Category Archives: MANA Minute

What If There Was No MANA?

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This month Agency Sales magazine explores the question: “Why is membership in MANA important?” And because April is my first anniversary as MANA’s CEO and President, it’s an appropriate time for me to answer that question by posing an even larger question (with apologies to George Bailey in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life): “What if MANA didn’t exist?”

If MANA didn’t exist there would still be industry-specific rep associations, each individually serving groups like plumbing, power transmission, electrical, casting, and electronic reps. But many of MANA’s services would be too costly for each individual association to duplicate. Consider these scenarios:

The plumbing reps have discovered a particularly effective way to structure their annual conference. Will the power transmission reps find out about it? Without MANA, probably not. MANA circulates best rep association practices not only in the pages of Agency Sales magazine, but also by scheduling an annual Association of Manufacturers’ Rep Associations meeting where key executives from each rep association can share their struggles and successes face-to-face.

A casting rep discovers a particularly rep-savvy attorney who helps her recover unfairly withheld commissions. Will a housewares rep who needs the same help be able to find that attorney? Without MANA, probably not. A database of rep-savvy attorneys gathered only from casting reps would be a much shorter list than the list MANA gathers from reps across all industries. And that critical mass of attorneys in our database allows MANA to:

• Organize an annual “Attorney Forum” where those attorneys can meet face-to-face and share best practices on serving rep clients.

• Secure from those attorneys specimen agreement guidelines as a foundation for individualized agreements customized to particular rep-principal relationships.

• Arrange for MANA members to receive a free one-hour consultation from most attorneys in our database.

A startup rep has talent and drive but not rep experience. Will that startup survive? Without MANA, the odds of success are not as good. Under the expert guidance of MANA ex-CEO Joe Miller, MANA launched its “Pathway To Rep Success” mentoring program that trains experienced reps how to be great mentors and provides them with a structured, formal mentoring curriculum. Matching novice reps with trained mentors gives novice reps the best possible opportunity to succeed and join the community of successful reps. And the larger the community of successful reps available to prospective principals, the more attractive it is for companies to go to market with manufacturers’ reps.

Just like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, MANA would be missed. As tough as it is to be a manufacturers’ rep, without MANA it would be even tougher. That’s why your membership in MANA is important. Thank you for being a member and supporting the rep system of selling.

Looking Good Under the Principal’s Microscope

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In this issue of Agency Sales magazine we look at groups of reps that have been the most affected by the economy — positively or negatively.

In tough economic times, principals more than ever take a very hard look at the value they receive for the commissions they invest with your rep company. In good times, principals might only use a magnifying glass to scrutinize the value your rep company brings to that relationship. In bad times, they use a microscope.Rep companies that look good under the microscope actually can prosper in a recession, as principals move from costly direct sales forces to reps, and from reps whose business practices don’t look good under the microscope to those who do.To prosper in a tough economic environment where excellence is swiftly rewarded and less-than-excellence is even more swiftly punished, it’s time for you to put your own company under the microscope to see what your principals see.How do your business practices look under the microscope? Do you methodically respond to all principal communications within 24 hours? Says one rep: “Honestly, the sales leads I get from my principals often are of dubious quality, but if my principals place a high value on those leads, then I have to place a high value on those leads too. So I always acknowledge the lead by e-mail immediately, and close out the lead within five business days, even if it is just to say I have called twice and e-mailed twice, but was not able to make contact.”How do your people look under the microscope? Do you have a continuing improvement program in place for product training and sales training? And do your people who have management responsibilities get business training?How does your line card look under the microscope? Did you cultivate your line card so that most of your principals benefit from each sales call you make, or have you kept a few odd-man-out principals that don’t fit with the rest of your line card? The first thing that a great prospective principal will look at is your line card, and if your line card does not reflect a laser focus on that principal’s market, you won’t even be called for an interview.

And once you’ve readied your company for microscopic scrutiny, it’s time to share those improvements with your principals. After all, the only way they will know that you have set the bar higher is if you tell them so.

And, of course, a great way to let your principals know you’ve set the bar higher would be to be featured on the cover of Agency Sales magazine! On page 21 of this issue, you’ll find details about how encouraging your principals and fellow reps to join MANA could get you on the front cover of the September 2012 issue of Agency Sales!

The Rep of the Future
(Sorry, Still No Jet Packs!)

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So, what skill sets will the rep of the future need to guarantee personal success and the continued success of the rep profession? How about the ability to communicate the added value reps bring to a transaction, and prove that reps are the most cost-efficient of all the possible alternatives manufacturers have to bring their products to market.

In today’s economic environment, everyone involved in a transaction is increasingly called upon to prove they add value and that they are the most cost-effective means to accomplish a task. So the rep of the future will increasingly be called upon not just to sell products and services, but also to sell the rep business model as the single most-effective way to take products and services to market.

For current and prospective principals, the rep of the future will skillfully sell the advantages of the rep business model as the only system that allows multiple manufacturers to cost-effectively share a sales force with complementary, non-competing lines. And the successful rep of the future will recognize and capitalize on this unique capability by giving even more attention to line card management and promoting to prospective principals the pull-through sales benefits of becoming part of a carefully managed, meticulously groomed, synergistic line card.

For current or prospective customers, the rep of the future will sell not only products and services, but also the benefits of conducting business with multiple manufacturers during a single meeting with a single manufacturers’ rep who has longevity in the territory and extensive knowledge of that customer’s technical and commercial requirements.

The rep of the future faces a harsh economy and tough challenges from principals and customers demanding proof of the rep’s value. To meet those challenges the rep of the future must be savvy about products, thoroughly schooled in the rep business model, and be able to offer compelling proof that any other way of taking a product to market squanders both the principal’s and the customer’s time and money.

I’m hit! I’m hit! Eject! Eject! Eject!

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Need a disaster plan? Prepare like a fighter pilot!

Whether it’s a result of enemy fire or engine failure, in an emergency fighter pilots’ lives depend on the survival kit that military experts pack with the essentials a pilot needs to stay alive until help arrives.What are the takeaways from a fighter pilot’s survival kit that you can apply to your disaster plan?It shouldn’t require maintenance. Survival kits include canned water because no one expects a pilot to remember to refresh a canteen before every mission. Survival gear and disaster plans that require maintenance risk letting you down if you forget to maintain them. Computer backups based on removable media are only as good as your discipline in putting in fresh media. An automatic system that backs up onto a remote Internet server removes the element of human discipline.Too heavy a kit may leave you looking for excuses not to carry it “just this one time.” Your office may have five computers, but if your plan includes a complete set of redundant computers to use in a disaster, the cost may keep you from executing your plan. One backup computer stored in a remote location may be enough to keep a skeleton crew working through a disaster until you can buy more replacements and won’t be such a burden that you don’t do anything at all.It includes a survival manual. When disaster strikes, you will have too much on your mind to recall every detail of the great plan you had in your head but never wrote down. No plan is complete until you document it.They have an expiration date. Eventually, even the canned water becomes undrinkable and needs to be replaced. Look at your plan annually to consider changes in your business that would require you to change your disaster plan.

Most of them never get used. One reason that survival kits are lightweight is that the temptation to leave the “I probably won’t need it” survival kit behind increases in direct proportion to its weight. It’s human nature: The greater the burden, the more likely an activity with an uncertain payoff will be postponed. So design your disaster plan to be good enough to keep you alive until help arrives without being such a burden that you end up postponing it to death.

For more about pilots’ survival kits, visit http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=1400. For more about reps’ survival kits, read carefully through this issue of Agency Sales magazine.

Making the Field Visit Truly Productive

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“I have scheduled a trip into your territory next week to visit my house accounts, but I have some time left over so you need to fill the gaps in my schedule with some calls on your customers.”

Reps still get this kind of call once in a while, but less frequently now as today’s professional reps drive a trend toward more highly planned and efficient visits from remote principals.

A principal calling to launch a visit to the territory of a professional, efficient rep is going to hear a response like this:

“Great, we’ll look forward to having you here. And to be sure that we make the best possible use of your time, I’ll be forwarding a principal visit form for you to fill out. We’ll be asking you to identify:

  1. The specific goals for your visit so we can be sure we accomplish them,
  2. Any specific customers you’re particularly eager to meet with so we can get the right appointments,
  3. And, the topics you want to cover so those customers will be ready to discuss them.”

“We certainly want to make this a productive visit, so we’ll also ask you to identify a couple of different windows of time at least six weeks out so we can be sure our customers and all the resources you’ll need from our company are available.”

With that form in hand and the visit scheduled, the rep and principal also need to plan who will be doing most of the selling. Will the principal be taking the point position at customer meetings, or will the rep? Without that advance planning, the principal and rep may find themselves talking over each other, or arriving at the call with neither prepared to make the presentation.

It’s a brave new world since the days when the biggest concern during a principal visit was who would get the lunch check, and a more productive world now that planning for  productivity and efficiency trumps the cost of meals. (Although, for the record, a good rule of thumb is that whoever requested the meetings usually picks up most of the meal checks.)

And, in conclusion, to that principal whose visit to the territory was driven by the need to visit house accounts, we offer this reminder: The only good reason to visit a house account is to introduce the rep who is taking it over.

House Accounts are the Pre-Nuptial Agreements of Rep-Principal Relationships

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House accounts are the pre-nuptial agreements of rep-principal relationships. To a rep, the announcement that a proposed rep relationship is contingent upon the rep accepting house accounts is just as welcome as the announcement to a prospective spouse that a proposal of marriage is contingent on a pre-nuptial agreement.

What the rep hears: “All or part of what was mine before our relationship began stays mine — I will only share freely what comes to us jointly after our relationship begins.”

What the rep thinks: “It’s not fair that a principal can hold back assets from our relationship when I cannot. After all, once I introduce my customers to the principal and the principal’s products, those customer relationships become a shared asset, an asset likely to continue to be shared even if our rep-principal relationship were to end. When I’m asked to sign a rep agreement with house accounts, the principal gets access to all of my customers, but I don’t get access to all of the principal’s customers. How is that fair?

When a rep-principal relationship begins with the principal withholding customers it is only natural for the rep to reciprocate by withholding as much customer information as possible. From such an inauspicious, arm’s-length beginning, such rep-principal relationships face a real uphill struggle to become trusting, collaborative and productive.

Before encumbering a new rep relationship with that kind of relationship baggage, the principal really needs to ask:

  • Am I withholding these house accounts because some of my accounts are just too big to turn over? Then work with the new rep to find a mutually agreeable, less-than-full-commission win-win arrangement to service those accounts economically but fairly.
  • Am I withholding these house accounts because low margins simply leave no room for a rep? Then have a candid conversation with the rep about those margins. Perhaps the rep can assume some of the cost-creating activities associated with the account and settle on a fixed-fee agreement instead of a percentage of sales.
  • Am I withholding these house accounts because I am taking a flyer on a rep company that I don’t know enough about to trust with my existing accounts? If you don’t know enough about a rep to entrust that rep with existing customers, then pause the hiring process while you conduct your due diligence and only hire this rep after you are confident that he or she is worthy of your trust.

To principals who complain about the high cost of performing thorough due diligence, I agree that hiring the right rep is time-consuming and expensive. In fact, the only thing more time-consuming and expensive than conducting the due diligence to hire the right rep is failing to complete the due diligence and hiring the wrong rep over and over and over again.

Reps in the Crosshairs

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As the economy stays stalled longer and longer, reps increasingly find themselves in the crosshairs of manufacturers looking for ways to cut costs. In some cases those cost-cutting goals have trumped fairness and excellent reps face unilateral cuts in commission or unwarranted conversion of hard-earned customers into house accounts. This month’s Agency Sales looks at sales commission erosion.

By the time a manufacturer announces a commission cut or new house account, the decision usually has been made and the rep gets a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum. So how can a rep company protect itself from these kinds of losses? One rep’s solution was to preemptively promote and prove his company’s value proposition to his principal.

“We have almost a decade-long relationship with one of our principals, and I have always made it a policy to be in regular contact with that principal so they knew exactly what we were doing on their behalf. About a year ago, their regular-as-clockwork commission check was late. They had been on time for so long that I assumed it was an oversight and that the check would come soon, so I didn’t call them until the check was 10 days late.

“When I called they were very apologetic and agreed to rush me a check, but the reason for the late check was a little jarring. ‘Sorry that your check is late. What happened is that we took a look at the value we were getting from all of our reps and realized that the only rep we were getting any value from was you. So last month we fired all of our reps except you. The accounting department didn’t realize we still had one rep left so they didn’t make a commission check run this month.’

“On one hand, I was flattered that my consistent message about my company’s value proposition was received loud and clear. But on the other hand, I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to all the other reps who had represented that line. They couldn’t all have deserved to be fired. I couldn’t have been the only rep worth keeping, but apparently I was the only rep who had consistently communicated my long-term value proposition. And because I was the only rep they knew brought value, I was the only one they kept.”

So many reps fired at once is an extreme example, but it could just as easily apply to a situation where a manufacturer is considering a commission cut or adding house accounts. Your best defense is to proactively communicate to each of your principals your rep company’s value proposition, so if any of those manufacturers start to look for ways to achieve cost reductions at the expense of its reps, your company will stay out of the crosshairs.

A Fool for a Client

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Involving a lawyer is the worst way to launch a rep-principal relationship, except for all the other ways that have been tried. (Apologies to Winston Churchill.)

This issue of Agency Sales examines the role of lawyers in the rep-principal relationship.

With all due respect to MANA’s friends in the legal profession, one thing I’ve never heard a rep say is: “I think my lawyer would make a great manufacturers’ rep. Years of experience in the practice of law is excellent preparation for a sales career, so my lawyer would do an outstanding job cold-calling prospective customers, elaborating on a product’s features and benefits, and closing big orders.  I think that once or twice a year my lawyer should go out on sales calls.”

The reason I’ve never heard a rep make that statement is obvious, but I have met reps who, although they don’t state it explicitly, through their actions make an equally flawed statement: “Based on my years of experience in sales, I am fully qualified to write a contract that specifies the roles, responsibilities, and commercial relationship between my company and my principals. As a matter of fact, I am so sure of my contract writing skills that I will bet all my future commissions on them.”

So, if it is obvious that lawyers shouldn’t try to step into the role of reps, shouldn’t it be just as obvious that reps shouldn’t try to step into the role of lawyers?

And even though reps often are great negotiators, without benefit of counsel they won’t necessarily know what they should be negotiating for. Under the laws of your state, are you better served to negotiate for the right to sue in court, or for the right to have a dispute settled by arbitration? Should you ask for your contract to be governed by the laws of your home state, or by the laws of the state where your principal resides?

A rep-savvy attorney will know the specific language you need to ask for to get a fair agreement, both in terms of getting your company promptly and completely paid while the agreement is in force and also after the agreement has terminated.

MANA members, both rep and principal members, have access to a specimen rep agreement and to a list of lawyers who know the rep system of selling and can help to draft a fair agreement. We encourage you to contact these lawyers, many of whom will extend a 15–20 minute free initial consultation, to insure that you and your company are rewarded appropriately for your hard-won sales results.

“A man who is his own lawyer has a fool for his client.” 

— 19th Century Proverb

Executive Peer Group 2.0

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One way executives resolve tough business problems and learn about best practices is to establish an unofficial board of directors. This unofficial board of directors usually consists of managers and owners of unrelated and non-competitive businesses so that each member can speak candidly about their businesses without concern that the information could be used by a competitor.

These executive peer boards often meet as a group for a half day each month to discuss their thorniest problems and share successful strategies, and a half day each month individually with the group’s professional facilitator. One MANA member recently shared with me that each member of his eight-person executive peer board pays $7,200 in annual dues and that the benefits to his business have returned his investment many times over.

Those eight members invest a total of $57,600 per year and consider the investment in third-party input on their business operations to be money very well spent. And yet many manufacturers who sell through rep networks miss out on an opportunity to get much more specific advice about their business operations from a group that is already intimately familiar with their businesses because they have not formed a rep council.

Manufacturers should consider a rep council to be “Executive Peer Group 2.0” for a number of reasons:

  • Unlike members of traditional executive peer groups, members of your rep council are not strangers to your business, so your rep council can bypass the prologue where each member explains to the others what their business does and the environment of their industry, and instead get right to work.
  • Each member of your rep council has a direct financial interest in your company’s growth, giving them extra incentive to work with laser focus on your company’s success.
  • In an eight-member executive peer group, each member gets one eighth (12.5%) of the group’s time. In a rep council, your company is the only focus and gets 100% of the group’s time.
  • A six-person rep council is a real bargain compared with the executive networking group. Your typical total cost is around $5,200 for six $400 plane tickets, twelve $150 hotel nights, and $1,000 in meals.

After reading about rep councils in this issue of Agency Sales magazine, you can learn even more about rep councils from MANA’s online resources at www.manaonline.org. We encourage MANA manufacturer members to get the best and most cost-effective advice available by establishing rep councils and to contact MANA for any help needed to launch a productive rep council.

The Importance of Agency Growth

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This issue of Agency Sales explores the importance of agency growth to the rep-principal relationship. As you read this month’s issue, I encourage you to think about agency growth as more than just increasing your agency’s head count, and also to think about how you will communicate your agency’s growth to your principals.

Communicating your value to principals is easiest for obvious kinds of growth, like head count or gross sales, but more challenging when the agency grows in more subtle ways. Announcing added head count can be as simple as: “With the addition of June Smith to our sales team, we now have five salespeople, up from three just a year ago, an investment we’ve made in order to grow our mutual business.”

An increase in gross sales dollars is most often communicated from the principal to the rep, but it is still an opportunity for your agency to communicate its growth: “Thanks for letting us know that our sales increased 18.5 percent last year. Your regional manager Tim did a great job of helping us plan the 206 sales calls we made on your behalf last year, and in getting us fully trained to capitalize on those opportunities.”

But when your agency grows in more subtle ways, extra attention to communicating those enhancements is required. Consider the owner of an agency that sells chemicals who discovers that his or her customers now require more technical savvy than the agency’s existing sales force can provide. Replacing three non-technical salespeople with three chemical engineers does not increase head count, but it definitely needs to be announced with pride: “Last year our agency launched an initiative to enhance the service we provide to our mutual customers. With our most recent hire, Tom Jackson, our sales team is now 100 percent degreed chemical engineers.”

What has your agency done to grow its rep/principal relationships this year? Did you invest in test equipment, a demo van, a training room, or new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software? Be sure to communicate those investments to your principals so they can fully appreciate your commitment to the growth of your agency and to your rep-principal relationships.

Communication Technology

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Savvy use of communication technology is the theme of this month’s Agency Sales magazine, and our goal for this issue is to help you turn your communication technology skills into a competitive advantage that will distinguish you from your competitors. As an example, let’s consider a customer with these three e-mails in his or her inbox:

E-mail #1

Subject line: Your RFQ 88754 Our Quote 118976 2,000 Machined Steel Rods $8,000 Net, Three Week Lead Time.

Body text: Reiterates the subject information in the body text with standard terms and conditions.

E-mail #2

Subject line: Quote

Body text: Details of the quotation.

E-mail #3

Subject line: Quote

Body text: See our quote in the attached file.

An extremely time-pressed buyer with 300 unread e-mails could possibly see the subject line of the first e-mail, decide that $8,000 is a fair price, and send that vendor the order without searching to see which of his or her other 299 unread e-mails also might have been a response to RFQ 88754, but did not include that information in the subject line.

A buyer with a little more time might open all those e-mails and scan the body text of each to look for a more attractive offer, but still might be reluctant to open attachments, either because opening attachments is time-consuming or because attachments sometimes carry viruses.

If any of these quotations are destined to go unread, it will be the one that came as an attachment, and it is that salesperson’s fault for not considering the buyer’s need for efficient communication before sending that quote.

But the rep who is a savvy communicator kept the customer’s convenience uppermost in his or her mind and communicated the information in the way that is most likely to get the order.

We hope you will enjoy this issue, and that it will help you discover new skills to make your communications more compelling, and help you earn new sales and new customers.

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Taking Professionalism To A Higher Level

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Manufacturers’ reps come in all sizes and shapes. At one end of the spectrum you find truly professional business people. At the other end you find salespeople who pay their own expenses. Major reasons for belonging to MANA are the resources we provide to help members move up the professionalism scale. Some members take this path, others stay put.

Higher-level professionalism brings many benefits: higher quality principals, higher profits, higher value to the agency when you sell it. With rational reasons like these, why do some want to stay put? What blocks them from moving up the professionalism ladder?

Their emotional side blocks the change. Maybe they fear the challenge; maybe they lack the self-confidence. The risks overcome the rewards. Maybe they want to be perfect and that leads to the three Ps: perfection, procrastination and finally paralysis. They feel alone.

Being a MANA member provides support to help overcome these emotional obstacles, not the resources such as workshops, webinars, teleforums and publications that provide the how-to, but others. Being a MANA member means you are not alone. You belong to a community that helps you get out of the rut. Remember, the only difference between a rut and a grave is the length of the hole.

How, you ask? Call the MANA office, where real live friendly people still answer the phones, and ask for me. Join the MANA group on LinkedIn. We recently created small groups that meet monthly by phone — join one. We can connect you with a local mentor. With their support, start moving up the professionalism ladder. Let the rewards overcome the risks.

On page 9, MANA announces Charles Cohon as the new MANA President and CEO. I compliment and thank the search committee, Dave Ice, Ed Reese, John Roba and Richard Sinclair, on a thorough and outstanding job. MANA members owe a debt of gratitude to these volunteer members who spent countless hours on a search. All of us at the MANA office look forward to working and supporting Charley as he leads MANA. The search committee could not have made a better selection. Thank you!

On Becoming A Consultative Seller

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I started my professional career as an engineer at Hills Brothers Coffee. Twelve years later I left and went into sales for a small distributor. My boss sent me to the Dale Carnegie Sales School. Those old enough remember back then it was “features and benefits.” That worked and I made a living.

In 1994, as a manufacturers’ rep, I signed an agreement with a new principal. They required all of their manufacturers’ reps to go through a consultative selling course. Even though they paid my
expenses, I went dragging my heels. I sold for over 20 years, I was a pro, and nobody could teach me how to sell.

Wrong! In four days, I bought into the consultative selling approach, hook, line and sinker. I significantly changed how I worked with customers.
I no longer “sold” them anything. I helped them solve problems. If I successfully solved their problems, I earned commissions. Not only that, but the customers came back to me when they needed my help solving new problems. I earned more commissions.

I felt far more comfortable and confident in this new role as a problem solver. Sales grew significantly. I realized that my line card had to represent companies that enhanced my reputation as a problem solver. I avoided those that turned me into a problem creator. Those principals who enhanced my problem solving reputation worked with their reps as partners. We worked as a team. We trusted each other and our customers trusted us.

Consultative selling requires hard work and dedication but is well worth the effort. You develop a sense of purpose that feels great. That sense of purpose has to be genuine; customers spot a phony a mile away. You earn their trust and you never let them down.

The number of manufacturers’ reps I speak with who never took any formal sales training never ceases to amaze me. Find someone in your area that offers a consultative course and sign up. You will not regret the decision. You are never too old to learn. I thank that principal for making me and their other reps take the course. They invested quite a bit in this program but they reaped a huge return.

Ironically, as I write this editorial, I saw an article on page 10 by Tom Wentz of Corporate Performance Systems, Inc. Turns out, he taught the consultative selling course I attended 16 years ago.

Why Have Relationship Reviews?

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One of MANA’s highest priorities is helping manufacturers’ reps and manufacturers develop mutually profitable, interdependent and long-lasting relationships. Part of the process includes relationship reviews — rep and principal should constantly be reviewing each other’s performance with the goal of improving the relationship.

Improving the relationship involves both of you. On our own, we fail to see how others perceive our performance. We think we do okay, but unless someone comments on how we do something, we never know. We may do something we think is fine and it drives the other party nuts. They don’t say anything, and the relationship suffers.

An effective way to start the review process is for both parties to agree that they share the common goal — to improve the relationship. They agree also not to play the blame game.

We improve relationships in many ways. We act in a trustworthy and ethical manner, which certainly helps. Consider others, though. What about communication? Do you exchange useful and pertinent information that really helps the other party? You know where I’m going on this one already, don’t you? If the manufacturer requires call reports, replacing those with the exchange of useful information goes a long way to improve the relationship. An honest and open dialogue on what information is needed and why it’s needed creates a much better way of working with each other.

Other areas where we work with each other are territory visits by the principal. Plan those well and the relationship grows. “Wing it,” and the opposite happens.

As a former manufacturers’ rep, I experienced great relationships with some (not all) of my principals. I know they exist; I also hear this from current MANA members. Yet, when I speak with other members, I sense they believe really great relationships with principals are not possible. Change that belief and attitude. Give it a try; you may be very pleasantly surprised.

A Worthwhile Investment

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Prior to coming to work at MANA in 2000, I was a manufacturers’ rep. Recently, I spoke with a fellow rep who shared several lines with me. We talked about one of our mutual principals, one that had been a favorite of ours. The owner understood relationships. He took care of his employees, he took care of his customers, and he worked as a partner with his reps. That company led the market.

A year after I signed my agreement with the principal, he retired and sold the business to a large corporation. The new general manager recognized that the system worked, so he made no changes. I continued representing them until I changed careers.

I worked with several other principals who believed in the same philosophy; partner with each other, we are not adversaries. These were extremely successful companies and the success was mutual.

Do you have this type of relationship with each other? If not, why not? Is the trust level an issue? Or is it because of a belief structure that says these relationships are mythical; they really don’t exist? Is it lack of knowledge of how to work with each other? Whatever the issue, work on it to allow the relationship to evolve into a real partnership.

Repairing the relationship takes time and effort, but look at it as an investment that brings a huge return.

Compare working with each other to the alternative, where you don’t work together as partners. The results are different. You expend more effort and energy in protecting your turf and less in helping customers. Guess which approach creates higher success levels?

Which leads me back to that favorite principal of ours — the new general manager who led the company when I represented them retired. His replacement had the other philosophy, and the company is no longer the industry leader. They lost a number of their top performing manufacturers’ reps who now represent the competitors. They have also lost key employees. Please don’t let it happen to you — it’s not a pretty sight.

In Search of Excellence

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Back in September we touched on the issue of change; why manufacturers’ reps need to act differently if they want to grow in the current reality. From there, MANA decided to put together a program to make this happen. We call it In Search of Excellence — Lessons from the Best Rep-Manufacturer Relationships.

The program borrows from the 1981 best-selling In Search of Excellence book that Robert Waterman and Tom Peters wrote (Harper & Row). The questions the authors ask apply today just as much as they did when they wrote the book. The solutions apply as well.

What do manufacturers’ reps gain from participating in the new MANA program? As they move from their current reality towards a different outcome, they develop a different and more effective relationship with principals and customers. The new principal and customer relationships result in growth and increased mutual profitability. They gain the ability to control their territory. They earn respect.

A significant number of highly professional and successful manufacturers’ rep business owners belong to MANA. They exemplify the desired outcome, the goal of the program. They lead; the other MANA members follow to move toward the desired outcome. The process never ends; the leaders innovate, the others follow and they benefit. The entire membership moves in a positive direction. The manufacturers, the manufacturers’ reps and the customers benefit.

We scheduled the first of these programs in Southern California on Friday, February 11, 2011. (See the back cover of this magazine for details). MANA plans to offer the same program in other cities later in the year.

We join associations for many reasons. One is to learn what other members do to be successful. We believe this program does exactly that. You have to take the initiative and participate; you do not learn by osmosis. Attend In Search of Excellence — Lessons from the Best Rep-Manufacturer Relationships in a city near you. Get a big return on your dues investment.

Do You Have the Right People on the Bus?

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If you have read Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, one trait he found in companies who went from good to great was having “the right people on the bus.” Having the right people on the bus translates to having the right people working for you. For a manufacturers’ rep firm, your outside sales force is a critical part of the organization.

This month, Agency Sales magazine looks at compensation programs. There are many ways to compensate salespeople and each has its strengths and weaknesses. Regardless of the plan, there is one common rule that must be followed: it must work for both the business owner as well as the salesperson. If it works for one but not the other, it will ultimately fail. It’s not much different from the relationships between manufacturers and manufacturers’ reps. Those have to work for both as well.

Do you work as business partners with principals? Do you have a relationship where there is a high level of trust and respect? Works really well, doesn’t it? Do you have the same type of relationship with your salespeople? The concept should work as well with them. It is interesting to note the similarities in the two levels of relationships. The compensation program offered by principals motivates the manufacturers’ rep business; your compensation plan for employees should do the same.

Make sure you have the right people on your bus, compensate them fairly and treat them in a trustworthy manner, with respect. Works wonders for those who have the trust and respect, maybe it’s time to put the concept to the test in your business if you don’t.

Speaking of the manufacturer-manufacturers’ rep relationship and trust and respect, the MANA educational effort in 2011 will focus on just that. We are planning an integrated program for our members, reps and manufacturers, which will help to develop high trust and respect relationships.

Think in the Long Term

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This month Agency Sales magazine focuses on legal issues. Like others, there is a vast difference between the true professionals in the business and those reps working towards that level. The true professionals know that agreements between manufacturers’ reps and their principals must work for both parties. Otherwise they ultimately do not work for either. What If the principal offers an agreement that does not meet this criterion? The professional will push back and negotiate an agreement that does. This significantly increases the probability the relationship will succeed. By pushing back, the manufacturers’ rep gains respect in the eyes of the principal.

Compare this to the novice manufacturers’ rep. When the prospective principal sends the agreement, the thing they usually do is sign and return it. They may not even read it. Please, don’t be intimidated. While the dollar impact at the time of signing may be insignificant, years later when it is, significant sums will be at stake. Don’t be telling yourself then, “If I could only do this over again…”

We also hear from members that they just want a really simple agreement, a one pager. When you initiate the relationship with the other person, there may be a very high level of trust between the two of you. What happens when that other person leaves the firm and is replaced by someone with vastly different ideas and attitudes about manufacturers’ reps? What if they decide to terminate the agreement? What if in the meantime, you have built up a significant level of business for this principal? How you worded the agreement way back when will have a significant impact on your residual compensation. Will that simple one pager really adequately cover all the bases?

We also hear from members they don’t believe the agreement is worth the paper it’s printed on. Not true, we’ve seen a number of members who over the years have won judgments valued at hundreds of thousand dollars because they had well-written agreements. They’ve also adequately protected themselves when product liability issues arise.

Which brings me to my last point. MANA has 28 really knowledgeable and experienced attorneys as members. They are here to help both manufacturers and manufacturers’ reps create mutually beneficial agreements. These agreements accurately reflect in legal language, the terms negotiated by both parties. Our professional members ask for legal help when they review agreements. Why not follow their lead and do the same? A great way to become more professional and gain more respect.

What’s Your Purpose?

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The content for this month’s Agency Sales is “Sales Technologies That Work.” With all the technological developments we’ve seen in the past couple of decades, there’s no doubt that the technologies for helping close sales has evolved right along with the rest.

All the great and innovative technologies in the world won’t help much if the salesperson doesn’t have the right sense of purpose. What’s your sense of purpose when you’re with a customer? Are you there to close the sale, to make the commission? If you are, you may be wondering why it’s not working out quite the way you expected.

I was that way until one of my principals put his manufacturers’ reps through a four-day consultative sales course. The first morning, we discovered purpose. All 20 of us in that session were asked by the leader “What do you think the purpose of your business is?” To a person, the answer was in one form or another, it was about the money.

Four hours later, we learned we all were wrong. The real purpose of our businesses was to help our customers solve problems in the most economical long-term manner. We also learned that you can’t fake a sense of purpose; it has to be genuine and come from the heart. For me, while I rationally knew what I had learned was correct, it took a while longer and constant focus every time I visited a customer for that sense of purpose to move from my head to my heart.

That one lesson I learned from the course fundamentally transformed my sales career in a very positive manner. Once I developed and internalized that purpose, my sales (and commissions) took off. Without a doubt, it was the most important lesson I learned in my entire sales career.

So what’s it going to be for you? Are you calling on customers to make some commissions, to make a few bucks or are you there to help them solve problems? Your choice.

A Vision of Change

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Let’s face it: things are not the way they used to be, and it’s highly unlikely they will ever go back to being what they were. So what are you going to do about it? Doing what you’ve always done in the past is not going to cut it anymore. Maybe it will keep you from going under, but that’s not what you really want, is it? Wouldn’t you much rather prosper and enjoy making a decent living as a professional outsourced sales company?

To do that, if you haven’t done so already, you are going to have to change. Not just change for the sake of changing, but real transformational change that creates a new and different future. It’s not just about doing things better or simply doing more. It’s about truly being different.

This issue features an article titled “Increased Costs Place More Pressure on Reps” that illustrates this point. There’s no doubt that, during these economic times, principals are asking their manufacturers’ agents to do more than they have in the past. An unintended consequence is that, in some instances, a manufacturers’ agent may decide it’s no longer profitable to represent a principal and terminate the relationship. This may not be the outcome either wanted.

What about creating a different outcome? The reason manufacturers want their reps to do more is that they are cutting back on staff. Why not ask the manufacturer to compensate the rep for the extra work? It would cost them less than retaining staff, and it will keep the relationship in place — a win-win for both parties.

Over the next few months, MANA is going to take a look at ways of helping our members learn how to create new outcomes for the manufacturers’ agents of the future. As I read the stories in Agency Sales about members that are trying and succeeding with different ways of relating with principals, I can’t help but believe strongly that there is a great deal of collective wisdom within the MANA membership — a wisdom we should tap into in order to create these new outcomes.

We don’t profess to know exactly where this will take us, what the professional sales company of the future will look like, or even what will be different. If we did, we’d just tell you and be done with it. We are confident that, through the collective intelligence of the MANA membership, a new vision for the profession will be created, one that will allow all of you to get back to enjoying what you do and to prosper.

Pioneering New Markets Can Come at a Cost

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One of the feature articles this month is about developing new markets and territories. The thrust of the article is that manufacturers’ reps of today need to be developing new markets if they are to succeed and grow. When you develop these new markets, potential principals will typically have no existing business to turn over to the rep. The reality is that it always takes more time for the rep to develop new markets, and more time equates to more cost. Why should the manufacturers’ rep take time away from helping customers who already provide income to the rep, in order to work where the income may only possibly come sometime in the distant future?

Developing new markets is a risk. What if the company that wants the manufacturers’ rep to invest their time and effort goes out of business or gets sold to a new owner who has different ideas about how to set up the sales force? In these cases, the rep will have made a substantial investment in the territory for which there is no return, causing a loss for the rep.

For many years, manufacturers’ reps would not take on missionary lines because of the costs and associated risks. Fortunately, more creative people have come up with ideas that help share the risk and cost of pioneering, so the results can be win-win for both parties. As a result, more manufacturers are able to enjoy the benefits of outsourcing the sales function. Conversely, manufacturers’ reps are able to take on the pioneering efforts of some good products with a much higher probability for return on their investment.

For those who believe manufacturers’ reps should get paid commissions only, regardless, our recommendation is to maybe rethink that position. There’s no doubt they will be able to find a rep to take on the line, but they need to ask themselves, “Is this the most effective manufacturers’ rep business I could have signed up?” Think of how much additional business a more professional rep could have brought in. Investing a few thousand dollars a month for a year to work with the professional rep, likely would have brought in much more business. By the way, that’s far less costly than hiring direct salespeople.

You’ve already invested a great deal of money on product development, factory and equipment and fixed cost of salaried factory personnel. Why would you not be willing to invest a little up-front cost in each sales territory to get the best available sales firm? Earning the business is 50% of the battle today, and you want to invest 0% of your total capital in that area? That does not make much sense.

Keep an open mind, and build an arrangement that works well for both of you during the pioneering stage. The result could turn out to be a long-term, mutually profitable relationship for both of you. It doesn’t get any better than that.

A New Perspective on Networking

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In their recent book, Tribal Leadership, authors Dave Logan, John King, and Halee Fischer-Wright talk about the development of “triads,” three-way relationships in level four and level five organizations — the ones that are highly successful. In levels three and lower, the relationships are two-way. There’s a certain dynamic that occurs in a triad that doesn’t occur in a one-on-one or even in a four-way relationship.

In many of these triads, one of the members acts as a broker, introducing the other two parties in the triad to each other and facilitating the creation of the relationships. As a manufacturers’ rep, you may focus on your relationships with your customers and your relationships with your principals. Have you thought about creating a triad? Rather than one relationship with your customer and another with the principal, what about acting as the broker and creating a three-way relationship? In talking with some very successful MANA members, it appears that’s the way they do it. The customer, the principal, and the manufacturers’ rep are each part of the triad, all partners invested in the relationship. Getting “face time” in these relationships is never an issue.

In talking with other members, we sense more separate relationships: one between them and the customer and another between them and the principal. In our conversations with these reps, it appears they are struggling more, and getting face time is an issue (if you want to learn more about this concept, you can download a free audio version of Tribal Leadership. Just Google the title and one of the search results will tell you where to do this).

What about another triad, one that includes MANA, the manufacturers’ reps and their manufacturers? This triad would focus on developing that relationship, which in turn would facilitate the development of the other triad that includes the customer. MANA would act as the broker, connecting manufacturers’ reps and manufacturers and facilitating that relationship through our educational programs and business counseling.

The current reality is that MANA mem­bers mostly belong for only the first part of the mission: manufacturers’ reps looking for lines to represent and manufacturers looking for manufacturers’ reps to sell their products. Let’s work together to create the triad that leads to a different reality, the one that makes your businesses more successful.

Meditations on MANA

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The days are becoming short marking my tenure as ex-officio past MANA Chairman of the Board, and also as a past director representing MANA for constituents in my district — and all reps and manufacturers, for that matter. I can say with conviction that I am truly blessed to have had the opportunity to play an active role in MANA over these last seven years.

I have also been blessed to speak with and meet literally thousands of independent professional sales representatives. My path has possibly even crossed with some of you who are reading this very issue of Agency Sales. Each of those conversations has helped me learn something and to grow as both a sales rep — and as a professional. I also believe that all of those small influences have assisted in guiding me through my tenure on the MANA Board. They have enabled me to reflect in my work what you — both the sales rep and the manufacturer who uses reps — need and desire from this organization.

Wow, it is incredible what MANA has accomplished during the last seven years! The list of highlights has grown literally into the hundreds. And while all of them are important to what MANA has done to help the members of this organization and our profession, below are a few of my favorites that I am exceptionally proud and honored to have been a part of:

  1. New webinars, teleforums and seminars to educate reps and manufacturers.
  2. The development of a new website with too many benefits to mention here. Have you tried the new search feature of RepFinder or the manufacturer directory? Check out www.manaonline.org.
  3. Three all-rep Keystone conferences, and now MANA­fest conferences that provide higher learning, community and networking.
  4. Improvements to Agency Sales, bringing you more of what you have asked for.
  5. Updated rep-manufacturer contract guidelines for a win-win philosophy in today’s environment.
  6. New and updated commission protection acts in 12 states.
  7. Becoming a vital part and a contributor to the family of sister associations — both domestic and abroad — and the profession at large.
  8. The hiring of a new MANA CEO.
  9. The purchase of the MANA headquarters building.
  10. The value proposition of all that MANA now offers its members, as stated on our MANA line card. If you have not seen all that MANA offers currently, contact MANA headquarters and ask for a copy. You will be astounded at what you are not yet taking advantage of!

I am honored to have been associated with three past chairmen, who possessed the exceptional skills required to perform their duties as chairman of the MANA Board: Bryant Callahan, Pat Cobb and Mack Sorrells.

I am honored to have been associated with three MANA CEO/Presidents: Lionel Diaz, Joe Miller and Bryan Shirley. Words cannot express what these three individuals have done for the independent sales repre­sentative and manufacturers who use them.

I am honored to have served on a Board of fellow rep agency owners. Each of these 20 or so individuals with whom I served over the past six years brought a unique perspective. I have thoroughly enjoyed each conversation, discussion and debate. MANA and our profession are stronger because of it. I know the time and emotional investment necessary to serve is huge, and I thank each of you for volunteering to make ours a better profession.

MANA was a strong, vibrant and dedicated orga­nization when I started on the Board of Directors in 2003. I believe that statement is still valid today, and I will add that it has grown even stronger with the quality of management, highly effective staff (they are the fine individuals who get it done on a daily basis), exceptional Board members and the quality members (that’s you) it currently has!

I believe I am leaving my active role on the MANA Board in the more-than-capable hands of your Chair­man, David Ice. I have the utmost confidence in David to continue to guide MANA in this great direction.

In closing, I will repeat what I have told MANA CEOs many times: “I am just a blip on the screen in the overall picture of MANA.” I can only hope that my blip has made a positive mark on your world. I know that MANA and all of you have had a positive influence on me.

Make Agreements Agreeable

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We have another great issue of Agency Sales focused on Rep-Principal agreements. MANA wants to help both parties reach fair and reasonable terms in their contracts. Last month, we had a very successful teleforum with Nicki Weiss on this topic, and we discussed how the word “negotiate” can sometimes create a negative beginning to your talks. Practice some Stephen Covey: begin with the end in mind, and think win-win. Think of what is good for the other party and what is equitable. Winning a negotiation isn’t always winning.

MANA makes some great tools available to our members. We offer a Manual for the Creation of a Rep-Principal Agreement that is available in the member area of our website. It has great tips on the very important parts to be included in agreements. There are also three different template agreements that you can download, modify and print. MANA members also have access to a list of 26 attorneys who are very knowledgeable and are truly “rep” lawyers.

On another topic, I wanted to provide MANA updates in a format familiar to our members. May 1, 2010 marks the beginning ofMANA’s 63rd year of promoting, protecting,educating and connecting manufacturers’ reps and manufacturers. The MANA team has made many recent changes and great accomplishments:

  • We held our first ever marketing and sales conference, MANAFest’09 — a huge success.
  • Made major upgrades to our flagship publication, Agency Sales magazine, the voice of reps.
  • We purchased the MANA building in Aliso Viejo, Orange County, California.
  • We completely rebranded MANA with a new strategic plan, logo, and a new mission and vision.
  • We enhanced our educational program offerings with teleforums, professional development forums in cities throughout North America, webinars, new and updated publications — notably the Manual for the Creation of a Rep-Principal Agreement.
  • We revamped the rep directory database and launched the new RepFinder.
  •  We participated in many industry specific tradeshows with the new MANA booth.
  • We presented to many manufacturer groups (associations and companies) and continued to promote the rep function to all manufacturers, new and old, large and small.
  • Enhanced MANA Tele-counseling with more advice for all members.
  • Like many companies, we did all of that with a 30%+ reduction to our workforce. As we move into our new fiscal year, we are embarking on a new strategic plan focused on several key elements.
  • Member relevance: reviewing our products and services, rejuvenating some, developing new ones and constantly working on getting feedback from you, our customers.
  • Virtually virtual: utilizing new association management software, new IT and infrastructure to become more web-centric and to provide social networking communities (“tribes”) for you.
  • Association management: working to expand our service offerings to other associations.

So, tell someone about MANA, get a new member to join (rep or manufacturer). Help us to grow and continue supporting this great function and the best way to sell — with reps!

Looking to the Future

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When I learned of this month’s Agency Sales theme, I first pictured George Jetson with Astro in his back seat making sales calls, and Luke Sky-walker selling lightsabers with an exclusive territory of three galaxies and no house accounts. Then I thought, maybe we should just focus on the near future, perhaps even just this decade.

The rep of the future will be more technologically equipped, better trained, highly educated and more professional. Not only will they know more about their products, but also about the key business aspects of their own rep agency, such as planning, operations, marketing and selling. However, one key element that will stay the same, as it always has, is the importance of the rep’s relationships with their customers.

A rep is the ultimate communications expert. We live in a culture of information addiction. Enhanced with the latest communication devices, the rep of the future will continue to succeed by doing what great reps do: moving information quickly, accurately and reliably. The focus will remain on answering every customer and principal question immediately, and solving every problem quickly and thoroughly.

Expanding their businesses with the use of social media networks, emerging video technologies and online meetings, reps will seek out every new tool that could possibly create new business opportunities. The rep of the future will strive for inefficiencies in all aspects of their agency with respect to time management, travel, office locations, and overall costs. Nevertheless, they will maintain a sales focus — the most performance-based model of selling there is.

The rep of the future will become even more customer-centric and have a greater determination to build stronger relationships at all accounts, big and small. Reps with vision will “follow” their customers to all corners of the business world to solve the continued issues of globalization, outsourcing, mergers and acquisitions. They will make whatever change necessary to have a more global/ international business model, with a heightened emphasis on opportunities in Asia and Europe.

Keep in mind that our customers don’t demand much — only more, better and faster, for less. We must continue to deliver. As you position your agency and yourself toward becoming the rep of the future, remember that it’s all about the customer. Look, learn, and seek out new things that enhance professional success. Network and share with other reps; we can all become better.

You are the rep of the future — so be it!

Truly Successful Manufacturer-Rep Relationships: Collaboration, Cooperation and Communication

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Are you right for success in the rep world?

Our recent MANA survey resulted in some fresh new ideas about what reps and manufacturers expect and want from MANA. There were lots of comments about helping both parties come together and understand each other better. Thanks for the ideas about improved collaboration, better cooperation and the key to it all: clear communication.

These are easy words that require fairly difficult and consistent actions. We have talked about selecting the right rep, getting and setting clear expectations and being on the same team. In recent times, all of us have been tested to determine which relationships are long term, and who had the persistence and patience to continue to see it through. Doing the right thing and doing it well has never been more important.

It’s easy to blame and judge others on your team. In fact, I think we have really created low levels of trust and high levels of blame. This is not part of a winning recipe. We will all have good days and bad days, and we will make mistakes. It’s the only way we grow. Growth is all about new, and new is all about change, so do something different. You must!

MANA can really help. We’re in the business of promoting the rep function and, as obvious as it sounds, we do it for the good of mutual success — for reps and manufacturers. We know clearly that outsourcing sales to a professional manufacturers’ rep is the best method to take products to market. The intellectual property of manufacturers’ reps is the knowledge of and relationships with their customers. This is what they do best.

The Q1 2010 focus of Agency Sales has been on the partnership between manufacturers and reps. Hopefully we are not reiterating too much, nor simplifying this seemingly magical recipe of truth, trust and respect. Success is really about building relationships into partnerships that sustain and survive through the good and the bad times. YOU make the relationship work.

It’s all about open and honest communication, fair and reasonable collaboration on expectations and goals and true cooperation by both rep and manufacturer that focus on the number one person in your lives: the customer! (OK, maybe the number two person.)

The Recipe for Growing Sales

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The main ingredient for grow­ing sales is the right relationships; it’s all about having the right part­ner.

Here at MANA, one of our greatest goals is to help members build strong relationships so they can grow their businesses. After years in the industry, we have devel­oped some key practices for doing just that.

When looking for the right partner, you must treat the search, interview and selection as though you are hiring a key executive for your own company. This ensures that the key values and standards held by your company are present in your new partnership.

Cultivating these new connections is the critical first step. We often recommend several great tactics to get you started, including using the MANA RepFinder database; advertising in Agency Sales; asking other reps, customers and distributors; and building a solid initial list of potential colleagues from which to work.

Next do your research. View their websites and line cards to determine fit, synergies and complementary products. This is your opportunity to gain as much information as possible before you reach out to them.

Now call them! As many of you have experienced, its not likely that a potential new business partner is going to respond to just another email that appears to be no different than the hundreds of others they’ve received this month. Pick up the phone, talk to them, and if they are not interested, ask them, “Do you know someone else that might be a good fit for us?” People know people in the business — manufacturers and reps.

After calling and narrowing your list again, get on an airplane and go visit! You must get eye-to-eye with each candidate; see their people and operations; thoroughly discuss the territory, targets, marketing efforts and expectations; and candidly share information about strengths and weaknesses. Also review your products, policies, people and the terms and conditions of your Principal-Rep Agreement contracts. Know exactly what you’re looking for and go prepared. A second round of interviews in-territory can be of great benefit also. Bring more of your team, or invite the final candidate(s) to visit your headquarters.

Then, make your decision. Now the real work begins for everyone on the team. Keep your new relationship growing and healthy. Lead and motivate; don’t manage and control. Once you have teamed up, set mutual goals and expectations. Develop strategies for breaking down any obstacles to capturing new sales in emerging markets and with new accounts or growing business at your existing accounts. The total focus needs to be on the customer. Be patient, be persistent, but most of all, be fair and reasonable.

In these times of required change, the need for strong, dynamic partnerships is abundant. Be proactive, grow together and keep planning for success. Stay focused on income-generating efforts that help to build a more mutually beneficial enterprise.

Best of success for enhancing and establishing the right relationships and growing sales in 2010.

Principle Centered Principals

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What are the best habits and practices of the principals we represent? We often say that there are only two types of manufacturers when it comes to reps, those who “get it” and those who don’t.

There are a lot of great manufacturers, and many of them are strong supporters and members of MANA. These “best” manufacturers have a top down and total team directed dedication and commitment to the successful partnership with outsourced professional field sales (Independent manufacturers’ representatives). They understand the recipe for mutual success and focus on the ultimate goal — sales growth.

There are many great things that the best principals do and have:

  • The owner, president, CEO believe in the rep function.
  • Truly partner with reps, and don’t perceive reps as the “necessary evil.”
  • Mutual trust and respect for, and with their reps.
  • In general, they “get it” and recognize that nothing happens until they get an order!
  • Provide great sales tools, samples, literature, RFQ forms, spec sheets, etc.
  • Develop strong marketing plans and advertising for their products.
  • Distribute solid leads to the reps.
  • Research new business opportunities with their reps.
  • Share sales success stories with all their reps (“SOS” — Selling On Successes).
  • Have great information systems with respect to sales reports, commission statements, etc.
  • Have great operational systems overall, they never say “our system won’t let us.”
  • Are dedicated to knocking down barriers and obstacles that prevent sales.
  • Are focused on the customer and work to satisfy their wants and needs.

In highly successful relationships between the best principals and reps, mutually agreed upon goals and sales targets are set. There is clear agreement on the expectations, from both sides. These strategies, goals and expectations are kept in focus, and reviewed periodically throughout the year. Both the principal and the rep are pushing hard toward the ultimate goal — growing sales at existing accounts and developing business at new accounts. They work in harmony. This may sound idealistic, and I don’t want to make this sound easy. This type of relationship, between the best principals and the right reps, does not occur often enough. It takes time, energy and commitment to make the relationship work. The best principals also really take their time when selecting a new rep firm for a territory. They know it is about finding the right rep for their company. not all rep-principal marriages work!

In these difficult times we find that people do desperate things. don’t do that. Be a principal with solid principles. Be truthful, have trust and respect for everyone. now is the perfect time to work on solidifying your good relationships and to build new relationships for 2010.

Happy New Year! May you create prosperity and happiness in 2010.

Good Selling.

What Are You Doing Differently?

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I have talked with and met with thousands of reps over the last three years, and I have asked many times, “What are the biggest challenges facing your rep firm?” I have also asked, “How is your business?” Most have answered “down,” but some in the room say “Up!” Of course, I ask why.

Those reps reply with a common thread of doing things differently, making difficult changes and diversifying their businesses. Most also respond with the two words that have seemed to escape some people: “hard work.” Yes, more sales calls, more cold calls, new accounts, and new directions: also known as “change.” You must change. Some ideas and strategies that MANA has provided (that we know lead to success) are the following:

  • Professional development and rep educational opportunities — make yourself better.
  • Networking with other reps at MANAFest, at local all-rep meetings, and MANA Professional Development Forums.
  • Diversifying your product offerings, focusing on your customers’ wants and needs.
  • Representing foreign manufacturers and even buying/selling products.
  • Selling services to customers, and/or getting fees for services from manufacturers.
  • Over-communicating to all customers, manufacturers, dealers/ distributors and your team.
  • Making more sales calls, seeing more people, making more connections.
  • Using social media and social networks to enhance relationships in all areas.
  • Greatly improving time management by examining all you do and implementing new tools.
  • Focusing on performance and results, and planning and visualizing successful outcomes.

I often ask reps a couple more questions: “Do you have a mission statement? Do you conduct strategic planning?” It’s amazing how few do.

This is the perfect time of year to set aside several days and get away from the office, turn off your laptop and cell phone, and even turn off your reactive brain for a moment. Write or re-write your mission statement. Do a S.W.O.T. analysis, and conduct a what should we stop-start-continue exercise.

Conduct line profitability and time analysis of what you and your team do. Look at your sales tools, look at your systems, and look at everything and determine if it’s necessary or just nice. Look at making some change.

It’s OK, and it won’t hurt, I promise. I recall my days as a rep — we are so reactive, and we really don’t get to proactively plan what we are doing. This distracts us from focusing on important, proactive things.

MANA has templates and formats for strategic planning, and we can help. We will be conducting a webinar, “Strategic Planning for Any Size Rep Firm.” Please look for these details.

Remember, MANA is here for you, and we are your unified choice and the voice of the manufacturers’ rep function. Happy holidays and best of luck for planning a successful 2010.

Is the Generation Gap Gone?

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Keeping your business healthy — and sustaining this industry — requires a deep understanding of how the generations can work together.

Generations are very interesting, and to me, people in general are even more fascinating. It’s really what makes our world spin. There are countless books and presentations by generationalists, offering explorations of the personalities of generations. Although the ranges of years vary (as well as the analysis of behaviors and attributes), the information boils down to this:

Born Between Generation Key Aspects
1925-1945 War (“Silent”) Hard workers, traditional, radio babies
1946-1964 Baby Boomers Long work hours, team players, large population
1965-1976 Generation X Latchkey kids, question everything, not joiners
1977-1998 Millennia (“Gen Y”) Multi-task, civic-minded, value education, technology

For the first time in history we have four generations working sideby- side in the workplace. This dynamic can create substantial issues relating to teamwork, compatibility and productivity due to the varied personalities and their individual needs and wants.

I see this as a huge opportunity to obtain a wonderful cross section of different perspectives and views on life. You need to embrace all generational players of this extremely diverse team, especially in our current situation of rapid change and uncertainty. What better way to target all potential markets and customers!

In the rep world, we often hear that finding, hiring and keeping good salespeople is one of the “biggest challenges facing reps today.” In years past, we used to see many more 2nd and 3rd generation rep companies; this is not so today. My theory on this is twofold: 1) the kids come to mom or dad and say, “Hey, you are always so worried about losing a line, and you are always at some sales meeting, or entertaining customers or principals… Why would I want that?” Or 2) the mom or dad wearily looks the kids in the eye and says, “Go to med school!” We need to help this tradition get back on track. It is possible, and the multi-generational family business does work; there are many successful MANA members who are family businesses.

Moving forward, we have to better understand the upcoming generations and also understand their specific abilities relative to our risk/ reward business. The term “sales” doesn’t always generate great perceptions, but it will continue to be a sound career choice as our society and culture change. We all need to educate industries, associations and academia on manufacturers’ reps.

As part of this effort, MANA is working with the University Sales Education Foundation (USEF, see www.saleseducationfoundation.org), which has helped 37 colleges and universities create formal sales curriculums, so students can earn a degree in sales. The schools are listed on the USEF site. This is a great program that will enhance awareness of sales in academia, while likely improving the perception of what it means to work in sales, especially for future generations.

I invite you to reach across the generational aisle and grab hold of someone one-third your age (or three times your age), set down your laptop and PDA, stop your e-mail and your Twittering and go share a cup of coffee. You might be surprised what you learn — and what you have in common.

Good Selling.