meet with technical and purchasing folks who continue to work remotely. To partially solve that problem, we try to improve the content of our emails and voicemails. I’ve been selling for decades, and I’ve learned that I have to now avoid asking prospects if they have time to meet with me. Instead, I ask if they have just 15 minutes. If they can’t respond positively to that request, then they’re not really a good prospect.”

Another rep offers that “I’ve had some success by sending customers and prospects a meeting invite that calls for them to decline or accept. I do this only when they haven’t been responding to me. I’ve found that for some reason, they do respond to these calendar invites because it requires some action on their part.”

Absence of communication when the rep’s customer has an issue — “Nothing bothers me more than when a customer has a problem and they’ve communicated it to the principal, but the principal doesn’t let me know about it.” That’s how one rep described one of his pet peeves. “If there’s a problem, I’ve got to know about it. I’m the one who’s established the relationship with the customer. If anyone can solve the problem, it’s me. On top of that, I’ve had any number of manufacturers who don’t copy me on quotes or purchase orders. I’ve been selling for quite some time now and I don’t want to get anyone upset at the home office, but this is the type of information I’ve got to know about.”

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