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.