It’s not completely unusual that a manufacturer that is new to working with reps will contact Agency Sales in an effort to get advice on how to smooth the water in the new relationship.

When that happens, one suggestion that is made is to consider the experience of one manufacturer who developed a formalized plan for working with his reps. Here’s how he explained it: “After getting as much information as I could from MANA, I then approached the first rep that we had begun working with to act as a sort of consultant for us. This could have been … Read the rest

In the course of listing a menu of the reasons his company has gone to market with reps, one manufacturer let Agency Sales magazine know what really gets him enthused about working with his nationwide network of reps. “We never have to spend any time worrying about them getting out of bed in the morning and having them make sales calls. They do that all by themselves.”

He continued, “While we are totally committed to reps nationwide, we do have one small territory where we have a three-person direct-sales office that handles a few accounts. Even though they’re located near … Read the rest

A rep contacted Agency Sales recently to relate how two manufacturers recently terminated him and several of his peers throughout the country.

According to the rep, “With the first manufacturer, a change in their sales management pointed them in the direction of going direct rather than staying with their rep network; we had heard of their decision early on via the industry grapevine. When we asked them about it during the year, they confirmed what we had heard. Instead of bailing immediately, we opted to stay with them without seeking an immediate replacement on our line card. We did that … Read the rest

Over the course of several virtual networking presentations conducted by MANA during the last year, one subject continued to raise its head — rep councils.

Combining several conversations that transpired among manufacturers that tuned in to the presentations, one that remains pertinent was an exchange between two manufacturers, one of whom was looking for tips on how to restart his council after a lapse of several years. The advice from the other manufacturer was: “The best place to start is to look to your beginnings. Don’t build on what you did previously. Take a look at what your problems were, … Read the rest

Earlier this year, MANA addressed the subject of conducting more effective sales meetings for its manufacturer members.

At the outset of a MANAchat moderated by MANA President and CEO Charley Cohon, it was emphasized how an effective sales meeting can go a long way in creating an environment where a rep will truly want to work with a manufacturer and devote more time to a line than might be justified by the commission paid.

“What it comes down to,” according to one chat participant, “is that you’re competing for your rep’s mind share, and effective sales meetings can help you … Read the rest

Getting and keeping a fair share — if not more — of the rep’s time in the field remains a challenge for manufacturers. At least that was the consensus of half a dozen manufacturers who were queried in telephone and email interviews. To follow are some of the typical responses to the question: “What’s your major concern with working with reps?”

• “If we’re going to represent 25 percent of the rep’s income, then I want a quarter of his time in the field.”
• “We want to know that we’re high on the rep’s line card and that he spends the

It’s hardly uncommon for sales and marketing executives to move to new companies every couple of years. Some do it because the road to the top in their company is blocked. Others do it because they are unhappy with their present jobs. And some do it simply because they become bored very easily once they accomplish what they set out to do.

Whatever the reason, when marketing people who manage a team of agents leave, they often cause chaos in the field without knowing it. Being an agent is living life on the edge of uncertainty. Commission checks are often … Read the rest

When a long-awaited addition became available to its product line, a manufacturer admitted that he rushed it to market.

In a positive move, he did take the time to support the effort with plenty of literature, inside sales support and online information and advertising. One thing he failed to consider, however, was the critical need to train his outsourced sales force. Taking the responsibility on his own shoulders, he explained that misstep this way: “We quickly responded to a need exhibited by the market for this product. Our thinking and planning was that we should get it into the hands … Read the rest

Manufacturers’ independent rep councils go a long way to eliminate the “us vs. them syndrome.” That was one of the primary messages delivered by Charlie Ingram, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Eriez Magnetics, Erie, Pennsylvania, during a MANAcast.

“In a nutshell,” according to Ingram, “the rep council serves as an advisory board and operates as a way to provide information back and forth between manufacturers and their reps. A rep council’s purpose is not to hear reps’ complaints; rather, their ultimate purpose is to determine what improvements are needed when it comes to serving manufacturers’ and the … Read the rest

When a manufacturer was asked to describe his tried-and-true process for locating the ideal rep for a given territory, he introduced an analogy of locating the right piece to finish off a section of a jigsaw puzzle.

According to the manufacturer, “We’ve tried just about every method for locating reps that exists. That includes all of the directories that the various rep associations provide that serve our industry. However, I’ll have to admit that probably nothing beats a personal recommendation. As an example, about a month ago, one of our largest customers — and this is one of our top … Read the rest

In the course of a virtual gathering of several manufacturers and reps one manufacturer raised a subject that was important to him, but it was a subject that he admitted that he had come to terms with and understood the rep’s position.

“When I take the time to make joint calls with my reps in the field, I do so with the understanding well ahead of time that while we’re visiting the customer another subject or another manufacturer’s product line is going to crop up. When that occurs, the rep is going to have to take care of business that … Read the rest

Elsewhere in this issue of Agency Sales magazine, a manufacturer describes why and how he continues to work with reps as he has for the entire 24-year history of his company.

According to the manufacturer, “My wife and I own and run the company. While we do have some direct sales personnel, we’ve learned over the years of the many benefits that come with working with independent reps. One of those major benefits is that since we already have some business in the territories that we want to sell into, the fact is reps don’t really cost us anything. If … Read the rest

Manufacturers search out and join MANA for a variety of reasons. One manufacturer recently recounted his rationale which was aimed at solving a couple of problems that had cropped up over the years.

According to the manufacturer, “Just as everyone else does, we look at our numbers and we reached a point where we knew we had to do something about our poor performance and shrinking market share. Even if the economy remained constant, we see our share of business getting smaller and smaller. It doesn’t take a genius to come to the conclusion that the way we’ve been conducting … Read the rest

Prior to the COVID-19 lockdown, a group of manufacturers and reps got together to discuss, among other topics, line profitability analysis.

One rep was more than ready to examine the subject as he arrived at the meeting with a list of the criteria he regularly used when he annually evaluated his manufacturers. Among a fairly lengthy list of his considerations were the following:

• What has the manufacturer done to keep the agency aware of competitive factors in the territory?
• Has the principal provided his agencies with complete, comprehensive and practical product literature — in either printed or web-based form?
• Has

A manufacturer that was about nine months into his initial experience with an outsourced sales force raised the question about how he should handle split commission situations.

One of his MANA-member reps was quick to provide him with a discussion on the subject that appeared in the pages of Agency Sales several years ago. Two of the highlights from that discussion follow:

• “Commission splits are fairly common in engineered products. There are many different ways to fairly compensate all parties involved. The main thing to remember is that the compensation needs to be based on how much influence each agency

While in the midst of trying to maximize the efficiency and contributions of its rep council, a manufacturer accessed several of the articles on that subject that have appeared in the pages of Agency Sales magazine.

After reviewing them the manufacturer contacted us with the following observation: “With a certain amount of regularity one or more of our rep council members seem to force discussions in a negative direction. They seem to have their own agenda and are bound and determined to complete it no matter what.”

We’ve heard this complaint previously and in response there’s really nothing wrong with … Read the rest

It’s more than gratifying when a manufacturer communicates with MANA and Agency Sales concerning the reasons why they have gravitated to the use of manufacturers’ reps.

That happened recently when the manufacturer of a line of industrial paints and coatings wrote, explaining: “We are exploring the use of reps as a way of filling voids in our marketing coverage. While we are not fully ready to appoint agents at this time we wanted to find out what was available. That was our reason for joining MANA. So far, we have learned that there are plenty of firms and individuals interested … Read the rest

Over the course of a year of communicating with and meeting in person with manufacturers, there are some questions that are asked over and over.

Among the most commonly posed are:

• Having chosen an agency to go to market with, how do I know I’ve made the correct choice?
• Having chosen that agency, how can the manufacturer be sure they are going to get their fair share of the rep’s effort and time in the field?

Thankfully, Agency Sales magazine has any number of manufacturers we can call upon to address those concerns. Taking those questions in order, one long-standing … Read the rest

When a panel of three manufacturers was asked by another manufacturer who was brand new to working with reps what kind of support he should expect in order to make the partnership work, the trio on the panel answered unanimously “teamwork.”

One of the manufacturers offered, “You don’t need just one person or one ‘rep champion’ in your organization. What you truly need is to introduce the philosophy of team support — and that’s much more than just support in the sales function. Your manufacturing support team should include individuals from accounting, manufacturing, shipping, advertising, public relations, and operations. If … Read the rest

Many manufacturers will freely admit that there’s an easily followed temptation to populate their rep councils with their top-performing reps. One manufacturer, however, is contemplating a different approach.

According to the manufacturer, “We’ve made excellent use of our rep council for more than 20 years. The participation and input we receive from our reps is outstanding. Our past rep councils have been composed mostly of a spectrum of the reps that we work with, but by and large the participants that give us the best input are usually our top performers. We’ve actually given some thought, however, to putting together … Read the rest

As a manufacturer sales manager was approaching his retirement late last year, he let us know how the years he spent working with reps allowed him to appreciate some of the benefits of working with an outsourced sales force.

According to the manufacturer, “When I started close to 40 years ago, there was always the perception among many in my company that reps in general didn’t work all that hard for their commissions. And what did they get in return for not working too hard? Nice, fat commission checks. As I look back over the years, however, I’ve come to … Read the rest

Manufacturers and reps alike tout the value of in-the-field joint visits.

In general, benefits cited include:

• Manufacturers get to see how their reps operate in the field.
• Manufacturers have an opportunity to meet face-to-face with their customer decision makers.
• Manufacturers are able to establish closer bonds with their reps.

Those benefits aside, a couple of posts on MANA’s LinkedIn discussion page show how some reps view their principals’ visits to the field.

Opening a conversation on this very subject, one rep maintained that “I only let them (manufacturers) come when we have something important pending with a customer. Other than … Read the rest

A folksy bit of wisdom was forthcoming from a meeting of four manufacturers as they were considering relations with their reps. When the subject arose of mistakes that reps make in their dealing with principals, one of the manufacturers offered the following insight: “No matter how you cook a pancake, it always has two sides.”

That’s when he went on to offer a partial list of what he considered missteps principals can be accused of making in their relations with reps. On that list were the following:

• A failure to clearly identify mutual expectations before selecting independent reps.
• Failure to

With regularity MANA’s LinkedIn discussion page offers thoughts on any number of subjects important to manufacturers and their reps. A good example was posted earlier this year when Lisa Wilson, L.S. Wilson & Associates, Inc., Bristol, Wisconsin, shared her thoughts on what makes a good vs. a poor principal.

How would you define a really good principal vs. a poor principal?

Over the past 21 years, I learned the following about a good principal:

• Will pay commissions even when you retire.
• Will pay you for the life of the part or program.
• Will turn over whatever existing business there is

“The view is quite a bit different from the other side of the desk.”

That’s how one new rep who had just recently retired from a manufacturing company described her initiation to the world of reps. “After my company was sold to another much larger firm, I decided it was time for me to make a change. During the course of 23 years with the manufacturer, I had climbed the ladder from outside sales to a regional manager’s slot. When my company was sold, the whole culture of the place changed, and it just wasn’t where I wanted to be … Read the rest

As the time for his annual rep training program neared, a manufacturer let Agency Sales magazine know how much value he placed on the input he received from his outsourced sales force when it came to training.

The manufacturer enthusiastically reported, “One of the most valuable things I learned from my reps was their willingness to share opinions when it came to the types of training they needed. I’ll never forget one rep telling me that he made it a habit to rate his principals on how much importance they placed on training their reps. Here was a rep with … Read the rest

The question of how many agencies a manufacturer should have working for him in the field was raised during a roundtable discussion among manufacturers earlier this year. One manufacturer noted, “The real question shouldn’t be how many agencies you need, but how should the territories you want covered be created?

“It’s not unusual that agent territories that companies wind up with bear little resemblance to the territories the manufacturer had when they were working with a direct sales force. The typical rep has several people out in the field and they usually cover a much larger territory than the single … Read the rest

A manufacturer that has long depended upon the input it receives from the members of its rep council recently reported what it viewed was some critical advice on the subject of what attributes a manufacturer regional manager should possess. Here’s how the manufacturer stated the results of its most recent council meeting.

“We were at the point of selecting a new regional manager for our rep sales force. Since we have enjoyed such success with our rep council when it came to other matters of importance, we decided to put the question to them as to what they were looking … Read the rest

A manufacturer that joined MANA during the last year was looking for a way to support its newly created rep network’s efforts in the field.

Publicity came to the rescue. In researching how best to communicate its message to prospective customers, the manufacturer located a national trade publication devoted to its industry that was more than willing to publish an article on how this company was introducing its niche product to a new market — via independent manufacturers’ representatives. The only restriction was that this had to be a how-to article, not a commercial. The manufacturer jumped at the chance … Read the rest

When a manufacturer that was considering switching from a direct to an outsourced sales team voiced misgivings about making the move for two major reasons, another manufacturer seated at the roundtable discussion was quick to jump in.

According to the first manufacturer, “I have some serious reservations about whether any rep firm is technically savvy enough to sell my products. On top of that, I’m used to exerting complete control over my direct salespeople. If I make the switch, I’m not going to have that same level of control and I believe that’s going to adversely affect our sales efforts.”… Read the rest