Achieving that comfort level with your rep firm

-- Industrial Distribution, 5/1/2001

Other articles from this Fasteners Report:  
Profile: Hub Construction Specialties of San Bernardino, Calif.
Application profile: Partners reduce costs
Manufacturers, trade groups provide more training
Viewpoint: Qualify your prospects to stop wasting inside sales' time
News: expects slow, steady growth
  

By John Morton

As a multi-line sales agency, Morton Industrial represents a dozen excellent fastener and related products companies. Most agents would be scared to death to admit to such a statement, fearful that his principals would be up in arms over the fact that they had so much stuffed into their bag.

We think it is an asset — as long as we don’t duplicate lines or products. It’s virtually impossible not to have some overlap as long as you know how to differentiate between each and know how to handle the “grey area” effectively.

Some principals might question how you could possibly discuss his line on every sales call — you can’t. This is how we handle it when we make a sales call: we present two or three specific lines that the customer is not currently buying or products that need further clarification. At the end of the call we quickly review our line card with our customer to make sure we have covered all of our lines and there are no unanswered questions. We feel this approach offers the best possible coverage for our principals without cluttering up the call with too much too fast.

The advantage to the principal is that although we are not featuring his specific line on every call, the opportunity is always there to discuss his products. One line helps sell another. You need to have a balanced line card with each line complementing the other. Most of our customers have one buyer that handles all of their fasteners and related products so we don’t have to see more than one individual at each call. This saves more time for more calls. With three “road warriors” covering the six New England states, this approach gives our principals alot more bang for their buck.

Most of our customers have one buyer that handles all of their fasteners and related products so we don’t have to see more than one individual at each call.

When I opened my agency in 1974, if you had six companies to represent, it was a lot. The relationships between the rep and the principal were very different. You were part of the company, sort of like being part of the family. Now a days there are so many changes taking place that it is hard to maintain those close relationships.

Companies are bought out or merged with other companies. Sales managers move from company to company and reps often move with them or are sometimes eliminated. It is hard to develop a comfortable relationship longterm. We have been most fortunate. Our lines have been with us for an average of about 10 years.

We think our success is due to the fact that we concentrate heavily on staying in touch with our principals — not necessarily with written reports, but via fax, phone and email. Keeping them abreast of what is going on in the field is paramount to their comfort level with us as their agency.

Unlike many who think sales agencies are becoming non-existent due to e-commerce and other computer-aided selling concepts, we are confident that there is no substitute for the real thing.

John Morton is a manufacturer’s representative with Morton Industrial Sales Co. He can be reached at 781-925-0161 and misco@mediaone.net