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Taking a Rep Firm’s Business Paperless

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Digital. Paperless. Mobile office. What were once buzzwords 5-10 years ago have now become standards across the globe as independent manufacturers’ representative firms — among others — move toward a cloud-based file system, granting employees access to information from anywhere, creating efficient electronic document workflows and safeguarding important documents forever.

An initial question that comes to mind for agencies is, “Why should we invest in going paperless?” Great question, and when you consider some of the statistics, it’s clear that the question instead should be, “Why aren’t we a paperless agency?” Keep in mind that a typical independent manufacturers’ representative … Read the rest

Second Source Strategies:
A Marketing Paradigm for Reps?

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Despite a lukewarm economy, our niche market in the firearms industry is still seeing unprecedented spikes in sales. Given my background in economics, I saw this as a classic case of supply and demand, but instead of breaking out my Excel sheet to start forecasting market impact, I thought, “How can this be an advantage to our rep agency business?”

The answer seems relatively clear — an increased demand must mean manufacturers are hungry for suppliers to ramp up production. The short answer would be “Yes,” however, our ability to get in front of these large manufacturers so we could … Read the rest