Don’t have house accounts unless there are genuine and compelling reasons for them. Have this understood up front.

Those sound like words to live by and, in fact, many reps and principals have lived by them since they first appeared in Agency Sales close to 30 years ago. That doesn’t mean house accounts have gone away or that reps have successfully discovered some sort of magic formula instructing them how to live happily with them.

What is clear, however, is that the presence of communication, trust and a well-crafted contract between principal and rep would appear to diminish concerns with … Read the rest