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Manufacturers’ representative firms have a lot in common with Olympic rowers. Just to qualify to compete, we have to be fast, agile and impressive performers.

But when it comes to line card profitability analysis, some of us forget what Olympic rowers know: To be winners, you have to regularly take the boat out of the water to clean and wax the bottom. And before the rowers get back in the boat, make sure that all of them still belong on the team.

Instead of doing regular maintenance, we just row harder. Instead of replacing weak line card performers, we just row harder.

Rowing harder instead of solving the problems that drag down your representative firm’s performance is not a solution. It’s a sure way to lose races. And losing isn’t what gets us up in the morning; it’s what keeps us up at night.

— Line Card Profitability Analysis Workbook

MANA’s Line Card Profitability Analysis Workbook is a tool that helps MANA rep members objectively evaluate how much of their time each principal deserves. It’s free to download in the member area of MANAonline.org.

The workbook helps reps objectively gauge how well each secondary line fits with the firm’s primary lines and whether the commission income from each line justifies each line’s time demands.

Objective analysis includes asking questions like:

• How well does this line complement the rep’s primary lines?
• Is this line a “door-opener?”
• Does this line have the potential to open new markets to my rep firm?

But recently, I realized that two more questions are needed to make this analysis complete:

• Is this a line that gets me out of bed in the morning, or is it a line that keeps me up at night?
• If I resigned this line tomorrow, would I feel regret or relief?

Regret or relief? The most revealing question you could ask, and one you should ask yourself at least annually.

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A perpetual stew, also known as forever soup, is a pot that is never or rarely emptied all the way, and ingredients and liquid are replenished as necessary. Foods prepared in a perpetual stew have been described as being flavorful due to the manner in which the ingredients blend together, in which the flavor may improve with age. — Wikipedia

The year was 1947. Harry S. Truman was president of the United States, and a group of manufacturers’ reps decided to band together to exchange best practices and elevate their industry’s professionalism.

The best practices that those reps shared in 1947 included protecting their commissions, negotiating rep agreements, and coping with house accounts.

Those discussions were the first ingredients in a perpetual stew of best practices that have been simmering at MANA for 75 years. Since then, we’ve stirred additional best practice ingredients into the pot, including:

• Writing rep business plans.
• Finding the best lines to represent.
• Developing new markets with pioneering lines.
• Negotiating win-win rep agreements.
• Analyzing your line card.
• Leveraging new technologies.
• Managing house accounts and split commissions.
• Working with international principals.
• Forming rep councils.
• Planning to sell your rep business.

With 75 years of best practices to choose from, the pot eventually started overflowing. So we curated the ingredients into a list of our most valuable best practice resources. The result was two curated lists in the member area of MANAonline.org:

• For reps: 12 Steps to Rep Professionalism
• For manufacturers: 9 Steps to Selling Through Independent Reps

The very best from 75 years of collecting the best practices, all in one place and all included in your MANA membership.

It’s food for your brain and for your business success. Soup’s on; come and get it, available exclusively to MANA members.

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“I need to sell more aluminum die castings,” said the manufacturer. “So I downloaded a list of reps who sell die castings and started making phone calls.”

“Most of them said, ‘I already represent a die casting company, so I can’t represent you,’” he continued. “What am I doing wrong?”

It’s a common question, so I was ready with an answer.

“Reps very rarely represent two competing manufacturers of the same product,” I explained. “Your list probably includes some reps who only have copper and brass die castings and can represent your aluminum die castings, but it is also is going to include many reps who can’t sign up with you.”

“What you need to do is download a list of reps who sell complementary, non-competing products.”

“What do you mean by complementary, non-competing products?” asked the manufacturer.

“It’s probably easiest if I give you an example,” I continued. “Let’s say you’re a manufacturer of nails. So, you search for reps who sell nails.

“They won’t all have conflicts. If you make roofing nails and a rep on your list only sells finishing nails, it won’t be a conflict, but most reps who already represent a nail manufacturer can’t take on your product.

“So, you search for reps who sell fasteners, and you find reps who sell complementary, non-competing products, like screws, nuts, and bolts, but don’t have a line of nails. They call on the right customers, don’t have a line card conflict, and could be a perfect fit.

“But you want to interview a deeper pool of reps, so you give some careful thought to other complementary, non-competing products. Reps who sell hand tools, like hammers, would have excellent contacts to sell nails.

“Ask yourself, and perhaps ask some of your best customers, ‘In addition to my products, what other products do you buy frequently? You should get some good categories to use for your rep search and get the right reps in place to grow your sales.”

Note: The manufacturer’s comments were edited for space, clarity and content.

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In my January editorial, I quoted a manufacturer who regretted a hiring mistake that put $200,000 of his company’s money down the drain:

“My problem is not that I have been searching for direct sales­people and didn’t find qualified candidates. My problem is that after a long search that didn’t turn up qualified candidates, a year ago I got impatient and decided to settle on the least problematic of the candidates who did apply.”

“Between salary, expenses, and medical insurance, I have spent $200,000 on the salesperson I hired a year ago, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. $200,000 down the drain. That’s why I am calling you today to talk about reps.”*

The manufacturer and I spoke about the benefits of using reps, but only later did I realize what may be the most important reason to use $200,000 to hire 8-10 rep firms instead of one direct salesperson. Not putting all your eggs in one basket.

Spend $200,000 on one direct salesperson, and if that salesperson fails, “$200,000 down the drain.” Spend $200,000 on hiring 8-10 rep firms, and even if one or two turn out not to be a good fit, most of the reps will succeed, and you will still get a good return on your $200,000 investment.

It’s the same reason that savvy investors like Warren Buffet recommend buying shares in an S&P 500 fund instead of gambling on just one single stock: Diversification. A single stock may tank, but a diversified investment isn’t as risky, so your winners will probably outnumber your losers.

That’s another reason manufacturers should spread their sales investment over a nationwide rep network instead of hiring a single direct salesperson.

Because it’s too risky to put all your eggs in one basket.

* The manufacturer’s comments have been edited for space and clarity.

The manufacturer on the phone asked a question I couldn’t answer.

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“I’m interviewing reps for a territory where my company has no existing business. I understand that a well-established rep can’t work for free, so I am willing to pay a monthly Market Development Fee (MDF). What should that cost?

Great question! So I asked a rep who often accepts new lines based on an MDF. The answer they gave me was puzzling: “How long is a piece of string?”

I asked for an explanation, and the rep happily supplied it.

“The point I am trying to make is that there isn’t enough information in your question to answer it. I need to know what the manufacturer needs before calculating an MDF. For example:

• “If the manufacturer asks me to make four calls a month on their behalf, the fee could be pretty modest. If the manufacturer wants 15 calls, the fee would be quite a bit higher.
• “If the manufacturer only wants monthly feedback by phone or text, the fee could be modest. If the manufacturer wants a formal written monthly report, the fee would be higher.
• “How many salespeople does the rep firm employ? A $1,000 monthly MDF won’t go very far if it has to be split between the salespeople of a 10-person rep firm.

“My rule of thumb for quoting an MDF is to start by calculating my cost to deliver the services they want. Then the MDF has to be at least 50 percent of my cost, so we will both have skin in the game.”

“If my MDF doesn’t fit their budget, then they need to accept fewer monthly sales calls and less reporting. Until I know the services the manufacturer requires, asking me to quote the cost of an MDF is pretty much like asking, ‘How long is a piece of string?’”

Note: This article combines several different conversations, which were edited for length and clarity.

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“There are worse things than unsuccessfully trying to find a direct salesperson,” said the manufacturer who called me today.

Let me tell you about the call.

Most of the phone calls I’ve gotten from manufacturers recently start out like this: “I have been trying to recruit a direct salesperson for quite a while, but none of the applicants that have contacted me are even close to qualified, so I need to talk to you about reps.”

Today’s call started out like most calls I’ve received recently. The manufacturer and I spoke about some of the more common reasons to use reps:

• Existing relationships with important customers.
• Market knowledge in their territory.
• Experience in their market space.

We also spoke about the fact that even in the current tough hiring environment, reps are still abundant for most markets MANA members serve.

I shared with the manufacturer that searching for direct salespeople and not finding qualified candidates was a common problem. Then he stopped the conversation to correct me.

“My problem is not that I have been searching for direct salespeople and didn’t find qualified candidates. My problem is that after a long search that didn’t turn up qualified candidates, a year ago I got impatient and decided to settle on the least problematic of the candidates who did apply.”

“Between salary, expenses, and medical insurance, I have spent $200,000 on the salesperson I hired a year ago, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. $200,000 down the drain. That’s why I am calling you today to talk about reps.”

“So, you see,” he concluded, “There are worse things than unsuccessfully searching for a direct salesperson. Worse than unsuccessfully searching for a direct salesperson is unsuccessfully hiring a direct salesperson.

The manufacturer’s lesson learned: Take advantage of experienced, expert MANA rep members to take your product to market. And then you won’t have to call me about $200,000 that went down the drain.

Note: The manufacturer’s comments have been edited for space and clarity.

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Next year marks MANA’s 75th anniversary. A milestone anniversary often prompts discussions about how much has changed over the years. Discussions like: “In the future, will there still be manufacturers’ representatives?”

Yes, many things have changed. But when customers buy mission-critical products that make the difference between keeping their factories running smoothly and shutting down their production lines, there will always be a need for trusted resources. And those trusted resources are very often manufacturers’ reps.

I can’t think of a better example of the ways that some things don’t change than this excerpt from the September 1949 issue of The Agent and Representative (now MANA’s flagship publication Agency Sales magazine) written by manufacturers’ rep Edgar A. Wilcox, MANA’s first president:

“Chas B. Roth pointed out in our columns last month, in ‘The Selling Parade,’ that ‘salesmen’ are still not professionals. But ‘sales agents’ had better be professionals — in business, as they are, for themselves — although there admittedly remain many things yet to be accomplished for the well-being of such agency profession. MANA aims to elevate such profession in the opinion of manufacturers, suppliers and others, as well as in the opinion of agents themselves; to make it an object of true respect rather than of weakness or ridicule; and to improve its position morally, politically and legally.

“It takes energy, initiative, and a great deal of unselfish devotion to a cause to found and establish a national association like MANA — an organization in which any agent, no matter how large or small, may indeed be proud to be a member. It can mean more to you, bring you more satisfaction, and increase your income to a greater extent, than any group to which you as an agent could possibly belong.”

These words from 1949 could just as easily have been written last week. Sometimes, the more things change, the more they remain the same. One thing that has not changed, and probably never will change, is that there will always be a place for trusted resources like manufacturers’ representatives.

Helping manufacturers work effectively with reps is a primary reason MANA exists. So, manufacturers call all the time with questions about switching to reps.

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Until today, their reasons were pretty much always one of these three:

• “I need a salesforce that already knows best prospects and is a trusted resource to those prospects.”
• “I need a salesforce that is already familiar with our market space and our technology that can hit the ground running.”
• “I need a salesforce that sells complementary, non-competing products so I can ride the coattails of the manufacturers already on that rep’s line card.”

But the call I got today was different.

“I am in the process of switching to reps,” said the manufacturer* on the phone, “so I joined MANA for the educational materials. I have some questions about Shared Marked Development Fees and Life-of-Part/Life-of-Program rep agreements.”

At the end of our conversation, I asked: “How did you decide to go with reps?”

“I had no choice,” explained the manufacturer. “We tried to hire a direct salesperson, but we couldn’t find any qualified applicants.”

“However,” he continued, “as we dug deeper into the problem of finding salespeople, we discovered that there are abundant, highly-qualified manufacturers’ reps available to sell our products, so we went with reps instead.

“Other manufacturers must have discovered the same thing because, even though highly-qualified reps are readily available, we find that we have to compete aggressively with other manufacturers to get reps’ attention. That’s why I called to learn more about Market Development fees and ‘Life of Part/Life of Program’ commissions. We’ve had to offer more generous contracts to compete with other manufacturers, but we’re very impressed with reps we’ve been able to bring on board.”

Today was the first time I heard a manufacturer say: “I hired reps because I had no choice.” But it sounds like I will be hearing that again.

Note: The manufacturer’s comments were edited for space, clarity and content.

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It’s a little bit like science fiction.

What would a rep do if, one day, that rep woke up to find that the names of the companies on their line card were the same, but those companies were all subtly different?

• The people at the factory were subtly different.
• The products were subtly different.
• The service levels and policies were subtly different.

Did this rep wake up in a parallel universe?

Nope.

The rep woke up to find out that their lines are just not the same after 18 months of Covid.

• Some of the companies are grateful for the efficiencies they get from a commissioned sales force.
• Some of the companies have developed sharp elbows and started squeezing rep commissions.
• Some of the companies kept the experienced people who know how to keep production lines humming.
• Some of the companies cut staff too far, and everyone there is new and just learning how things work.

What’s a rep to do? Take the time to look at your line card and conduct a methodical Line Card Profitability Analysis. Does the commission earned from each line justify the time it takes to support each of those lines? Do all the lines fit my target market, or does supporting some of these lines pull me into areas that are not my core competency?

How can I do that methodically? I’m glad you asked.

MANA’s 18-page Line Card Profitability Analysis Workbook is free to download in the members-only area of www.MANAonline.org. Inside you’ll find worksheets and step-by-step instructions on how to create a Line Card Profitability matrix that will tell you which lines deserve more of your time, which lines deserve less of your time, and which lines may not belong on your line card.

Having trouble finding the workbook on www.MANAonline.org? Members can email us at [email protected], and we’ll respond with the file.

“Based on my recent experiences, common courtesy is not common practice with reps,” said the manufacturer. “And, frankly, the absence of basic common courtesy gives the entire rep industry a black eye.”

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Is this manufacturer right? Let me share his story, and you be the judge.

This manufacturer joined MANA with high hopes of partnering with reps, and he embraced the idea of a win-win relationship. And MANA has at least 200 rep members in this manufacturer’s market space, so it’s likely that right rep is among our members.

“We tried all different ways to contact prospective reps. We tried email. We tried phone calls. We tried contacting them through their websites’ ‘contact me’ pages.

“We finally reached a few, and they were very personable, knowledgeable and helpful. But, overwhelmingly, we were just ignored.

“Any response at all would have been fine. ‘Not a fit for my line card,’ or ‘I have a competing line,’ or even just ‘I am not interested.’ But, with only a few exceptions, I got nothing. Radio silence. Zero.”

“If reps can’t respond when we reach out to them — even with ‘no thanks’ — then how can I trust that if they had our line that they would not ignore customers or prospects the same way they ignored us?

As reps, we are a community, and the actions of each of us impact all of us. Even if we are not interested in a line, there is probably a rep somewhere who would love to have that line. Taking a moment to respond to each manufacturer’s inquiry can go a long way to encourage that manufacturer to keep searching MANA’s RepFinder® for the right rep.

Let’s find time to say “no thank you” to manufacturers who don’t fit our line cards but could be a great line for another member of the rep community.

Note: The manufacturer’s comments were edited for space, clarity and content.

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Last week a MANA rep member thanked me for MANA’s work to champion Shared Market Development Fees (SMDF). In recent years, said the rep, manufacturers have become more and more receptive to SMDF, which he credited to MANA’s efforts to familiarize manufacturers with SMDF.

SMDF are monthly payments a manufacturer pays to a rep when the manufacturer needs that rep to pioneer a territory without existing sales. Because it can take a year for the first commissionable sales to close where that manufacturer’s product is unknown, the manufacturer pays part of the rep’s costs for pioneering activities.

MANA began championing SMDF because manufacturers with no market presence often ask reps to introduce unknown brands into their territories without compensation because: “You’re in there anyway, just add us to your sales call.”

“No,” MANA explained to manufacturers. “Customers give reps limited time during a sales call. So they lose income if they take time from a principal that generates commission income to talk about a principal that doesn’t.”

Later, we discovered that SMDF might benefit manufacturers even more than reps.

Why? Because professional reps with full line cards were always out of reach to manufacturers with lines that required pioneering. But SMDF can make reps who would never before have considered pioneering a line accessible to manufacturers who want the best reps to launch their brands.

Win-win for reps and manufacturers. That is what MANA is all about.

What else has MANA learned about SMDF? Written SMDF agreements are crucial so each party knows the other’s expectations, for example:

• How many sales calls on the manufacturer’s behalf does the principal expect?
• Does the manufacturer expect a monthly report on the rep’s activities? How detailed and how formal does that report need to be? Would phone calls and texts suffice?

MANA is proud to have moved the needle on SMDF. Want to share your SMDF experiences or suggest how MANA can move that needle further? Reach out to me at [email protected].

Until We Had to Do It

Experts tell us that after 18 months of quarantines and pandemic, “The New Normal” is coming.

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Part of that “new normal” will be that things we “knew” could not be done, pre-pandemic, actually could be done. Quarantines and a pandemic have forced us to accept that some of the things we thought we couldn’t do were really just things we didn’t choose to do.

Let’s consider the example of a prospective customer inviting a rep to visit and present one of their principal’s products, pre-pandemic. What would have happened if the rep had suggested a Zoom video chat instead of a personal visit?

The prospect would have been highly insulted. “What, so I am not important enough to visit?”

The rep probably would have lost that opportunity right away. And if the prospect complained to the rep’s principal, the line could even have been in jeopardy.

Pre-pandemic, we knew that presentations had to be done in-person. That was that way we always had done it, so that was the way it had to be done.

We knew that presentations had to be done in person until we couldn’t have face-to-face meetings anymore, and then reps found creative, non-contact ways to take care of customers and principals.

Another example of the things we thought we couldn’t do that were really just things we didn’t choose to do was many employers’ mandates that employees “had” to work from employers’ physical offices. “You need to be here for meetings. If you worked from home, I couldn’t keep an eye on you. We need the staff together to build camaraderie.”

Until the day that those employers announced, “Everybody grab your laptops, go home, and figure out how to make this work.” Home offices not only worked, they often actually improved productivity.

As the “new normal” approaches, one of our lessons learned from the past 18 months is to look hard at things that we “know” can’t be done, and remember how many other things looked like they couldn’t be done right up until we did them.

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“I get plenty of voicemails, and I actually return lots of those calls,” explained the anonymous executive. “When I don’t return a call, it’s often for reasons like these:

• “You called four times without leaving a message. Each time you called, you disrupted the call I was on as my phone prompted me to choose between your call and my current call. To keep you from disrupting more calls, I blocked your number.
• “I called back, but you screen your calls, so you didn’t answer. Your next message to me was, ‘Sorry, I didn’t recognize your number, so I didn’t answer.’ You only get to waste my time once. Number blocked.
• “I called back and left a voicemail. Your return voicemail to me starts, ‘I see you called, but I didn’t listen to your message.’ You called me, but you are too busy to listen to my voicemail? Number blocked.
• “I called back. Your voicemail answers robotically, “You have reached 312-555-1212. Leave a message.” If I don’t hear your name, maybe I misdialed. Suddenly it became just too much work to return this stranger’s call. Never mind.
• “You called me from 312-555-1212, but your voicemail asks me to call you back at 708-555-7834. Call me from the number you want me to call back, and I can return your call with one tap. I was already on the fence about returning your call, and you made me write down your number. Never mind.
• “The voicemail you left for me is a mumbled name and a phone number spoken too quickly for me to write down. I don’t have time to listen to a message over and over to capture the digits.
• “The number you asked me to call is answered by a call screening app. I am supposed to wait while Nomorobo decides whether or not to put my call through? Never mind.

“If I didn’t return your call,” concludes the executive, “now you know why.”

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You have heard it from MANA, from manufacturers, and from reps. In the new normal, manufacturers that sell through reps have significant advantages over manufacturers with a captive sales force:

• In uncertain times, customers don’t take risks with untested vendors. They turn to trusted, proven resources for the products they need to keep their companies running. And, more likely than not, those trusted resources are manufacturers’ reps who may have a decade or two of history with their customers.

• When customers’ buyers and engineers abruptly had to pull up stakes and work from home, regular communication channels often were disrupted. Only trusted, proven resources like manufacturers’ reps were entrusted with customers’ personal cellphone numbers and permitted to text as needed to keep customers up-to-date with information about mission-critical products they need to keep their companies running.

• Face-to-face video chat appointments are granted only to those same trusted, proven resources. A stranger’s request has a slim-to-none chance of getting a video chat appointment. So if your product needs face-to-face demonstrations, but you don’t have trusted, proven rep resources as your salesforce, you are out of luck.

But there is another aspect of the new customers-working-from-home normal that has not gotten much attention. It’s flextime.

Let me explain.

Customers who work from home have discovered that their jobs are to get their work done. But not necessarily between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

What does having customers working unconventional times of day mean to reps? I rarely see a rep who doesn’t check emails outside conventional office hours. Reps are there when customers working flexible hours need answers. When there is an emergency, customers know that reps reply faster than manufacturers, who will likely respond during the next business day.

Reps, go ahead and strut your customer-first attitude. It’s flextime.

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What is backselling? It’s how savvy reps invest a little time every month to ensure their principals understand those reps’ value. They communicate with principals as if the line were in jeopardy even when it is not because they know that anything they say after the line is in jeopardy will sound like an excuse instead of communication.

Backselling means that no major principal ever has reason to think: “You know, I haven’t heard from Rep XYZ for months; I wonder if we’re getting good value for the commission check we send each month.”

Before Covid, backselling might have meant making sure that each major principal received news of some success or an activity relating to that line every week. It was a steady drip, drip, drip of communication to reinforce each principal’s positive impression of that rep.

Now, that steady drip, drip, drip of communication needs to turn into a fire hose.

Why?

Your principals know you are effective in face-to-face customer meetings. But, now that text, phone, and video chat have replaced most face-to-face meetings, your principals may wonder if you are effective in this new environment. And the only way they will know is if you tell them.

Here are some real-life examples of the kind of messages your principals need to receive:

• “Now that many of my customers are working from home, I have had more success getting people like (customer) to take my calls than ever before.”
• “Fortunately, (customer) and I have a long relationship. I have permission to text him, so my messages get through on a priority basis.
• “I spoke with (customer) today. He always used to let all his calls go to voicemail, but I think he is lonely after being stuck in his house for ten months. We spoke for an hour and a half!”

More than ever, it’s time to communicate with your principals as if the line were in jeopardy even when it is not. The line you save may be your own.

Note: Backselling is a word coined by John Haskell, a frequent contributor to Agency Sales magazine and author of Profit Rx under his pen name, Dr. Revenue®.

“What is the difference between dealing with a rep and dealing with the factory?” Let me tell you my story.

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When I was a rep I sold industrial timers to a car wash manufacturer.

The customer called to report a defective timer. I secured a Return Material Authorization, and the customer sent the timer back for evaluation.

The timer factory reported that the timer worked perfectly, so they shipped it back to the customer. The customer called me again, reporting a different timer was defective. But when it went back to the factory, it tested out fine.

After a few more times, the timer manufacturer wanted to start charging the customer for testing and return freight. The customer was angry that so many timers were defective. Resolving the problem fell on my shoulders.

Eventually, I tracked down the person who was reporting that the timers were defective. I asked him how he determined that our timers were defective.

“We know that they are defective because our car wash stopped working.” A car wash has hundreds of electrical connections and dozens of parts that could fail. But the customer insisted that whenever the car wash failed it was our timer’s fault.

My principal and my customer had both drawn lines in the sand. Neither would budge. My dad came up with the solution. “Let’s build them a timer tester.”

It was that simple. And because the tester had lights that reminded Dad of 1960s NASA mission control, he labeled the timer “Property of NASA.”

Problem solved. Each time a timer was suspect, the customer tested it. We never had another failure.

Reps are creative problem solvers. That was my story. To share your story, email me at [email protected].

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Thirty years ago, a colleague from my rep days shared some valuable advice she got from her mother. “Always take the mint.”

“When somebody offers you a mint, maybe they are just offering to share. Or maybe you have bad breath. You will never know which. So always take the mint.”

That’s great advice. And it applies to more than just breath mints.

Let me share an example. Sometimes manufacturers call to tell me that reps won’t take their line. “Reps don’t understand the great opportunity they are turning down,” or “I emailed hundreds of reps with no takers, they are missing out on making lots of money.”

I always offer to help. “Let’s look at the offer you’re making to reps and see if we can figure out why.”

Most manufacturers are happy to get fresh eyes on their offering, and we find a way to help make their recruiting more effective.

But occasionally there is a manufacturer who won’t take the mint.

“I’ve worked in companies with reps for 20 years. I already know everything there is to know about working with reps.” They didn’t call for advice, they just called to complain.

Did they waste my time? At first, I thought so. But then I realized they had taught me an important lesson.

When someone offers me advice, I always let them make their case.

• Sometimes the advice will be brilliant. So, I win.
• Sometimes the advice will be “not brilliant,” but it triggers an idea that I otherwise would not have had. So, I win.
• Sometimes the advice will be the exact opposite of brilliant. But it reminds me of what to avoid. So, I win.

Turns out my colleague’s mother was even wiser than I realized at the time.

“Always take the mint.”

You see a punch coming. No time to block it. No time to move out of the way. Now what?

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Lean into the punch. You still get punched, but that punch has not had time to reach the speed and power it would have reached an instant later.

That’s a valuable life lesson, even when no real punches are involved. The more quickly I can respond to a problem, the less time it has to grow. Step into problems before they grow out of control.

True confession: A recent situation tested my commitment to step into problems before they grow. Let me share what I learned.

An email from a member of MANA’s staff had alerted me that a new MANA member was not happy. He had experienced a technical issue while doing a rep search in MANA’s RepFinder^® database. The email suggested that he was very unhappy.

When I find out a member is unhappy, I drop what I’m doing and make the call, and that’s what I did. But it was late on a Friday afternoon and he was not available. I have to confess that when he wasn’t available I was relieved, because I was expecting a difficult conversation.

I didn’t want him to think that I hadn’t responded, so I left a voicemail promising to call him Monday morning. Knowing that I had to speak to a very unhappy member first thing Monday morning hung over my head all weekend.

On Monday morning, I wavered. Was the call I tried to make Friday enough of a gesture? Or did I really need to make the call?

I made the call and I’m glad I did. He was very cordial and had two very constructive suggestions that will make the RepFinder^® a better tool.

The lesson I learned: Don’t waver. I was glad I stepped into the problem, and when you step into your next problem you will be too.

MANA’s online RepFinder^® and RepFinder^® smartphone app are already the best rep search tools in the world. So, what’s next? We reinvent ourselves. Better smartphone app. Better rep profiles.

RepFinder^® 2.0 Smartphone App

Version 2.0 launches now in the Apple App Store and Google Play and gives manufacturers even more sophisticated search tools than version 1.0 launched early this year.

RepFinder^® “My Rep Profile Score”

“My Rep Profile Score” is …

Manufacturers use MANA’s RepFinder^® to find world-class reps. But sometimes world-class reps don’t have world-class MANA-member profiles.

Why wouldn’t a world-class rep have a world-class member profile? Because they forgot to include important details, or were not careful about choosing territories or product categories.

For example:

• They forgot to include their website address.
• They claimed to cover so many territories for their number of salespeople that their territory coverage seems sparse.
• They claimed so many product categories that they seem to lack focus.
• Their profile has not been checked or updated for a long time.

Manufacturers tell us that:

• They want to see reps’ websites listed.
• They prefer reps with enough staff to cover each territory thoroughly.
• They prefer reps that focus on a particular market.
• They expect the information in reps’ profiles to be up-to-date.

To help world-class reps ensure that their member profiles present them as world-class sales forces, MANA has launched the “My Rep Profile Score” system to let reps know if their profiles don’t present them as world-class sales forces.

“My Rep Profile Score” is a private tool to let you be sure your profile is world-class. You are the only one who can see your company’s “My Rep Profile Score.” However, even though manufacturers cannot see reps’ “My MANA Rep Profile Score,” when they download a list of reps that list is sorted in “My MANA Rep Profile Score” order.

To see your “My Rep Profile Score,” watch your email or visit your company’s member profile on www.MANAonline.org.

Please call us with any questions — we are here to help!

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It might be the nicest compliment MANA has ever received. And it came to me in the form of a question.

A rep called me to discuss a thorny issue he was having. It was a challenging problem, so we brainstormed potential strategies and solutions for about a half an hour.

By the end of that call we identified a pretty good strategy for the rep to use.

And that’s when the rep asked me the question that was a compliment I never expected.

“Charley, I have had consultation sessions like this with you and also with Jerry Leth in the past, but MANA has never sent me a bill. How much do I owe you?

The question caught me by surprise. Such a nice compliment! It took me a moment to reply.

“Business telephone consultations are a benefit included with your MANA membership,” I explained. “Jerry and I get calls from MANA members facing thorny problems every week. And because Jerry and I have fielded so many of these calls over the years, we’ve both already seen a lot of the problems that give MANA members heartburn.

“As a matter of fact, the problems and solutions that have come out of the consultations we’ve done over the years have given us perspectives and solutions we can bring to bear on problems we hear from reps calling us today.

“Jerry and I can’t give legal advice, but MANA membership does include a legal telephone consultation benefit, where the 23 attorney members of MANA will give MANA members a half-hour complimentary consultation before the clock starts running.

“So the answer to your question is, Jerry and I will always be happy to help you, and there is never a fee when you give us a call. Just keep renewing your MANA membership, and we’ll be here when you need us.”

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Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go, there will be trouble.
And if I stay it will be double.
So come on and let me know.

The Clash, 1982

Rep members have been calling recently to talk about how to adapt to the challenges of running a small business in a COVID‑19 environment. Many of those calls have ended up as discussions about “Should I stay or should I go?”

The “Should I Stay” group has been saying: “My commissions are down and I need to find a way to replace the income I’ve lost. How can I find a rep firm for a merger or acquisition to make up for that lost income?”

The “Should I Go” group has been saying: “I’ve been thinking about retirement for a long time anyway. How can I find a buyer for my rep firm?”

Whether you are in one of these groups or are just thinking about testing the waters, MANA has the resources you’ll need to make your decision strategically.

1. MANA’s “Steps to Rep Professionalism” program in the member area of www.MANAonline.org has 14 carefully chosen articles, reports, and audio/video succession planning resources, including our centerpiece: Valuation and Sale of a Manufacturers’ Representative Business Special Report.
2. MANA’s Business Counseling lets MANA members contact us to get objective third-party ideas on how to succeed with succession planning.
3. MANA’s Attorney Access membership benefit gets you an annual free half-hour consultation with an experienced, rep-savvy attorney.
4. MANA can help you locate MANA rep members that have been in business long enough that the founder might be open to a conversation about an acquisition or merger.
5. MANA’s online “Agencies for Sale” ads are free to MANA rep members through June 30, 2021. If you have any questions reach out to Susan Strouse by email at [email protected].

Should I stay or should I go? Reach out to MANA, we’re here to help you figure it out!

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“I feel like I’m facing a lot of competition from other manufacturers when I try to get the attention of really high-quality reps,” said the manufacturer on the phone. Then he asked a question that sounded like it should have been easy for me to answer.

“Are there more reps looking for manufacturers or more manufacturers looking for reps?”

I started to answer. Then I stopped. I asked if we could talk about his other questions first and circle back to that one. As I answered his other questions, I put my finger on why this question was so challenging.

Every day I talk to manufacturers who are struggling to recruit high-quality reps. Every day I talk to reps struggling to sign high-quality manufacturers. Every manufacturer says there is a shortage of high-quality reps. Every rep says there is a shortage of high-quality manufacturers.

Then the answer to his question came to me.

“You asked if there are more reps looking for manufacturers or more manufacturers looking for reps.

“I think the answer is: Yes.

“Let me explain.

“There are always lots of manufacturers eager to recruit high-quality reps. There are always lots of reps eager to represent high-quality manufacturers.  So, the answer to this question depends on your perspective.

“As a manufacturer trying to sign a really great rep, it will feel like you have to compete with lots of other manufacturers to get that rep’s attention. Just like reps who are trying to sign a really great manufacturer will feel they have to compete with lots of reps to get that manufacturer’s attention.

“Bottom line, really great reps and really great manufacturers always have lots of potential partners clamoring for their attention.”

Whether you are a manufacturer or a rep, for the best advice on how to make your company attractive to top-tier partners, turn to MANA for help.

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My jaw dropped when a rep told me he was still closing deals based on handshakes and face-to-face meetings during quarantine and social distancing. Then he explained, and I could not have agreed with him more.

“Am I respecting my state’s mandatory quarantine and social distancing rules? Definitely! Am I closing deals based on handshakes and face-to-face meetings? Also, definitely! And it has nothing to do with wearing masks or gloves.

“Let me explain.

“Right now, customers are dealing with FUD. Fear, uncertainty and doubt. When they’re dealing with FUD, and when their companies are on the line if vendors let them down, are they going to roll the dice on a new vendor? Of course not! They are going to turn to trusted resources. Resources like me.

“That’s what I mean when I say I’m still closing deals based on handshakes and face-to-face meetings. Not recent handshakes and face-to-face meetings, of course. I’m closing deals based on my two decades worth of handshakes and face-to-face meetings with my customers in my territory.

“Those decades of handshakes and face-to-face meetings mean that when customers urgently need a resource who intimately understands their needs and also can be trusted implicitly, they know that they can turn to me.

“Are there factory-direct salespeople who can match my two decades of service to my customers in my territory? Not many, if there are any at all.

“And what happens if there is a situation that cannot be addressed without a face-to-face meeting? Safely socially distanced, but face-to-face. My customers know that many factory-direct salespeople are based at their company’s headquarters and fly out to see customers as needed.

“Those factory-direct salespeople are not going to want to get on a plane. And my customers are not going to be enthusiastic about a face-to-face meeting with someone who has just gotten off a plane.”

Bottom line, with FUD all around us, there has never been a better time for manufacturers to go to market through manufacturers’ reps.

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First let me tell you my favorite story about a manufacturer working with reps. I heard it from a sales executive who came across his company’s owner joyously signing rep commission checks.

“Wow, that’s a big one,” he heard the owner say, grinning ear to ear as he signed. “Another biggie,” said the owner, signing enthusiastically.

That sales executive paused at the door of the owner’s office, somewhat puzzled, and posed a question. “I have never seen anyone so happy to sign checks. Why are you so happy about spending your money?”

“Simple,” the owner explained. “These are rep commission checks. Every time I send a rep a dollar, it means I got to keep nine dollars. So, as far as I am concerned, these checks can never be big enough.”

Why Do I Love This Story?

I love repeating a story about a manufacturer who “gets it.” Yes, of course this manufacturer is a MANA member. And while I can’t promise that every MANA manufacturer member gets it, I can promise that manufacturers who “get it” are much more likely to join MANA than manufacturers who don’t.

It celebrates big commission checks. The bigger the better. In a world where reps privately share fears that selling too much may get them fired for earning too large a commission check, it’s great to be able to tell a story where large commission checks are celebrated.

It reminds us that a rep’s commission check is really a rep’s monthly performance review. And that the commission earned by high-performing reps should solidify that rep’s status with the manufacturer rather than being a trigger to review a rep who is “earning too much.”

My Second Favorite Story

It came from a rep responding to a manufacturer’s complaint that the rep’s commission checks were getting too large. That rep’s reply? “Well, don’t you feel like it beats the alternative? My well-earned commission checks could be for selling huge amounts of your competitor’s products instead of for selling huge amounts of yours.”

A rep recently posed a couple of interesting questions.
When will this be over?
When can I go back to business as usual?

When he posed those questions, all of us at MANA were scrambling to gather information for MANA members about the short-term government initiatives designed to keep small businesses afloat and to put together MANAcasts, webinars and emails with the information our members needed to learn how to use those programs.

Now that we’ve given our members the information they needed quickly; I’ve had time to reflect a little bit on that rep’s questions about the long-term.

We find ourselves facing an abrupt, unforeseeable, life-changing event. None of us have any experience working in this kind of environment. So, if MANA and MANA members have a rallying cry for 2020, it is “Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.” *

One of the most compelling arguments for selling through manufacturers’ reps has always been the in-person contact we have with local customers. Now that in-person contacts have been suspended or dramatically curtailed, what do we do? Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

The real argument for selling through manufacturers’ reps really isn’t in-person contact. It’s the fact that manufacturers’ reps, who have proven their value to local customers over years or decades, are customers’ trusted resources. And those reps will continue to be their customers’ trusted resources whether in-person contact is suspended or not.

While in-person visits are suspended, our customers’ needs for commercial support, technical assistance and coaching has not been suspended. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Zoom meetings and other electronic communication get the job done until in-person visits can resume.

So, let’s go back to that rep’s questions. When will this be over? Maybe six months. Maybe 12 months. But it will be over someday.

When can I go back to business as usual? Never. Because your business and your world will never be the same after you: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

* Clint Eastwood as Marine Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway, Heartbreak Ridge.

I’d like to share two quick stories about our experience asking MANA members what they want.

The first story comes from MANA’s Board of Directors’ preparation for its Strategic Planning session.

MANA has many member benefits. The Board knew it couldn’t build a roadmap for MANA’s future until they knew which of those benefits were most highly valued by our members.

So we asked them.

We discovered MANA members’ number one priority was for MANA to provide the world’s most robust and powerful rep search tools. So the Board’s number one priority became the new RepFinder® smartphone app.

The second story comes from MANA’s experience after launching the RepFinder® app. We needed to know how we could continue to improve the rep search process the app offers to manufacturers.

So we asked them.

Kent Gladish (left) with TMA members participating in MANA’s focus group.

I turned to a longtime friend of MANA, Kent Gladish of the Schaumburg, Illinois-based Technology and Manufacturing Association (TMA) for help. I asked if he might be able to get five or 10 TMA manufacturer members to sit down with us, use the app, and give us their feedback.

Kent graciously put out the word, but instead of five or 10 volunteers, we got 38! Their insightful feedback will help MANA to continue to improve and enhance the world’s most robust rep search tool — crucial feedback that we only received because we asked for it.

Do you want to outpace your competitors? Ask your customers what they want! You will get the information you need and will earn your customers’ loyalty and respect.

Ask them!

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Charlie Ingram, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Eriez Manufacturing, just shared with me his insights about how having a rep sales force is helping his company get through the COVID‑19 crisis.

Here’s what he had to say:

• “Effective immediately, our home office employees have travel restrictions, so we can’t get our product and market sales managers into the field. Thank goodness we have a rep sales force to take care of our customers while our sales managers are grounded.”
• “Customers are restricting sales visits, and at best those customers will be distracted. And while they’re distracted those customers will instinctively reach out to trusted resources with whom they have strong relationships. Those trusted sales resources are our manufacturers’ reps.”
• “Even though visits to customers’ plants and offices are restricted, our reps will be in contact with customers by Skype, phone, email and texts. Nobody has enough regional managers to handle that volume of communication unless they have reps in the point position.”
• “Because our reps represent multiple complementary non-competing lines they know what other manufacturers in our industry are doing and can consult with us on how the best practices from their other principals can be adopted by our company. We are in uncharted waters, and the things we are learning through our reps is invaluable.”
• “And thank goodness for our rep council. At our request, each rep council member reached out to a group of our reps to gather real-time data about how customers are reacting, how customer needs are changing, and the trends developing throughout North America. We knew more and knew it faster than anyone fielding a direct sales force could have accomplished.”

Most of us knew all the arguments why reps are the most effective way to take products to market in normal circumstances. Now we know why reps are the best resource for manufacturers to have at their disposal during a crisis.

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My local donut shop once offered a “Buy 11 donuts, get the 12th donut free” punch card. “Terms subject to change on 30 days’ notice.”

A new owner terminated the punch card program. I had nine punches, but it was not a big deal. After all, it was only a donut.

The first Internet Service Provider (ISP) I ever used offered one year of service at a very reasonable price.

Three months into the contract I received notice that my monthly rate was doubling. I wrote to the company’s president: “I still have nine months to run on my one-year contract, so this letter was sent to me in error.”

More than two decades later I am still mad about his reply: “I sold my company and the new owners have new rates. As you can see your contract is subject to change on 30 days’ notice.”

Replacing my ISP was such a huge hassle that I ended up eating the difference. This was a bigger deal than just a donut, so I started paying more attention to “subject to change on 30 days’ notice.”

Most reps I know have a horror story about a big order and a “subject to change on 30 days’ notice” rep agreement. They had signed a contract with a manufacturer whose character was beyond reproach, but later faced a new owner eager to find a way to avoid paying commission on a very large order.

That’s why many reps now only accept agreements with extended post-termination commission or Life of Part/Life of Program (LOP/LOP) language. After investing years of work to earn a big order, “subject to change on 30 days’ notice” rep agreements are too big a risk.

And a six-figure or seven-figure commission is not just a donut.

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” — Arthur C. Clarke

Two possibilities exist: The concept of sales force outsourcing is so powerful that it would naturally develop on its own outside North America, or it would not. It’s very comforting to know that sales force outsourcing is such a powerful concept that reps can be found in Europe, North America, and South America. (Apologies to Arthur C. Clarke.)

How powerful? The international association that counts reps worldwide reports that the 42,000 reps in North America are part of a worldwide ecosystem of 537,000 reps.

Engaging in a worldwide ecosystem is very important to MANA members.

• MANA representative members need to be visible to international principals seeking North American representation.
• MANA manufacturer members need resources to find representation in Europe and South America, and learn the local practices of reps in those countries.

MANA’s participation in the Internationally United Commercial Agents and Brokers (IUCAB) gives MANA access to just the kind of exposure and information MANA members need to flourish internationally. (Outside of North America, what we call manufacturers’ reps are referred to as commercial agents.)

What is IUCAB? Many other countries have their own rep associations just like MANA. IUCAB is where those country rep associations meet to share best practices and solve common problems.

As a member of IUCAB’s Executive Committee MANA plays a critical role in the IUCAB. I recently met in Hungary with other Executive Committee members (pictured above) from the rep associations of Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the United Kingdom to work on strategies to promote reps internationally.

Through IUCAB, MANA engages with 18 other countries’ rep associations in Europe, North and South America, and insures our place at the table in the international community of reps.

IUCAB Executive Committee members (left to right): Christian Rebernig, Austria; David Johnson, United Kingdom; Axel Sturmberger; Austria; Charles Cohon, North America; Ralf D. Scholz, Germany; Olivier Mazoyer, France; Marco Righetti, Italy; and Ole Kristian Bull, Norway. Not pictured: Enric Enrech, Spain.

This is how a computer stores the word “rep.” Binary language. Nothing but ones and zeros. To human eyes, incomprehensible.

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Something else about ones and zeros has been almost equally incomprehensible. Can reps earn commissions selling ones and zeros?

Let me explain.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a manufacturer of communication software used in manufacturing plants so employees on the plant floor can communicate more effectively.

The software manufacturer wants to sell his software using manufacturers’ reps. After all, he reasoned, reps who are calling on specifying influences for other equipment on the plant floor would be a natural to sell his software. Except….

Except that most reps I speak with are used to selling a physical product. The product ships from their principal to a customer, the customer receives an invoice, and the rep gets paid a percentage of the invoiced price.

But selling software is different. When a rep selling manufacturing software makes a sale, ones and zeros pass from the software company to the customer. No physical products move. If the software is sold as a subscription, there may not even be an invoice. Let me give you an example.

A rep convinces a customer to equip 100 manufacturing employees with productivity software. The customer pays $20 per employee per month, $2,000 total a month, and the rep gets paid commission each month the customer continues to use the software.

If the rep has negotiated a good contract, the rep will continue to be paid sales commission for as long as the customer uses the software. It’s the ones and zeros equivalent of a life-of-part/life-of-program agreement for physical products.

It’s the first month of a new decade. Has the time come for reps to embrace selling intangible products, or does the rep business model require physical products? Please write to me with your comments; my email is [email protected].