After years of avoiding representing PCB shops, the reps are back looking for a good company, or two, to represent. There are a couple reasons for this. One is the onshoring of the market due to the pandemic and the tariffs. The other is that they feel – and several have told me this – […]
The New Era of Rep Partnerships
For years one of the most difficult relationships in business has been the one between an independent sales representative and the principal, the company she is selling for. This relationship has been tenuous at best and adversarial at worst. In fact, most of the time it has been adversarial. The principal’s constantly resenting the money […]
Why PCB Sales People Are Forced To Be Farmers Not Hunters
…and what we need to do about it. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about why it seems to be so hard to get PCB sales people to focus on any aspect of selling from lead generation to closing a sale. This makes our job as sales consultants particularly daunting […]
3 Great Ways To Support Your Rep Sales Team
Let’s face it those of us in the board industry have not always treated our reps fairly. We have not supported them, not been honest with them, not trusted them and yes, not paid them – the biggest sin of all. There seems to be some kind in instinctual adversarial relationship between board shops and […]
Get the Most Out of Your Reps
It’s no secret that the independent representative/principal relationship is one of the rockiest in the manufacturing world. Here’s a typical example of how it can go wrong: The dance between reps and principals usually starts this way: a company decides it needs more sales and wants to leverage its sales budget, so it recruits a […]
Becoming a Great Sales Manager
Building a Great Team Through Inspiration We all assume that being a great sales manager, or any manager for that matter, is by holding your people accountable. Oh, that accountability thing, that’s what we live and die for, to make sure that everyone is being held accountable…but is it really? And, to whom are they […]
Managing Your Sales Team
Nothing happens by accident anymore, especially when it comes to sales. It used to be so much simpler; you’d buy a good directory, circle those companies that would make good prospects, call them, set up a meeting, go see them and if you did a pretty good job in that meeting you’d get a quote […]
It’s Time To Rethink The Whole Rep Thing
For years now I have been working with reps acting as the liaison between them and the circuit board shops I work with. During that time I have seen the interest those reps have in working with board shops diminish as quickly as the market for fax machines. Most reps seem to have lost it […]
Don’t Fire Them,Fire Them Up!
Years ago, many years ago now, I read a book titled “Don’t fire them, Fire them up!” it was written by Frank Pacetta, an executive at Xerox at the time, and as the title states it was all about getting people fired up so that they would be great salespeople. The little book has stuck […]
When Was The Last Time Your Independent Reps Described You As “Indispensable” ?
There is that old adage that goes: the more you put into your reps the more you will get out of them. Which I believe is absolutely true. True to the point that if you want to have a successful relationships with your reps you have to give them everything they need to be successful. […]