MANA Insights and Experiences

by Tim Ryder, President, Ryder Sales Agency, Inc.
Serving on the Board of Directors for MANA was a great experience on multiple levels: Working alongside a professional MANA staff and successful independent representatives. Heading and participating on various committees (such as the Financial Committee, Long‑term Strategic Committee, Associate Member Committee, etc.). Networking and befriending other independent representatives […]

by John Beaver, GSA Optimum
To which I would add, salespeople have got to sell. It’s surprising how much people do the things they’re paid to do during their work day long after their work day ends. Teachers use their skills to teach outside the curriculum they’re paid to teach, engineers invent things in industries […]

by John Roba, The John D Roba Company, Inc.
As a long-time MANA member, I have found that one of the most frequently discussed subjects is call reports. Jerry Leth, MANA’s vice president and general manager, and longtime liaison to the membership, recently told me he gets at least three calls a month regarding the subject. […]

by Danny Collis, President, Collis Group, Inc.
What is a Millennial? I’m not really too keen on labeling people or the generations that they’re a part of. That’s why I have trouble defining a Millennial. It seems as if every conference or learning experience I have today is all about discussing what generation you are from. […]

by John Sandifer, SanCo Sales, Inc.
There are primarily several types of situations where split commissions might pop up in today’s manufacturing world, including rep-to-rep split commissions and manufacturer-to-rep split commissions. No manufacturers’ rep particularly likes the discussion in either situation, but it is a topic that needs to be open for discussion.

by Charles Ingram, VP of Sales & Marketing, Eriez Magnetics
1947 was a good year for my company, Eriez Manufacturing, as well. It was the year our founder, Bob Merwin, and Dean Thomas, a sales representative of what is now Dominion-Carolina Sales, Inc., based in High Point, North Carolina, came to an agreement for Dean to sell […]

by Craig Lindsay, CPMR, CSP, Pacesetter Sales & Associates
It seems to me that many of our manufacturers have either done away with or for some reason have lost interest in having rep councils in the last 15 years. When I started in the rep business there were a number of our principals that had […]

by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA
Back in 1988, I started a manufacturers’ representative business. Back then, we used fax machines to communicate with each other and thought that was high-tech. The world and consequently the manufacturers’ representative business changed significantly since then. The question we want to address is, “How has it […]

by Michelle Jobst, CPMR, Jobst Incorporated
In May of this year I participated in my first meeting as a member of the MANA Board of Directors. As the first female to occupy such a position in the association’s 70-year history, a number of thoughts went through my mind as I met with other Board members […]

by Tom Hayward, CPMR, United Sales Associates
“Exceed your customer’s expectations. If you do, they’ll come back over and over. Give them what they want — and a little more.” — Sam Walton

by John Davis, Paul Davis Automation
I have to admit, when I was sent the prompt for this month’s “Editorial in the Field,” I was a bit jealous of the authors for the two previous editions of this column. Their columns were titled, “Defining the Perfect Rep” and “Defining the Perfect Principal.” Those are easy […]

by Rick Campo, Founder, West-Tech Materials
In 1992 when I started West-Tech Materials, the only thing people knew about a cloud was that it was in the sky. Working out of my house, as a single-rep operation, monthly I was calculating commissions by hand on a tablet, writing my trip reports on paper and faxing them to […]

by Stephen Fowler, President, PERCS
“Perfection, like beauty,” we’re told, “is in the eye of the beholder.” We all agree but don’t reflect on the lens. What is this mind’s “eye,” the eye that spies the perfect spouse, the perfect family, and of course the perfect life? For “reps” the perfect search is for the […]

By Greg Bruno, President, Midlantic Enterprises, Inc.
A principal’s new product launch can be exciting, time-consuming and expensive for both a principal and a representative. Ultimately, everyone involved wants the launch to be successful and profitable. Getting to these goals takes planning and careful execution. The additional potential for new business that a new product […]

by Danny Collis, President, Collis Group, Inc.
As I consider my 23-year history as an independent manufacturers’ representative, I’ve got to admit that I’ve really never encountered one! I’ve seen very successful reps — but not perfect ones. Wouldn’t achieving perfection lead to more compensation? Why can’t we get there? Shouldn’t striving for perfection be […]

by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA
As a MANA member, you can learn from other members’ best practices, a membership benefit. Let’s face it: we live in a changing world and the change accelerates every day. New issues come up and to survive and grow, you need to learn to effectively deal with […]

By Israel Ginez, Eng-Mba, Gindustrez Trading Inc.
I have seen many times how some Principals do not understand or do not want to accept the full extent of a company in business such as the Representation structures. This document will walk you through the organizational part of the business emphasizing that an Independent Rep is […]

By Howard Collier, Collier Corporation
It happened to me. It was a number of years ago, I was calling on a major industrial manufacturer who consumed large volumes of brass rod. The brass rod mill I represented was getting ready to have a major layoff. They had never had a layoff. It was late Fall, […]

by Jerry Leth, Vice-President and General Manager, MANA
When a manufacturer approaches a prospective manufacturers’ representative, the manufacturers’ representative wants to learn two things. First, does this company supply a product or service my customers need? If yes, the next thing they want to learn is, do they understand the professional way to work with […]