My advice for supporting your sales representatives
May 4th, 2009
We’re getting more help. Hip hip hoorah. We’re growing good and good help is on the way. We’re bringing on more sales reps and more seamstresses. A virtual assistant has to be next b/c I’m going to pull out my hair with the admin stuff. But, I’m most excited about the new sales representatives. We brought on a sales rep in the Fall of last year and that was a complete disaster. I keep hearing from other business owners, almost everytime I mention wanting sales reps, “(ha) good luck finding someone good”. Good is such a subjective word – should be “someone who delivers”. In the form of sales. Lots of sales.
But, having gone through working with (if you could call it that) a sales rep, I feel like I’m in a much better position to support the next rep we bring on. Here’s a huge noticeable difference w/ the new rep compared to the old rep – the new rep sought us out because she loves our products. The old rep sought us out because we were somewhat new and they were looking to build their sales rep business. They thought, rightly (unfortunately), that we would be willing to take a risk because we were pretty new too.
Here’s the biggest mistake I made, which actually ended up having them cost us money instead of make us money – gave them exclusivity to a territory. DUH!! Don’t do that – I won’t say never, because if someone was established, reputable, and had a zillion accounts that they just couldn’t wait to show your stuff to, then maybe I’d consider exclusivity. After they first turned in x number of sales. But otherwise, proceed with caution. Or put time limits on it, you can have exclusivity for 90 days provided you meet (enter quota here).
I like to stay on the positive side of things, so I think the best way for me to get the shakes out of the old (and bad) sales rep experience, is for me to share with you what I learned about supporting a sales rep:
Have good sales materials, marketing collateral, and lots of it
You need to have materials for your representatives to use as sales tools. A look book would be great, but at the very least, line sheets, account setup forms, and postcard mailers. Make sure that you use consistent branding so that your sales rep, and potential vendors, will feel they are working with a professional company.
Setup a weekly meeting and address questions
I did not set up enough phone conversations with the old sales rep. This time around, we will have a weekly phone meeting – at the very least. The reps should feel that they have a direct line to getting their questions answered and should feel comfortable calling to ask questions.
Provide great customer service to your reps and their clients
Always beat expectations for your representatives – happy reps will be passionate about representing your company, so I think it’s important to treat them well. I simply didn’t pay enough attention to our last representative.
Also, if you are a representative, you have to keep in mind that we don’t know what you don’t know. You have to speak up and ask questions about our products, our shipping policies, special offers, company philosophy, etc. Ask for the support so that we know where and when you need it. It’s a win win!
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1. Kathleen&hellip | May 5th, 2009 at 9:48 am
I can understand your unhappiness with your first rep relationship but others should know it will be difficult to get reps unless the reps are guaranteed exclusivity in an area.
Toward providing more detail I could throw in a whole lot of links about sales reps, contracts for a sales rep, problems with sales reps, how to develop line sheets, sales collateral, commissions, marketing, how to establish wholesale terms and policies, etc but then this probably wouldn’t publish
. Here’s one all in one entry with lots of links.
http://bit.ly/f29mC
One can also access the archives list of all 1600 entries on my site and use the term “sales” with ctrl+f to find many of thel sales related entries.
http://bit.ly/hJiH
2. amber&hellip | May 5th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Hi Kathleen – thanks for the input. As a business owner, I see your point, which is why I said it would be different it they are established – have proven results. I only speak from my real-world experience. And there are a lot of things wrapped into a successful relationship with a rep that are not mentioned in this post, like having a line that actually sells.
I hope my readers follow up with the information on your site.
Best – Amber
3. Amber @ RuffleButts&hellip | May 5th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Okay, I hear ya on this one. Every industry has its bad apples and unfortunately, this one is no exception. The problem is that I think the ones that take pride in their work, the 20% that do 80% of the sales, they are not the norm, but the exception. I would love to pull together and put out a list of the sales reps that have given us all at least one horror story – I know I have mine! The only problem is, I like everyone else, is so afraid of the consequeses, that I am not protecting others.
I agree, I could and should be a better ‘manager/client’ for our sales reps, but I would love to prevent just one other company from learning the hard way. We need to reform this industry in some ways, and I think this is one of them. With that said, I believe there are some truly fabulous sales reps that are super good at what they do and they do it in an ethical manner. I just can’t seem to find them =)
4. Amber @ RuffleButts&hellip | May 5th, 2009 at 11:13 am
I know Kathleen is right about the standard with exclusivity, but why is this so?? Real estate agents are not given exclusivity, mortgage brokers are not given exclusivity, 90% of sales people are not given exclusivity, so why, as business owners, are we supposed to turn over a large chunk of the country to a sales rep who has not proven anything to us? If they have faith in their work, they should be okay with this. I agree with Amber that they could earn exclusivity if they are doing a great job. There is no other industry, that I am aware of, that just gives someone total exclusivity without them having to earn it in any way.
5. amber&hellip | May 5th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hi Amber – it’s so nice to know someone else out there has similar struggles. I think maybe a solution is to narrow the “area” of exclusivity. Such as a city – compared to multiple states some reps demand. If you do good in the city, then your area grows.
And you grow your sales team that way – move up to area mgr, district mgr., etc. and you get a commission on sales of reps below you. Isn’t that a normal business structure? Wouldn’t it provide incentive to support the reps who are in your district – foster teamwork and morale?
And thank you for the reminder that we don’t always have to do things the way they’ve been done before.
6. Raj Thandhi&hellip | May 18th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Thanks Amber,
We are just starting with our first two reps so this is so useful for us. It has been difficult to find a “good” rep since most that are delivering sales are full or have other conflicting products in their showrooms.
After reading this post we decided to offer exclusivety for the first 90 days and re-evaluate after that. We’ll see how it goes.
Once again, thank you for sharing your real world advice!
Raj
7. Lisa&hellip | June 6th, 2009 at 10:10 am
I hear these common concerns over and over again when clients ask me where they can find a ‘good rep.’ Hence, the reason we modeled our Retailer Swag program the way we did. When I had my clothing business, facing the need to hire reps was very daunting, especially in the remote area I live in. Really informative info on finding and working with reps is hard to find
Lisa
8. Cherie Alexander&hellip | August 14th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Can you recommend some good sales reps? I have a new baby product that is ready for stores and I’m adding more to the line this fall. Any help you can give would be appreciated.
Regards,
Cherie
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