The Drawbacks of Making Your Home Territory a House Account--02/19
The Drawbacks of Making Your Home Territory a House Account
“We have had great success selling through reps,” said the manufacturer, “and we use reps throughout North America. Except of course in the home territory.” He said “of course” as if there was no other choice. Why do some manufacturers think selling without a rep in the home territory is an “of course” decision? Sometimes a small company’s founder feels customers he or she developed in the company’s early years require the founder’s continued personal attention. Other times a manufacturer thinks it’s cheaper to tack responsibility for local customers onto the other duties of a local employee.
What happens when the founder is still the salesperson for customers in the home territory? One of the founder’s two jobs suffers. A founder who devotes enough time to being the salesperson in the home territory spends less time managing the company, so crucial decisions are stalled while the founder is distracted by sales calls. A founder who devotes enough time to managing his or her company can’t give customers and prospects the attention needed to grow sales in the home territory.
What happens when sales calls on local customers are tacked onto the duties of a manufacturer’s local employee? The local employees’ primary duties always come first and local sales calls get pushed back “until I have time for them.” The local employee calling on customers knows that every customer visit means work piling up at his or her “real” job at the company, so sales calls become halfhearted “I need to check the box that I was here and get back to the office” events.
It’s a no brainer. Why would a company squander its home court advantage by assigning local sales responsibility to someone who can only make sales calls when they can squeeze them into their schedule around the duties of their “real” job. That’s why many manufacturers use reps in their home territory. They need a sales force that has one job — to call on customers and prospects all day every day. Of course.
A look at our membership shows significant diversity. Our largest member employs 53 outside sales employees, the average is five employees and 20 percent are one-person operations. Forty-one members started their manufacturers’ representative businesses within the past two years. Our average member started their rep firms 33 years ago and our oldest member started in 1918. MANA manufacturers’ rep members sell into diverse markets as well, from OEM accounts, reseller (wholesalers, distributors, retailers) accounts, government accounts and end-user accounts. We really do have a diverse membership.
Diversity exists in one other important area as well, and that is how professionally … Read the rest
The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” might accurately describe the perception many people have of the water and waste water treatment industry. For Carl Janson, however, it’s exactly the opposite. For the president of Riordan Materials Corporation, water and wastewater treatment are a constant in his life and in the life of his independent rep agency. The Blue Bell, Pennsylvania-headquartered Riordan Materials Corporation puts forth the following goal in its mission statement: “Our mission is to provide quality, cost-effective solutions for our clients, while providing the best technical support services available before, during, and after installation. We are … Read the rest