12 Steps to Rep Professionalism

Professional manufacturers’ representatives create business plans that take them from where they are today to where they want to be. Changes made according to a plan succeed at a much higher rate than just “winging it.”

Use the resources below to create a plan that raises your success and profitability.

Market your manufacturers’ rep firm to principals.

When high-quality principals that “get it” search for manufacturers’ representatives, they interview multiple prospects. Professional manufacturers’ representatives know how to market themselves so they are the ones signed up by these great companies. Use the resources below to learn how.

CONDUCTING THE INTERVIEW PROCESS

Professional manufacturers’ representatives conduct thorough and diligent interviews to ensure the prospective principals possess the potential for long and mutually profitable relationships.

Professional manufacturers’ representatives prepare for the interviews by knowing what questions high-quality principals ask them. Read Our 53 Best Interview Questions When Hiring Manufacturers’ Representatives.

When a prospective principal asks you to represent them in a new market where there is no existing business, the rules change. You need to consider the extra time and effort it takes to develop that business. And more time and effort means more cost. Taking on a new pioneering line without extra compensation creates financial risk to your business.

The resources below help you learn how to successfully negotiate the extra compensation for your missionary efforts.

When manufacturers’ representatives and manufacturers agree to work with each other, they need to sign a written agreement. Here’s information on the creation of a manufacturers’ representative/principal agreement.

Included in the agreement is the commission rate the manufacturer pays when the manufacturers’ representative gets them orders.

Also included in written agreements are special clauses.

Other Legal Issues

When manufacturers’ representatives and manufacturers work with each other as trusted “Partners in Profits”, the relationships are mutually beneficial and last a long time.

Ever hear the expression “Natural Born Salesperson?” Don’t believe it. Those who go through current sales training outsell those who never went and those who went a long time ago.

SALES COURSES/COACHES

The manufacturers’ representative educational research foundation (MRERF) offers a three-day program aimed specifically for manufacturers’ representatives.

MRERF CSP (Certified Sales Professional)

If those dates or locations don’t work for you, here’s a site that provides information on the top 20 sales courses. Find one here that works for you.

Top 20 Companies With Sales Training Courses

Please note: MANA does not guarantee or warrant the services provided by these coaching services or their qualifications. You are responsible for performing your own due diligence before selecting any of them. MANA reserves the right to add or remove a coaching service from the list as it deems appropriate in its sole discretion.

Principal relationships change over time. Sometimes, the changes are so gradual, you fail to notice them. Are all the companies you represent still as profitable as they were a while back? Invest time on an annual basis to perform a profitability analysis on your current lines. The analysis may bring out the fact that one (or more) lines you represent are not bringing a return on the time you invest in them. If so, time to make changes.

Technology plays an important role in the operation of today’s businesses. Do you have an up-to-date website that effectively markets your manufacturers’ representative business? To principals as well as customers? What about CRMs, to track customers, quotations, orders, and commissions?

The average MANA member employs 6 employees and a number go 50 or more. When you hire salespeople (or sub reps), you leverage their time and effort to increase the profitability of your manufacturers’ representative business. Here is information on how to do this.

Use the resources below to make your case that manufacturers who take house accounts are making a bad business decision and that commission splits need to be fair.

Other issues facing manufacturers’ representatives:

Working with non-U.S. principals differs from working with U.S. ones. If you work with or plan to work with an international principal, here are some resources you may find helpful.

Thinking of selling or buying a manufacturers’ representative business? Here are resources to help go through the process so it works out well for both you and the other party.