Keeping your agency “out there” is a great tool for success in the rep business. I send out Christmas/Holiday cards. Mine are a bit special. They contain four pages of photos from the past year along with a few lines of copy underneath.

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The response to the cards is quite remarkable. People actually read the little captions on the photos. A picture definitely does say 1000 words.

I get phone calls from people I haven’t seen in person in years. I get emails. Once, I even got a handwritten note from an old friend.

What does this mean to your rep business? Simply getting in front of
people attracts attention and may produce surprising results.

What should your rep firm be communicating? News about the rep firm is a good starting point. Introduce new people or congratulate someone on a big accomplishment. Your customers, principals, and other influencers should hear from you regularly.

If you produce a new profile, you want to tell people about it and what is new, different, better about the new profile. If you don’t have a current profile and line card you should definitely work on producing them and then promote them to all of your customers through, mail, email, Constant Contact system, and any other places you can think about.

Your people should have physical and digital copies of everything that you send out. They should be trained to stay on top of the company’s communication. They should use the communication as a part of every call they make on customers.

Backselling to your principals is accomplished well with the company communications. Getting your messages in front of everyone you know at your principal’s place of business is a good way to let them know you are actively building the business.

New products are a great vehicle for communicating. You want everyone to know about a new product. The new product also provides a good opportunity for you to communicate with the marketing and salespeople at the principal who is introducing a new product.

Getting the principal to help you create a flyer or one sheet or sales tool for a new product is an excellent way to build relationships with the personnel at the principal.

When a visitor from a manufacturer is in your territory, having them review the communications that you have developed for their products and services is a great way to impress the visitor with the depth and scope of your operations.

The more professional you can look the better. Everyone on the sales team should be aware of the communications and use these as a powerful tool for impressing both customers’ and principals’ personnel.

Building a consistent communication program requires time and investment. Some of these costs might be shared with the principal whose products you are promoting. Working with any co-op dollars the principal has for your use requires the discipline to go after the dollars and learn the rules for using them.

Being proactive in communication is also a great backselling opportunity. The more your firm is in front of your principals in a professional creative manner the better. The bottom line is that communications provide great opportunities for making your rep firm look good.

Good luck and good selling.

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