by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA As a manufacturer who partners with manufacturers’ representatives, we hope you create relationships with your manufacturers’ representatives that work well for both of you and last a long time. Your manufacturers’ representatives create high‑trust relationships with customers who then purchase what you supply because of that trust, […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA Yes, sometimes reps write a six figure or seven figure deal and get to keep all the money. And it happens more often than you’d think. How does this happen? It happens when the rep sells their rep firm to a new owner and retires. What kind of […]
by Michelle Jobst, CPMR, Jobst Incorporated The tasks business owners shouldn’t do and how AI and virtual assistants can help independent manufacturers’ reps. In the ever-evolving landscape of entrepreneurship, independent manufacturers’ representatives play a crucial role in driving business growth and success for their factories. These owners have a unique set of challenges and opportunities, […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA You say you are a great rep. Who else says so? You say you are a great manufacturer to represent. Who else says so? Who else says so? Now, other MANA members can say so, and MANA will showcase these endorsements where manufacturers looking for reps and reps […]
by Marnee Palladino, MARN, Inc.; edited by Stephanie Bray While we may not be 100 percent back to the pre-Covid normal, things have opened up and face-to-face events are happening again, just as MANA Board Chair Tommy Garnett’s May 2023 editorial shares with us (and encourages us to participate in). As a longtime colleague of […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA “I’ve become great friends with one of my reps,” said the manufacturer. “But he still is reluctant to give me blunt constructive criticism about our company. My rep says: ‘The nail that sticks up gets hammered down,’ which is why I started our rep council.” A rep council […]
by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA It’s not uncommon for me to get phone calls from MANA manufacturers’ representative members who start the conversation by telling me a long-term principal they’ve worked with just notified them they were terminating the relationship. When they tell me that, I then ask, “So, how long has […]
Network with MANA’s Board of Directors, MANA CEO & President Charles Cohon, and MANA VP & GM Jerry Leth. Daniel E. Beederman, MANA’s legal counsel and a partner in Chicago-based law firm Schoenberg Finkel Beederman Bell Glazer, LLC, is our featured speaker. Beederman will present: Rep Succession Planning — Why It Is so Important for […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA What would the world of manufacturers’ reps look like if MANA did not exist? Without MANA: What Do You Mean, Market Development Fee? MANA championed Market Development Fees (MDF) so that manufacturers without existing sales in a territory can get the attention of high-powered rep firms whose customers […]
by Sid Ragona, Ph.D., Ragona Scientific, LLC This is a two-part editorial solely focused on the subject of representing principals from overseas. In Part 1 of this editorial, we covered some of the soft skills associated with working with overseas companies such as holiday schedules, language and U.S. geography. In this month’s editorial, we cover […]
by Sid Ragona, Ph.D., Ragona Scientific, LLC Representing overseas principals can be a very enriching and rewarding experience. It involves all of the skills associated with representing a domestic principal plus some additional skills that one needs to be sensitive to before signing up with an overseas principal. I have close to two decades of experience […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA Let me tell you a story. I struck up a conversation with a rep at an industry event. The rep glanced to the left and right. Then the rep lowered their voice and said: “Can I tell you a secret?” “Most of my principals pay about the same […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA Reps will tell you two of the same things that Lewis and Clark would have told you. Sometimes the only way to discover what’s out there is to go and look. When we go out and look, some of the value we generate won’t benefit us immediately. But often, we […]
by Lisa Wilson, L.S. Wilson & Associates, Inc. Recently I was reading the article in Agency Sales magazine entitled, “The Talk Part 2,” by Russ Sorrells. After reading the article, not only did I strongly agree with what I read, but I wanted to share personal experiences of how exercise, good nutrition, and mental health play such […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA A quote from Sir Winston Churchill reminded me how much of our futures were determined by the first manufacturer we worked with when we launched our rep firms. We rarely consider how our futures were decided when we signed up with a line that seemingly came our way […]
by Tommy Garnett, CPMR, CSP, Garnett Component Sales, Inc. If there is any common challenge that reps cite as they continue to enter the post-Covid sales and marketing environment, it’s that it has become ever more difficult to reach prospects and customers. Long-tenured reps recall the days of being able to reach prospects via their […]
by Charles Cohon, President and CEO, MANA “I just got a call from a prospective principal who has an exciting product but no existing sales in my territory,” said the MANA rep member who wrote to me for assistance. “The manufacturer said, ‘You’re calling on those customers anyway. It doesn’t cost you anything to mention […]
by Michelle Jobst, CPMR, Jobst Incorporated Last year’s Agency Sales articles about MANA’s 75th anniversary allowed me to mull over how MANA, the rep industry, and I have been reinvented over and over during my 29 years as a manufacturers’ rep. I am excited to share my perspective with you on these changes. When I became a […]
When MANA staff helps a rep resolve an issue, we often hear them say, “If there is ever anything I can do to help MANA, please let me know.” How can you help? Simply add a link to MANA on your website. The more websites that link to MANAonline.org, the higher we appear in search results. As […]
by Keynae Agnew, CPMR, Agnew Pacific Enterprises, LLC “No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it.” — Halford E. Luccock MANA’s “Partners in Profits” philosophy has contributed to so many successful rep-manufacturer relationships that when I saw research giant Gallup Inc.’s recent “Eight Elements of a Powerful Partnership” article, […]