First, the worst advice. The worst rep advice I’ve received was a suggestion to enter into the industrial products markets at the same time everyone else was doing so. It seemed to be the next best thing to venture into. Wrong!

Now, the best advice. The best rep advice I’ve received was for our agency to remain within our own ‘synergistic continuum’. What?!

It basically means to remain within our safety industry and within the scope of the products and services of that specific industry only. It doesn’t mean (as we and others attempted) to venture out into a … Read the rest

Versatilist — a good new added description of the professional committed manufacturers’ representative — today!

“A versatilist is someone who can be a specialist for a particular discipline, while at the same time be able to change to another role with the same ease.”*

In our world as full channel manufacturers’ representatives, consider a:

• Generalist, as a distributor who “has broad scope and shallow skills, enabling them to respond or act reasonably quickly.”
• Specialist, as a manufacturers’ factory rep who “generally has deep skills and a narrow scope, giving them expertise.”
• Versatilist, as a manufacturers’ representative who, in contrast, “applies