Outsourcing Selling

In less than 10 minutes, hear what it means to become a professional manufacturers' representative.

An introduction to MANA's steps to rep professionalism

Insights For Hiring Salespeople for Your Manufacturers’ Representative Firm

Entrepreneurial Harvard Business School students often use outsourcing as a tool when they launch new ventures. To explain how the selling function can be outsourced, Harvard Business School invited Manufacturers' Agents National Association (MANA) CEO and President Charles Cohon to speak to its MBA students on how to find, recruit, contract with, and work successfully with independent manufacturers' representatives. Special thanks to: Jodi Gernon, Director, Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School, for putting her team on the task of making this event a success, Catherine Cronin, Staff Assistant, Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School, for her tenacious attention to detail throughout the process, Bob Reiss, Harvard MBA and retired super-rep, for relentlessly encouraging his alma mater to introduce its students to the concept of manufacturers' representatives and for sharing his expertise during the Q&A section of this presentation, and; Dr. Ben Shapiro, Harvar

Peter Zafiro, General Manager, LinMot USA, Inc. is an experienced hand working with manufacturers’ representatives and in this episode of Outsourcing Selling he shares how he views working with reps. “I’ve gone to market with a variety of business models over the years. I’ve worked with factory direct-only salespeople, hybrids of direct and independent reps and with independent reps only,” says Zafiro. “What I’ve found is that I get the most bang for my buck with reps. Here’s why: I’ve found that reps are simply the most professional salespeople in their territories. They’re absolutely dedicated to the sales function in their territory.” Reps offer faster time-to-market, he adds: “Whenever I’ve had to hire a direct person for a territory, it takes a while to get them up to speed, sometimes several years. Then when you’ve done that you can have a problem with maintaining consistency in your sales force. You’ll have the normal turnover every year not to mention the occasions when someone’s wife decides it’s tim

Years ago, your principal signed a rep agreement with you that protected your commission earnings, so you invested time and hard work to grow that line. Now your principal wants you to sign a new rep agreement. What should you do? In this podcast attorney Randy Gillary shares his recommendations on how to evaluate a principal’s proposal to re-write your rep agreement. Principals don’t re-write rep agreements because they feel the rep’s interests were not sufficiently protected, says Gillary, they do it because they want to reduce the commissions they pay or to terminate the rep without paying post-termination commissions the rep had earned under the terms of the original contract. It’s a not-uncommon complaint from reps who call Gillary’s firm for legal representation, and Gillary’s program to address this situation is fascinating listening for any rep. Interestingly, notes Gillary, of all the principals he’s had to pursue on this type of matter, none have ever been a MANA manufacturer member.

In this podcast Charlie Ingram, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Eriez Manufacturing, gives representatives a chance to see themselves as a manufacturer sees them. For representatives’ benefit, Charlie shares his perspectives on sales reports, rep councils, international sales meetings, manufacturers’ recruiting practices to locate and onboard new reps, 50+ year representative relationships, and ways representatives can protect their lines with proactive communication. It’s a rare opportunity to view representatives through the lens of a manufacturer and a must-listen program for representatives who want to keep their current lines happy and add new lines.

Sometimes a new owner makes things better for reps. More often, a new owner eventually challenges legacy reps to prove their value, or even fires all its reps to save on commissions. Whether the outcome is positive or not positive, the news that your largest principal is always jarring, and the first thing that comes to reps’ minds when that news breaks is “What do I do now?” In this podcast, attorney Thomas J. Kammerait of the law firm von Briesen & Roper, s.c. discusses the rights reps retain and the perils reps face when one of their principals undergoes a change of control.

In this podcast the first woman member of MANA’s Board of Directors, Michelle Jobst of Jobst Incorporated, Eden Prairie, MN, discusses her recent Agency Sales magazine editorial The Untapped Talent Pool and her own experiences as a woman working in the manufacturers’ representative industry since 1994. Opportunities for women, and opportunities to capitalize on the untapped skills of talented woman entrepreneurs are growing, says Jobst, and companies that flourish will not want to miss their chance to include woman-owned representative firms in their sales network.

The year was 1947. Harry S Truman was president, the World Series was televised for the first time (the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games), Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier, and on October 17, 1947, the Manufacturers’ Agents National Association joined the community of not-for-profit trade associations.   Fast forward to July 1949, and MANA members discovered the first, 24-page issue of The Agent and Representative magazine (eventually renamed Agency Sales) in their mailboxes.   Digging through the first few issues of The Agent and Representative reveals how much MANA has changed, and also how much it has remained the same.   In those first few issues we find sentences like: “I know it’s customary for men to call themselves and believe themselves to be ‘practical men’ to pooh-pooh anything savoring of academic classification in salesmanship.” No thought of women as salespeople or as customers in those earliest editions. But in today’s MANA, woman-owned firms are common and the firs

Manufacturers’ representatives are thriving in North America, but that’s not the only place where sales force outsourcing has robust support. European manufacturers’ representatives, known there as commercial agents, are flourishing on the other side of the Atlantic. In this podcast we speak with Olivier Mazoyer, president of commercial agent company AJM Forces de Ventes Associées about his company and how commercial agents work in Europe. Olivier also is president of Alliance Professionelle des Agents Commerciaux de France (APAC), the French counterpart of MANA and of Internationally United Commercial Agents and Brokers (IUCAB), an umbrella association of most European countries’ representative associations and MANA.

Business networking groups bring together business owners from a wide range of businesses. A veterinarian, a real estate agent, and a restauranteur could be part of the same networking group, with their only common interest being the desire to bring their business problems to a fresh set of eyes. But what if you could assemble a group who had deep, detailed knowledge of your business and industry instead of choosing your group from random industries? And at about half the cost of joining a business networking group. For manufacturers that sell through manufacturers’ representatives, that industry-specific group is easy to assemble. Just bring together a half dozen of your best representatives to serve on your representative council. In this podcast, MANA CEO and President Charles Cohon discusses the reasons representatives councils are so productive and touches on resources manufacturers can tap to launch their own rep councils.

Manufacturers’ representatives famously coddle their customers, the people and companies that buy products from the manufacturers listed on the representatives’ line cards. The manufacturers listed on the representatives’ line card, often referred to as the representatives’ principals, are the entities that send the representatives monthly commission checks. Too often representatives remember to sell to the companies that buy products from the representatives’ line cards and forget to sell to the companies that send the representatives their monthly commission checks. In this podcast, manufacturers’ representative and past MANA Chair Tom Hayward discusses the reasons why it is important for manufacturers’ representatives to remember that even though the customers are their customers, the principals are their customers too.

Last year Mexico imported approximately $182 million from U.S. companies. One of the ways U.S. companies can pursue their own slice of that $182 million pie is through manufacturers’ representatives in Mexico. In this podcast MexicoRepresentation.com President Ed Juline describes how U.S. manufacturers can engage with Mexican manufacturers’ representatives and clears up some of the misconceptions U.S. manufactures have about best practices in dealing with customers in Mexico.

“Questioning is the prequel to selling,” says Manufacturers’ Agents National Association Board Member Stephen Fowler. “The RIGHT questions should discover the RIGHT answers. Questions uncover facts, beliefs, timing, and circumstances.   Open minded, curious, goal-directed, RIGHT questioners have interest, enthusiasm, respect and need a special sympathetic intelligence. Armed with the right answers they map the trip and sequence the actions to achieve their goals by fulfilling those of their customers.” In this podcast, Fowler, President of Process Equipment Resources & Consulting Services in Bridgewater, NJ, described best practices in eliciting the information you’ll need to best serve your customers’ needs and to recommend your products that will be most effective in addressing your customers’ pain points.

I’ve heard of manufacturers’ representatives going to court and being awarded past due commission on a million-dollar order. I’ve even heard of manufacturers’ representative s going to court and being awarded a million-dollar commission. But this is the first time I’ve heard of a manufacturers’ representative going to court and being awarded a $76,877,889.41 commission judgement. In this podcast manufacturers’ representative Don Hanes and his attorney Anthony Santucci discuss the events that brought them to United State District Court where Hanes was awarded a $76,877,889.41 judgement against his Chinese principal, and the path ahead toward collection that judgement in Chinese courts. Read the judgement at https://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20FDCO%2020160606698/Senah,%20Inc.%20v.%20XI'AN%20Forstar%20S&T%20Co.,%20Ltd.

Why I Love to Find My Competitors’ House Accounts is one of the most popular articles ever to appear in Agency Sales magazine. In this podcast the article’s author, Doyle Evans, president emeritus, Pinnacle Marketing, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina, discusses how accounts his competitors try to service without a manufacturers’ representative are low-hanging fruit for him to convert to his principals’ products. In the article, Doyle notes, “I’m referring to the principal that assigned a manufacturers’ representative to a territory, but holds back one or more customers as so-called ‘house accounts,’ or customers that will be managed directly by the principal. “The reasons for doing this vary, but usually fall into four categories: “We have 100 percent of the customer’s business, and the rep would add no value. “The business is low margin and we cannot afford to pay commission. “The customer purchases our legacy products, and we are the only game in town. “The customer requested factory-direct coverage, probably

Sales force outsourcing is booming in Europe, says Christian Rebernig, Secretary General of the Internationally United Commercial Agents and Brokers (www.iucab.com). Known commonly in Europe as commercial agents rather than manufacturers’ representative or manufacturers’ agents, companies that provide European sales representation to worldwide manufacturers enjoy productive political and economic climates, says Christian. IUCAB is an umbrella organization of European and other worldwide country representative associations, and maintains a list of country associations where manufacturers seeking reps can launch a search. IUCAB also maintains a searchable database of North American MANA member representative firms that international manufacturers can search to outsource their North American sales activities at http://www.commercialagents-northamerica.com/index.html. Christian shares insights that let North American manufacturers’ representatives know that they have more in common with their international commer

Olympic relay runners routinely pass the baton with graceful finesse, never missing a step. Handoffs from Baby Boomers to Millennials tend not to go that smoothly. Those Olympic athletes have a distinct advantage over the Baby Boomers and Millennials. The athletes know in advance who will pass the baton, who will receive it, and exactly where in the race the baton will be passed. Baby Boomers and Millennials must make those decisions while they are running the race. And the person passing the baton often eager to hang onto it longer than the person who to receive it is wants to wait. To help these two generations better understand each other, Millennial manufacturers’ representative and MANA Board member John Davis and Baby Boomer and MANA CEO Charles Cohon discuss how generational differences affect the ways we work together and manage representative firm succession plans.