Here is an opening hypothesis.
You have 4,000 manufacturers/suppliers who want to go to market THROUGH YOU. If each has only 1,000 SKUs, considering size, color, or shape variations, that’s a cool 4 million SKUs or products you can sell. Let me add to the number confusion. If 4,000 suppliers each had 100 different products for you to sell, that’s 400,000 products. This all adds up to a heck of a lot of products you can sell/present. No less than half the number of products you can sell don't require much “education”, but many do. The greater your education, the better your presentation, and the better your chance of selling a given item. The greater your education, the more familiar you are with the product and the greater your confidence in frequently recommending it to clients. So, the key is product education and confidence in your knowledge.
Where do you get that education? Certainly not from a catalog. Most suppliers publish learning materials, be they videos, PDFs, or other on-site information. This takes time, which most distributors don’t have, and a desire to learn, which many to most distributors don’t have. That brings me to the manufacturer’s reps. Be they multi-line or factory reps. There was recently a post in our industry social media asking about the value of a rep and recommendations for the good ones.
Reps are invaluable to salespeople old and new. Here are just a few deliverables from reps:
KNOWLEDGE – Product knowledge is their primary value. They allow you to dig deep into the knowledge you need of a fabric, device or process. They can cut out all the peripheral material and tell you what you need to know because they distill what they deliver into short meetings.
APPLICATION EXPERIENCE – If a rep can’t give you case histories and success stories and apply the product(s) they are showing to market applications, they have little to give you and I would try to close the meeting quickly. While you may personally rate 10 on the creative scale, knowing where things have worked and how they have worked both inspires you and fuels your creative brain. Try to elicit answers from questions such as… if I took this product out to show tomorrow, give me the single best prospect for it and why?
SUPPLIER CONFIDENCE – Reality check... scores of suppliers can import the exact same product from China and simply decorate. If you are a price shopper, you are on a different track than me. I am on the loyalty track which gives me greater confidence working with and developing a key supplier. You need confidence in your suppliers so you can sleep better at night. Your rep is your supplier’s face. Literally, they may be the only face you know from a supplier company.
CUSTOMER SERVICE – Everyone is in customer service including a building maintenance worker. The gateway to great customer service is to know and copy your rep. They both give you and get you greater service.
ORDER INFLUENCE – Not always, but frequently your rep will have the power to expedite, and power to even reserve inventory. They are on commission, and their income, like yours, is dependent on your sales.
DISTRITBUTOR ADVOCATE – While they get paid by the supplier, a good rep will take your case to the Supreme Court, if needed. They are your advocates. They can drill down into the ranks of a supplier company to get what you need to be accomplished. The more loyalty you give them and their lines, the more you will get in return.
CREATIVE APPLICATION - You can take credit for any idea you put on the table, but the product-related idea and case histories a rep can give you is both inspiring and tactically a money maker if you can sell it forward. Soak up the ideas and catalog them in your mind and files. Use them as your own.
Reps are a great asset. Like any trade or profession, there are strong and weak individuals. Consider the knowledge base of a rep who has been in the field for 5 years or more. What they have absorbed in terms of creative applications is well beyond the average consultant in this industry. Bring them into your tent. Absorb everything you can from them. Develop strong relationships, they are a silent partner in your business.
Joel D. Schaffer, MAS is CEO and Founder of Soundline, LLC, the pioneering supplier to the promotional products industry of audio products. Joel has 48 years of promotional product industry experience and proudly heralds “I was a distributor.” He has been on the advisory panel of the business and marketing department of St. John’s University in New York and is a frequent speaker at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. He is an industry Advocate and has appeared before the American Bankers Association, American Marketing Association, National Premium Sales Executives, American Booksellers Association and several other major groups. He has been a management consultant to organizations such as The College Board and helped many suppliers enter this industry. He is a frequent contributor to PPB and Counselor magazines. He has facilitated over 200 classes sharing his industry knowledge nationwide. He is known for his cutting humor and enthusiasm in presenting provocative and motivating programs. He is the only person to have received both the Marvin Spike Industry Lifetime Achievement Award (2002) and PPAI’s Distinguished Service Award (2011). He is a past director of PPAI and has chaired several PPAI committees and task forces. He is a past Chair of the SAAGNY Foundation, Past President of SAAGNY and a SAAGNY Hall of Fame member. He was cited by ASI as one of the 50 most influential people in the industry.