Rep Finds Support for His Value-Add

Given the Steelers’ run through the playoffs and ultimate victory in this year’s Super Bowl game, it’s appropriate that a manufacturers’ rep in the Pittsburgh area would employ a strategy of a “good defense is a good offense” when going face-to-face with a customer intent on squeezing him out of his commission. That’s exactly what P.J. Simpson, Repsource, Inc., Greensburg, Pennsylvania, did last year.

Part of the defense he employed to ensure a favorable turnout (for now) included contacting MANA and his principal to support the telling of his “value-add” story. Here’s how things unfolded for Simpson. Repsource had a long-standing relationship with one of its customers. This relationship dated back 12–15 years when Simpson’s father-in-law owned the agency. In general terms, Simpson explained the customer has had a rather disorganized purchasing process for a number of years. But they always knew they could depend upon the rep to get whatever they needed in order to continue operations.

Then last year when a purchasing decision arrived, a middle-manager not normally involved in purchasing was brought in to oversee the purchase. His stated goal, according to Simpson, was to “save money on this purchase. My goal is to squeeze everything out of this deal, including any representation costs.” While that approach obviously got Simpson’s attention, rather than just accept it, he contacted both MANA headquarters and his principal.

“When I contacted MANA, they provided me with articles, publications and other information that would support my premise that I was actually saving the customer money in the buying process. After I contacted the principal, he responded by telling the customer, ‘We sell this product through Repsource, and we aren’t willing to part with the sales function that he provides. We’re not willing to take on the task of personally servicing customers. He is a valuable asset, and that’s the way it is.’”

Simpson continues that he departed from a meeting with the customer and the principal, with the latter apparently letting the matter drop — but he wasn’t convinced it was going to stay dropped. Sure enough, “The customer took another pass at it. When I wasn’t present to defend myself, the president of the company approached the principal once again. To my principal’s credit, he told the customer that they stood behind us, were confident in us, our price was competitive, and this is just the way it is.”

The long story made short is that Simpson and his agency got the order — although the customer announced shortly afterwards that it was moving its operations to Mexico. For the time being, however, things remained as they were.

As he considers the ramifications of this scenario, Simpson explains that it served as a learning experience, and he certainly took something away from it. “As the customer grew larger in their operations, I think they began to take a different view of purchasing decisions. And in doing that they put someone in charge of making the ultimate decision who was removed from the situation and completely unemotional. Looking back at the circumstances, I don’t know if there was anything different I could have done to avoid what happened.

“This has gone a long way toward making this principal my ‘emotional favorite.’ If anything, I’ll want to perform at a higher level for him in the future. What happened let me know that the relationship between my agency and the manufacturer was everything; they appreciate what I’ve done for them over the years.

“And then there’s MANA. The association was fantastic in terms of the support and information they provided me. I couldn’t have asked any more from them. If nothing else, I’d encourage any other reps going through similar situations to contact MANA. The people there have been through this before and know exactly the type of advice to provide.”