Category Archives: Feature

The Sales Force — Working With Reps

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This is the fifth in a number of articles serializing The Sales Force — Working With Reps by Charles Cohon, MANA’s president and CEO. The entire book may be found in the member area of MANA’s website.

When Harold arrived in the conference room carrying a coffee cake, Jim was relieved. The mood as their last meeting ended had seemed a bit tense, but the pastry told Jim that Harold either hadn’t noticed or wasn’t carrying a grudge. Harold set the coffee cake on the conference table, and before he even sat down began slicing it with a plastic knife.… Read the rest

Sellers Sell!

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Years ago working with a chain of retail stores, I interviewed the salespeople. After a lot of talk with a lot of people I found out that they really hated to close a sale because the work they had to do after making the sale was so time‑consuming and difficult.

Why? One of the owners was very obsessive about details. He had provided a job description and list of tasks to the salespeople that meant that every sale was followed by hours of paperwork and follow-up.

The result was that salespeople who were not compensated based on their actual sales … Read the rest

A Reason Why Many Salespeople Fail and How to Avoid It

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In an article by friend and colleague John Brubaker (CoachBru.com), he stated, “According to a U.S. Department of Commerce research study, in the first five years of a business the survival rate for independent small businesses is less than 20 percent but the survival rate for franchises is 95 percent.”

He continues: “…it isn’t so much the name recognition… it’s the fact that with a franchise you get to utilize a turn-key set of business operations [a successful system that works] as opposed to having to invent the wheel in your own business.

“…Starbucks [has] an excellent system, which is … Read the rest

Success Is Staring You Right in the Face

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Even the most successful companies are in constant competition for business. What sets them apart often boils down to one factor…outstanding customer service.

I have spent 44 years focusing on customer service. I have written hundreds of articles, as well as seven books on the topic. I have also been interviewed on television and radio plus presented to thousands of customers with seminars worldwide. No matter what business you’re in, here’s some advice I highly recommend you consider.

Most firms in the world believe they provide awesome service. They are addicted to advertising and marketing using expensive media. The biggest … Read the rest

Rep Firm Built on Personal Service

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Joe Figueroa points to a singular event that sent him on his way to opening his own rep agency close to 20 years ago.

As the president of Latin America Sales Company, Inc., (LASCO) Middleton, Massachusetts, recalls it, “In 1997 a light went on when I was sitting in a sales meeting for the manufacturer I worked for. As they explained how they were going to answer customer calls, I knew I could do the job much better than they could.

“Here’s how they explained their plan: When customers called, a new voice mail system would ensure that we didn’t … Read the rest

Rep Councils Eliminate Us vs. Them Environment

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Simple is always better and simple is just the way Charlie Ingram describes how and what a rep council is.

Ingram, vice president, sales and marketing for Eriez Magnetics, Erie, Pennsylvania, maintains that a rep council “is put together for manufacturers and reps to exchange ideas on how they can work better together to serve their mutual customers. In a nutshell, it’s all about discussing mutual challenges and deciding how best to improve your business practices.”

That was just part of the message delivered by MANA Board member Ingram and MANA-member Kurt Jacoby, Dempsco, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, as they participated … Read the rest

How to Avoid Losing Customers to Competitors

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Many times you hear a salesperson say: “We service the heck out of our customers. They’ll never leave us.” But then a competitor walks away with an account. No one saw it coming or what went wrong.

You work hard getting new accounts, take servicing them seriously, and yet they still leave. Why? Think about it this way: you buy a new car — it’s just what you wanted. But after a year or so, you start thinking about the new models. That’s when little things about your current car start bugging you — it doesn’t have this-or-that, there’s a … Read the rest

Sales Managers’ Common Mistake #3: Lack of Training and Development

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In most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company’s sales goals and the realization of those goals. The gritty day-to-day interactions between the salespeople and their customers are frequently filtered through the perspective of a sales manager on their way up the ladder. The aspirations and strategies of the company’s management must be imprinted by the realism of the sales manager as they come down from above. Sales managers are the conductors who carefully orchestrate the tentative entanglement of the salespeople with their management.

It’s an incredibly important and difficult job. Unfortunately, it is often the most … Read the rest

The Sales Force — Working With Reps

By

This is the fourth in a number of articles serializing The Sales Force — Working With Reps by Charles Cohon, MANA’s president and CEO. The entire book may be found in the member area of MANA’s website.

Jim had never before made a major presentation directly to Bigglie’s president, so when the time came for his private meeting with David Buchanan and Harold Katz, Bigglie’s most senior VP, he was both excited and nervous. Katz’s formal title was VP of operations and manufacturing, but he’d been pinch-hitting some of the sales manager’s administrative responsibilities during the search for Edgeworth’s replacement. … Read the rest

The Top Factors That Cause Delayed Closings and What to Do About Them

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Over the past three months, my wife and I have been up and down the east coast driving our son to and from baseball tournaments and college showcases. Invariably, each drive back home has taken twice the time it should have because of road construction. On Sunday, Waze, my favorite navigation app, said that the drive would take just two hours and 32 minutes. Four traffic delays because of road construction delayed us for another two and a half hours.

Delays, delays, delays. Nearly every coaching call with a salesperson is about a delayed closing. Nearly every coaching call with … Read the rest

MANA Recognizes Members’ Milestone Anniversary Dates

Thank youMANA wants to recognize members who have been with us for many years, those who celebrated their 70, 65, 60, 55, 50, 45, 40, 35, 30 and 25 year membership anniversary the previous year.

MANA thanks and congratulates the members listed here for their long‑term support and commitment.

Representative Members
70 years

Tim Gahan
Henry M. Wood Co.
West Chester, OH

Charles W. McDonald
Phister Equipment Co., Inc.
Cincinnati, OH

65 years

Timothy E. Marshall
Marshall & Assocs., Inc.
Pittsburgh, PA

60 years

Arthur B. Connolly
J. H. Green Sales, Inc.
Royal Oak, MI

Gregory W. Matthews
Keller Industrial Products, … Read the rest

Adopting 3Rs When Vetting Prospective Lines

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In the simplest terms Doris Harkness’ process for vetting a prospective or new line may be defined by three words — let’s call them the 3Rs: Responsive, Resourceful and Respected. If a manufacturer can show it possesses those three attributes, chances are they can find a home with Harkness’ agency.

Harkness, who heads the Pace Company, Richmond, Virginia, maintains that any manufacturer that desires to be represented by her agency had “better be clear about the type of company they are. We are the most resourceful, respected and responsive bulk handling rep in Virginia. Any manufacturer that we partner with … Read the rest

Making the Most of MANA Membership

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It happens more times than not that in the course of an interview with a MANA member, the member will offer a compliment about the association’s services.

For instance:

  • Elsewhere in this issue of Agency Sales, one rep notes, “What’s been very helpful to us is that in its wealth of information about how reps can become more professional, the association offers valuable information on how to effectively evaluate the performance of principals via line productivity analysis.”
  • It’s commonplace for reps to note that they’ve been very successful in locating new lines or having prospective principals find them via
… Read the rest

Solving Your Leadership Gap

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Tips for Developing New Leaders

“For the third year in a row, leadership soared to become one of the most pressing talent challenges faced by global organizations. Nearly 9 out of 10 global HR and business leaders (86 percent) cited leadership as a top issue. Fully 50 percent of respondents in our survey rated their leadership shortfalls as ‘very important.’” — Global Human Capital Trends 2015, Deloitte University Press

One of the most alarming current global business trends points to one of the most tantalizing business opportunities.

As Baby Boomers retire, the ranks of managers and supervisors are being depleted. … Read the rest

Making Your Sales Proposal a Winner

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What to do before, during and after presenting.

To put the importance of proposals in proper perspective, they are far more than a vehicle for conveying your message. They are your message. Sadly, proposals that could be winners are often rejected. They may be filled with information, but the message gets lost and they fail to capture the recipient’s imagination.

To make sure your proposals get the attention they deserve, it helps to view them in three phases, before, during and after the presentation. Each one plays a part in moving your proposal closer to winning the business.

Preparing Your … Read the rest

Does Being a Strong Qualifier Correlate to Having a Strong Pipeline?

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My latest data mining project reveals that the answer to this question is a partial correlation.

Check out tables 1 and 2 in this article and you’ll see just what I mean.

All of the data in this article comes from Objective Management Group’s (OMG) evaluations and assessments of nearly 1.8 million salespeople.

The first table shows the percentage of salespeople that have the Qualifier competency as a strength. Look at the difference between elite salespeople where 93 percent have it as a strength versus weak salespeople where only 9 percent have it as a strength. Also notice that the … Read the rest

What Is a Rep Salesperson?

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How do you create Self-Managed Sales Professionals?

I have worked with rep firms for many years. Recently, it has become very apparent that one of the biggest problems the rep managers have is getting real productivity from the rep salespeople. This article and future articles will address this situation and make suggestions for improving individual rep firm results.

Selling for an independent rep firm is different than other sales jobs. Measuring a salesperson working for a rep firm is done by a different standard — commission income generated by the salesperson. That is the only measure that counts.

If salespeople … Read the rest

The Sales Force — Working With Reps

By

This is the third in a number of articles serializing The Sales Force — Working With Reps by Charles Cohon, MANA’s president and CEO. The entire book may be found in the member area of MANA’s website.

Interrupted only by the arrival of box lunches at noon, the council worked straight through until 4 p.m., when Jim arrived to receive the group’s recommendations. Maria had been chosen to present the group’s findings and was standing next to the overhead projector when he walked into the conference room. Jim sat down in the front row, but Maria made no move to … Read the rest

Sales Managers’ Common Mistake #2: Lack of Direction

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In most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company’s sales goals and the realization of those goals. The gritty day-to-day interactions between the salespeople and their customers are frequently filtered through the perspective of a sales manager on their way up the ladder. The aspirations and strategies of the company’s management must be imprinted by the realism of the sales manager as they come down from above. Sales managers are the conductors who carefully orchestrate the tentative entanglement of the salespeople with their management.

It’s an incredibly important and difficult job. Unfortunately, it is often the most … Read the rest

The Religion of Empowerment

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I have such a passion for taking any company and introducing them to the power of delivering awesome customer service. It’s the focus of every one of my books. I have been passionate about it and continue to preach on the subject. It is my guide to delivering exemplary service to every person that walks through your doors resulting in overall corporate success in terms of customer retention, new sales (via word of mouth), market share, financial vitality, and positive reputation in your community.

Have you ever heard of Disney World’s reputation for exceptional customer service? Empowerment is a religion … Read the rest

Reps’ Hunger for Training Remains a Constant

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Earlier this year a MANA member reaffirmed the long-held belief of this association that reps continually seek the training needed to succeed when he said, “As the rep considers the task being assigned, the hope is that you have really good principals in those situations where you don’t necessarily have the skill set to perform the function. Your message to the manufacturer should be that ‘We really believe in this but we need your help in terms of training.’ The training in question could be provided through your principal’s internal personnel. The best situation would be that your principals would

… Read the rest

Making It
“A League of Their Own”

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As detailed in the 1992 film A League of Their Own, when men were shipped overseas to do battle during World War II a number of the jobs that were left vacant because of their absence were filled by women. Hardly exempt from that predicament was the world of baseball. In the 1940s the owners of baseball teams, not wanting the sport to be dormant indefinitely, decided to form teams with women. As a result, scouts were sent across the country to recruit women athletes to populate a four-team league.

A bit of a recollection of that time took place … Read the rest

Perpetual Prospecting Is the Key to Beating the Sales Cycle

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Do you invest in the stock market?

If so, you’re probably aware of the constant waxing and waning that characterizes the life cycle of the stock market. What goes up eventually goes down and what goes down eventually goes up.

If you’re a long-term investor, you tend to wait out the market cycles and instead count on the long-term growth that has always happened in the market over extended periods of time. If you’re a short-term investor, you may be playing the cycle, hoping to buy or sell at precisely the right time.

Either way, the stock market goes up … Read the rest

Getting the Fish on the Line

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How to get prospects to find you.

Twenty years ago, salespeople were expected to get in front of prospects. Today, those doors are sealed shut. Voice mail and e-mail messages are ignored. If all that isn’t enough, few customers are willing to stick their neck out and make referrals.

All of which makes prospecting frustrating and, unfortunately, bordering on useless. No wonder salespeople across the board plead for leads and, hoping to get lucky, keep their fingers crossed.

If you’re looking for an easy, quick way to find prospects, forget it. No matter what anyone may say, it doesn’t exist. … Read the rest

Follow the Tried‑and-True Path to Sales Success

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Avoid Sales Gimmicks

Over the past week I’ve been inundated with e-mails for webinars, classes and courses telling me that sales and business building is easy. They claim that you don’t have to work hard, just listen to the webinar and you’ll get the magic bullet to working a fraction of the hours you’re currently working while closing 90 percent of the people you talk to. Oh, and don’t worry about the fear and discomfort that usually stop you; with their secret formula those will magically disappear. It will be all sunshine and rainbows.

Unfortunately people still fall for schemes … Read the rest

Salespeople: Inspect What You Expect!

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During the summer they dig up streets, repave roads, and repair bridges. That leads to epic traffic jams, long commutes and tremendous amounts of frustration. And you’re late! I’ve been doing my best impression of the digging, without the paving and repairing. Several of my recent articles have been based on Objective Management Group’s (OMG) data from the evaluations of 1.8-million sales professionals, and like the road work, we’re gonna continue to dig!

In this article, we will look to determine whether there is a correlation between sales percentile, sales pipeline, and sales performance.

OMG includes a pipeline analysis as … Read the rest

Sales Managers’ Common Mistakes

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In most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company’s sales goals and the realization of those goals. The gritty day-to-day interactions between the salespeople and their customers are frequently filtered through the perspective of a sales manager on their way up the ladder. The aspirations and strategies of the company’s management must be imprinted by the realism of the sales manager as they come down from above. Sales managers are the conductors who carefully orchestrate the tentative entanglement of the salespeople with their management.

It’s an incredibly important and difficult job. Unfortunately, it is often the most … Read the rest

The Sales Force — Working With Reps

By

This is the second in a number of articles serializing The Sales Force — Working With Reps by Charles Cohon, MANA’s president and CEO. The entire book may be found in the member area of MANA’s website.

Jim had hoped that Buchanan’s enthusiasm for his call-forwarding idea would catapult him into contention for Edgeworth’s old job, but if that was Buchanan’s intent, he was keeping his cards pretty close to his vest. The only hint Jim got that Buchanan was thinking of him as a manager was when Buchanan tapped him to stand in for Edgeworth at a meeting of

… Read the rest

How to Really Annoy Your Customers

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First let me clarify the value of quality service. I believe that great service retains the customers you already have, attracts more customers, and develops a reputation that encourages customers to do business with you in the future.

Are You Guilty of the Following Customer Service Crimes?

  • Telephone torture

Too many firms worship at the altar of IVR: Push two for English, four for Spanish, push six if you want etc. and push eight to go to be ignored. For years I have been saying this is the most expensive piece of technology you will ever buy and you will … Read the rest

Women Open Their Own Doors to Rep Careers

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The independent rep profession has much to offer to any budding entrepreneur willing to take a chance. But to listen to the participants in a MANA teleforum early this summer, it’s an especially attractive and welcoming career for women.

That was one of the key takeaways from a session entitled “Opening Doors for Women Rep Owners.”

The three participants in the teleforum each offered their view of the profession and stressed that the business opportunities, flexibility, and the opportunity for women to exercise their multi-tasking abilities were especially important.

Participants in the teleforum were:

  • Claudia Cort, Cort Marketing Group, LLC,
… Read the rest