MANA Survey on Outsourced Sales Force Management

MANA recently completed a new survey of associate members on the subject of outsourced sales force management. As usually happens with any such effort, the results were a mixture of good and bad news for all concerned. It should be noted that while the survey was not statistically accurate, close to 200 of the 1,500 associate members responded. This represents an excellent return of more than 13% for this type of survey.

Survey Overview

Before explaining the “good news-bad news” scenario, let’s offer some general information gleaned from the survey. To put things into perspective, it’s useful to understand that:

• Fifty percent of the companies responding reported that they had fewer than 25 employees, while 20% reported an employee population of 101–250.
• Nearly two-thirds of the respondents said they have been in business more than a quarter of a century, while 10% answered they had been in business for five years or less.
• Thirty-five percent had annual sales of under $5,000,000, and 14% had sales of more than $50,000,000.
• Surprisingly, almost three-quarters of respondents said they generated some business from exporting and more than one-half bring in some products from offshore to augment their domestic production.
• Roughly half of the respondents had used reps 10 years or more, and a similar number indicated that they were happy with the level and quality of communications from their reps to the home office.

Based on the survey, it’s safe to say that many of the manufacturers have quite a bit to learn about effective rep sales force management, however. Many have not or will not take the time to at least attend a one-day MANA program that will help improve their sales results. It is also clear from the responses concerning house accounts, rep councils and co-insurance that MANA still has plenty of work to do in selling its “Partners in Profits” (PIP) philosophy.

Good News

• Eighty-four percent of the survey respondents reported that they worked with written contracts with their reps and more than half (53%) of them said their contracts followed the MANA guidelines.
• Almost 70% of the manufacturers said they had a complete marketing support plan in place for their outside sales program and almost 90% stated that they consistently invest in new product development, which is the lifeblood of any successful company today.
• Fifty-two percent of the respondents indicated that they were sharing the cost of developing a missionary territory with their reps.
• Sixty-eight percent of all respondents said they give their reps one or two months’ notice when scheduling territory visits.
• More than 90% of respondents said that top management of the company is fully committed to the rep method of going to market.

Bad News

• Only 38% of respondents thought enough of the value that MANA provides to have been members of the association for three years or more.
• Surprisingly, only 28% said they had ever attended a MANA seminar.
• While one-quarter of the companies paid commissions upon invoice, a full two-thirds of all respondents only released commissions after payment by the customer.
• Nearly one-third of all manufacturers admitted that they did not have a complete marketing support program to complement their field sales effort.
• Only a surprising 34% of the respondents answered affirmatively to co-insuring their reps against product liability lawsuits.
• Only 13% of respondents said they used a rep council, and a whopping 80% of the companies admitted to having house accounts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, manufacturers should note that MANA offers excellent resources at its headquarters that will help manufacturers to develop PIP and improved sales results. Now, here’s a little more detail on the “good news-bad news” we found.