MANA, the rep industry, and I lost a good friend on March 23 2020.

I am sorry to have to share the passing of Bill Weiner, 86 years young, Executive Director of The International Home + Housewares Representatives Association (IHRA).

As a fellow association executive, Bill was both a friend and a colleague. Bill lived close enough to me that we could get together several times a year to have coffee and discuss our roles and challenges in our respective rep associations.

Bill’s background included working as an electronics manufacturers’ rep, volunteering as an Electronics Representatives Association Board member, working … Read the rest

When PTRA’s members convene in San Diego, California, in May, they will be experiencing just one of the many invaluable products/services that the 40-year-old rep association offers.

Incorporated in 1972, the Power-Motion Technology Representatives Association (PTRA) has included in its goals from day one:

• Optimizing the value of independent sales representatives.
• Optimizing the value of the rep-principal relationship.
• Safeguarding the integrity of the independent manufacturers’ rep’s profession within the power transmission and motion control industries.
• Enhancing the professionalism of members.
• Operating as a stable association.

A search through MANA’s RepFinder will show that many PTRA members also are members of … Read the rest

A MANA member recently wrote to say that most of the articles on “Consultative Selling” (CS) appearing in Agency Sales magazine were written by those who did not have to make a living selling. He claimed CS is just another phrase for “customer mooching selling.” I know how the writer feels because I, too, sold process equipment where one had to spend months or years consulting with customer engineers prior to the procurement department going out for competitive bid. I was sometimes thrown under the bus by the customer’s purchasing department later and received zip for my efforts when my … Read the rest