How to Choose a Manufacturers Representative

Employing the services of a Manufacturers Representative is not the same as employing a territorial salesman to sell your products. A Manufacturers' Representative is a Professional Services firm (whether several 100 employees or a one person firm) operating as a business. Outsourced Field Sales Professionals can be the most economical way to take your products or services to market; however, they must function as a business and operate from a business perspective. Failure to truly grasp this reality can virtually guarantee a failed and frustrating relationship that will cost both the manufacturer and representative time, money and energy.

Here are few initial questions you should ask initial phase of your representative search.

1. What Geographical Territory are you seeking representation for? One of the most valuable assets of any Rep is their continuity and relationships in the market they serve. It is difficult for a Rep to work a principal in only portions of his territory and they have difficulty expanding into territories for only one principal.
   
   
2. What Product Lines does the Rep currently represent? Are your products complimentary, but not competitive with the products they currently sell? Most Rep agreements contain strong non-compete clauses that prevent the Rep from representing competitive principals The more complementary your products are to current principals the more synergy in customer and market relationships the Rep can utilize for mutual success. Sometime products may well appear to be complementary, however, the customers or market may be totally different. Do not assume compatibility.
   
   
3. What Sales and Marketing Services Will Your Product Line Require? Care should be used in asking the prospective Rep to provide services they are not currently supplying other principals, unless you are prepared to pay for the service above and beyond the normal commission structure.
   
   
4. Does your marketing philosophy, or sales policy, match those of the Rep and his current principals? If you want to sell direct to consumers, but the Rep sells through re-sellers, there will be conflict. There are industry and territorial norms for selling in any given market. You should explore these before embarking on your rep search.
   
   
5. What time, resources and compensation are you willing to commit for success? Far too often manufacturers approach the relationship with a "whatever you sell we will pay you commission on the sale" attitude. Reality is that few "sales" truly compensate for the time and effort the rep must invest to produce the results. The Reps cost of sales is their investment on your behalf. Existing business, shared territorial development expense, or advances on commissions are what fund the Reps investments. Selling with Reps will give you a market presence, however, Reps will not be as fast a way to market; patience is required. Keep in mind that you are sharing the Reps Time and Effort with other principals. Reps are looking for long term committed relationships, the more a part of your corporate culture and secure you make them feel, the harder they will work on your behalf.
   
   
6. Are Rep Certifications important? Only to the extent that they designate those Reps that have invested heavily in raising the Professional Bar of their firms. They may not be better sales people, but they will be better Rep business people.

Narrowing your search as much as possible will save much time and frustration. MRERF will list 40 vertical industry specific associations as well as all of the CPMR's. NIRA is one of these vertical associations and is composed Reps in the MRO Industrial Products and Safety fields. If you have not found an industry that is specific to your products then try MANA, an association composed of almost 5,000 rep firms that cuts across all industries. You may use the Links page on our web site.